Vista 32 bit - What's the point?

Without going Vista 64 bit what is the point?

I'm considering waiting until there are adequate drivers to maintain easy connectivity as a road warrior.

Am I wrong in saying that Vista is not yet ready for real time use yet?

 

I would say yes.

 

well, 64 bits maybe no (missing too many drivers, etc)
but 32 bits run as good as xp (even better)

 

Well you're addressing several different things here.

One, although I have the 64bit edition of Vista and am waiting eagerly for some 64bit editions of applications to start popping up so I can try them out against the 32bit editions in XP, I do not expect too much of a difference in performance between 64bit and 32bit based solely on the number of bits used for addressing memory. I am aware that some number crunching programs may find the extra register bits useful, but for common programs and games I do not expect too much difference in the foreseeable future.

As for easy connectivity, as long as you have the proper 64bit or 32bit Vista drivers for your wireless adapter, you are connected as well as under XP. Of course, drivers always take time to mature, especially for a new OS. So if you have essential hardware that you know will not be or is not currently supported under Vista, then make your decision based on that.

As for real time use, I cannot emphasize enough that Vista is a lot more market ready than XP was when it launched six years ago. Undoubtedly, there will be bugs and vulnerabilities that people report or exploit, and a service pack will certainly go a long way to smoothing some of those problems out. But there's a lot of good things as well: the OS and many applications launch much faster, many Windows features have been improved upon---such as the scheduler algorithm which distributes workloads to dual and quad core processors, and some handy new features such as the ability to essentially use your SD card or USB key as RAM. There's drawbacks such as the ridiculously redundant user account security measures, and older single core computers with less than 1GB of RAM will feel some pain when running Vista (my friend tried it on his old AMD desktop with 512MB RAM and a Radeon 9600, didn't run very well at all), and people may eventually object to the built in DRM* features.

But if you've got a relatively new computer and want to get the most from it**, there's no reason why you should choose XP over Vista for the long haul.

*Have not encountered any problems with DRM yet, we'll see if it affects how I install legitimate software later this month.

**Depends on drivers of course, and those will be released, optimized, and re-released in the next month or two. Not Microsoft's fault here that some third parties---ahem nVidia---have not released Vista drivers for their hardware despite ample warning and time.

 

My use is more CAD/CAM and administrative communication.

I have no desire to upgrade to Vista 32 bit. Why bother...not enoght there there.

I will wait for Drivers to hash out for Vista 64 bit.

Performance is not as much an issue for me as first connectivity and second security. While 64 bit has additional security features it lacks the connectivity as of yet AFAIK.

Let me know if I'm wrong!

I have a T7200 Intel processor on a newer Laptop.

 

r u using XP 64bits at the moment? still missing many 64bits drivers under XP as well, as u might well know

cheers ...

 

I don't understand all this 64 bit driver issues talk?

I've yet not to find a 64 bit driver for my hardware, and their is no reason for them to be less stable, remember the 32 bit vista drivers had to be rewritten/reworked as well.

 

I think the point of the OP was, if you are gonna stay 32 bit, might as well stay XP until Vista x64 is matured some. Instead of going to Vista 32 bit, then Vista 64 bit.

 

Exactly!

Is there some reason I am wrong?

I connect to a variety of hardware in my travel for work at a endless variety of locations. Will going 64 bit Vista muck up connectivity for me, or am I just imagining this?

 

Vista 64bit has better driver support than XP 64bit. I wouldnt jump on 64bit just yet however since there are some programs that needs to be 64bit to run on Vista 64(like Cisco VPN client that I use). I "downgraded" my MX7515 to 32bit even though it runs 64bit fine because of that. Anyway Vista 32bit is a better OS IMO than XP. The 64bit is a nice perk to have but not the reason to upgrade right now.

 

32 bit is faster right now.

 

can somebody explain to a newbie the difference b/w 32bit and 64 bit, and why might one choose one over the other. I just ordered a laptop and i might actually have just enough time to request that the company install the version i chose.

 

64 bit allows larger addressing of registers, memory, hard disk space and better precision in floating point calculations. From a consumer standpoint, it won't make any difference if you're running 32 or 64 bit unless you have a very large computing requirement.

As a general rule, 32 and 64 bit will run equally fast and much of the memory allocated in a 64 bit application will be wasted space.

Let's face it, the reason for upgrading to Vista are the subtle improvements, DirectX !0, High Definition Support, and the Big Aero Interface.

 

I want 64 bit for the added security features as well as faster running CAD/CAM software.

But being that I spend at least half of my time on the road Connectivity is often more important.

 

Well the problem always comes down to drivers. If you're going to be working around hardware that aren't going to have Vista drivers---if they do they will have both the 32bit and 64bit versions---then you should stay with XP. Otherwise, I'm finding Vista's improved interface to be much more convenient to code in (after some getting used to):