XP upgrade and 64 bit

[seandudding]

Where is the best place to get the XP ugrade from.

I have a Core2Duo running XP Home, and will prob go to the Vista Professional, can I run the 64Bit on this CPU. I have a Dell XPS1210

Also does the official upgrade allow you to update more than one machine?

[ThePassenger]

Yes.
Core X (i.e. Core Solo, Core Duo, Core 2 x) have EMT64.
Most Pentium 4's with HT also have EMT64, although best to double check on that front.

And obviously, AMD64's have a similar technology.

Edit: You can get the upgrades from anywhere, Scan, Dabs, Novatech... the usual suspects.
No, one upgrade per machine I believe.

Edited by ThePassenger on Tuesday 13th February 12:44

[fto2tuscan]

Don't do it, I was lucky enough once to speak to one of the lead technical peeps at Intel, and when I asked about 64 bit os he simply said, "why?", unless you need 16gb of ram, don't bother, the rest is just marketing, and 90% of your drivers and software wont work.

[m12_nathan]

ThePassenger said:

Yes.
Core X (i.e. Core Solo, Core Duo, Core 2 x) have EMT64.
Most Pentium 4's with HT also have EMT64, although best to double check on that front.

Are there 2 versions of Core Duo Core Solo as the laptop version doesn't support x86-64?

[bobthemonkey]

Only Core 2 supports EMT-64 I thought.

[theboss]

First of all you can't do an upgrade between 32-bit and 64-bit OS's - if you want 64-bit you will have to perform a clean install.

Other than that, whether 64-bit is right for you will depend largely on what you use your PC for.

If you're more of a typical 'Home PC' user then I doubt you'll get any benefit from 64-bit and you will almost certainly run into compatability problems.

However in my experience, as more of a business and techie user with x64 certified workstation-class hardware, there's absolutely no way I would go back to 32-bit. I've been using Vista Ultimate x64 on my HP workstation at home since it RTM'd in November and it's absolutely rock solid - miles better than the 32-bit version I run on other machines, and noticably quicker too.

Oh and as for drivers - the vendors are getting much better at this - even my £30 laser printer from PC-world has certified XP-64 and Vista-64 drivers and has done for a while.

Edited by theboss on Tuesday 13th February 13:51

[ThePassenger]

bobthemonkey said:

Only Core 2 supports EMT-64 I thought.

Odd. Core's major hoohah other than the power saving was universal EMT64 across the range. No, I still don't see the point of a 64bit laptop burning a hole in your clothes either.

[m12_nathan]

ThePassenger said:

bobthemonkey said:

Only Core 2 supports EMT-64 I thought.

Core's major hoohah other than the power saving was universal EMT64 across the range.

Obviously not

[ThePassenger]

m12_nathan said:

ThePassenger said:

bobthemonkey said:

Only Core 2 supports EMT-64 I thought.

Core's major hoohah other than the power saving was universal EMT64 across the range.

Obviously not

Sales dweebs when will I remember not to trust them eh?
Yonah = no EMT64.
Core 2 does.

[warmfuzzies]

I wouldn't bother, I've been using XP64bit and Vista 64bit and I find the software and driver issues astounding, It took Kaspersky ages to get the Internet suite 64bit compatible, Logitech mouse drivers still don't work, running a printer across a network and getting 32 and 64 bit XP talking is a joke, and I could go on, but shan't


I seriously wouldn't do it.

Kip

[ThePassenger]

warmfuzzies said:

I wouldn't bother, I've been using XP64bit and Vista 64bit and I find the software and driver issues astounding, It took Kaspersky ages to get the Internet suite 64bit compatible, Logitech mouse drivers still don't work, running a printer across a network and getting 32 and 64 bit XP talking is a joke, and I could go on, but shan't


I seriously wouldn't do it.

Kip

In some respects the most mature 64bit OS's are the *NIX's, AIX and the other big iron vendors have been 64bit for a long time and when you're looking a high end IBM or Sun kit you really do need that extra grunt. Linux can also do 64bit, although it's very buggy. It'll work and in a straight line, no nonsense workstation/server scheme; things like Gnome, KDE, Samba and such work fine. Video editing and the like works fine and flies along as does apache, mysql and such beasties.
However, hibernate, standby, some farty utilities and such don't work, so it's not a lot of use for the average home user or laptop. Oddly enough so long as your wifi card is supported natively 64bit WiFi is a doddle on Linux.

To be honest, I'd like to try Vista 64, see if it's an improvement on XP-64 (which was kind of a joke) but on the other hand... I really would not pay good money to give it a whirl. Of course, I don't know what the OP's motivations are, he/she could be heavily in to 3D/CAD stuff and have 64bit apps ready to roll. *shrug*

Edited by ThePassenger on Tuesday 13th February 19:28