Dell XPS M1530 Vists 32bit or Vista 64 bit

Hey this is a bit of a dumb question i pressume, however I have always ran 32bit operating systems and i am having some blue screen issues with the win7 beta so i was thinking of going back to vista but thinking of the 64 bit version. What will happen with programs that are 32bit? I use photoshop cs4 daily as well as some other cs4 suite apps (illustrator, indesign, dreamweaver) as well as programs like VLC, winamp, firefox, MS office, and some games as old as quake 3 and new games.

My question is will they work and what advantages and disadvantages do i gain from vista64 over vista32? and do i need to get a whole new set of drivers as well for my M1530?

 

I am running Vista x64 and it is basically no different than Vista x86

The advantages only come if you have 4Gb of RAM or more

Winamp, MS Office, Firefox, VLC and recent games like Spore/Red Alert 3 all run fine on Vista x64

Photoshop Elements 6 and 7 both work ok as well, but I've not run full Photoshop so I couldn't tell you if that is ok

You will need to download the x64 drivers for all your hardware (either from Dell, or elsewhere)

 

BenUK gave you some good answers. Most 32b programs will run fine on Vista x64. The drivers all have to be signed, which is what causes most compatibility problems. But most laptops now ship with x64, so the move is on.

However, the abitlity to utilize more than ~3.3gb of ram, which Vista x86 is restricted to, becomes more and more important. Many newer mobo's now support 8 or 16gb(desktops) of ram- so if you're running memory intensive games or applications, this can make a Heck of a difference.

64b OS's also take advantage of dual and quad cores-- the need for speed!! And more and more apps are being written to take advantage of that.

 

so should i switch to 64bit or stick with 32?

 

IIRC, you have 3GB of Ram... vista 32 works....well... like vista does...

I dont see much performance gain really with the 64 bit version. Its just cuz I like to play with things, and see how things work. i have my m1530 running perfectly with 64 bit (XP Pro 64, Vista HomePrem 64 and Win7 Ult 64 beta)... The only change i had to do when i shifted, was get some newer software for my Firewall and VPN. I had previously been running ZoneAlarm and Cisco, but they both dont have (or seem to plan to make) a 64bit version.

The only thing (being a CS4 user) is that they have the 64 bit version of Photoshop... and if you work with LARGE files, and plan to upgrade and utilize 4GB of ram or more... then that would be beneficial.

Otherwise.. stick with 32bit, until more software begins to utilize the extra coding capacity of 64 bit...or if you upgrade your RAM to 4gb or higher...

 

I would say switch to 64bit. Myself using Vista Home Premium 64bit. Got the drivers from Dell's site. Working fine till now (1 week ). Well the bluetooth icon disappears after waking from stand by, but still works. Am able to play COD5, Fallout 3 etc without any problems. Media Centre's working fine with my Avermedia Tuner. Haven't connected to ant Wi-Fi network

By the way got the graphics driver from laptopvideo2go. 179.28 I think.

It feels more stable than 32bit.

 

hmm maybe i will give it a go on the 64bit then. BTW for the laptop drivers nvidia now releases drivers themselves for laptops.

 

x64 without a doubt!!

 

is there a way for me to obtain a copy of vista home premium 64bit legally? My dell shipped with that and i know the keys work for both 32 and 64bit.

 

Ask Dell. They should give it to you. Thats how I got mine.

They'll give you a shpeel about not supporting your software anymore... but the hardware is still covered under warranty.

 

do i have to call them or can i just email them?

 

I just chatted with tech support. Somehow, I like the chat better than calling / emailing.

 

call XPS support

they'll send you the x64 disk