Help me choose my next OS

This is my 1st post, and I'd like to thank this forum for helping me get XP loaded on my HP 8510p. I could have screwed around with it for hours until I found the tutorial in the HP forums, thanks much. Here is my situation:

Hardware
HP 8510p Laptop, C2D T7300, 4gb DDR2-6400, 160.7200 HDD, HD 2600Video
Software
Office, Civ IV, Cisco VPN, WoW (not playing yet, but will start soon, my friends finally hooked me), and thats about it

Now, I'm a IT Manager for a small business and have limited experience with Vista, but think I should start making the migration as eventually I'm going to have to know it. Not to mention, a majority of the people here are using Vista at home and I need to support Apps for them as well. I know Office won't be a problem and I have a Vista Capable VPN client. I will need RDP connection as well, so Home Premium is out of the question. Should I just bite the bullet and spend the extra money on Ultimate over Business?

Then, the big question, 64 bit or 32 bit? I'm leaning towards 64 for the performance, and the fact that I may just upgrade to 8GB of RAM and some point when the prices come down on 4GB Notebook DIMMS. Thanks for your input everyone.

 

Great Then Go For 64bit ... but make sure all your apps are 64bit capable ... just my .2 cents

 

ok
64 bit(if you have programs that are not compatible just use 32bit)
vista ultimate
has all the features of business and is not to much more then business and has more features

 

Even to use all 4GB of your memory you will want Vista x64. If your gonna move to 8GB in the future (make sure your laptop supports it), then without a doubt x64 is the way to go.

As for Buisness vs. Ultimate. Basically it comes down to, do you use Windows Media Center?

 

The Cisco VPN software is not 64-bit compatible. Cisco has given no indication that they ever intend to make it so.

 

+1 for 64-bit Vista.

 

This right there is a total deal breaker. Can anyone verify?

 

Vista Home premium x86 for now, i tried 64 bit and 32 bit and the 32 bit varient was definatly more stable. if you are looking for a 64 bit os go for xp pro X64. for me it has been very stable

 

I've done some research, and the Cisco client is not compatible with Vista 64. What a load of crap. I guess I can get around it by RDP into a server here and then connecting out to the other servers from there. What a PITA though. Cisco, come on, seriously?!?!?! You guys are like the #1 networking company in the world, and you don't make a client for your most popular VPN that supports the latest OS? Even worse, the ASA here at my office was bought before my time, and I don't have a Cisco support account on it, so I can't download the current firmware for it and run the SSL client that supports 64-bit Vista.

 

welcome to the corporate world

 

I've been here for years. Looks like lots of folks have been running Virtual PC 2007 and XP to get around this. Any thoughts anyone?

 

You need 64 bit for 4gig (or more) RAM, however I doubt your mobo will support gigs


EDIT:
Can I suggest if you're going to buy a retail copy to go for the 32 bit. Immediately order a 64 bit DVD from MS - it should be free. Set up/install your 32 bit OS, then partition your HD and keep all your files on the other partition. When all your software supports 64 bit, format the OS partition and install 64 bit, leaving all your files intact

 

Google.com can verify this over 1.8 million times.

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=Vista+x64+Cisco

Workarounds appear to involve using virtual machines.