OS with new notebook.

Unmoosical

Senior member
Feb 27, 2006
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I'm currently looking to purchase HP's dv2500t and I'm not sure which OS version I should get. I'm between Vista Home Premium (32bit) and Vista Ultimate (64bit). It's currently only a hundred dollars difference so price isn't a deal breaker for me although saving money is always nice.

I've heard of some compatibility issues with Vista 64bit but being that it's a notebook computer I wouldn't think I'd have to worry too much since the hardware won't be changing. Or am I overlooking something here?

The computer will be my only computer for school/surfing/light gaming/stats software SPSS (I guess I should check the compatibility for this). I'd like to get at least 4 years out of it.

So are there any pros or cons to getting either OS that I should be aware of with a new notebook?
 

onlyCOpunk

Platinum Member
May 25, 2003
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Oh I love SPSS, are you a stats major?

I just go with Vista Home Premium. The 64-bit Ultimate will only benefit you if you have over 2gigs of system memory. And frankly if you don't know what you're missing then you wont miss it.

As far as SPSS working in Vista, check their website it should say. I'm sure it does work with Vista.
 

Unmoosical

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Feb 27, 2006
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I'm in a Masters I/O Psych program. And I did check compatibility with SPSS in Vista and their site says it is supported both 32bit Vista and 64.

Thanks for the input.
 

fbrdphreak

Lifer
Apr 17, 2004
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Get Vista Business 32-bit. You can downgrade Business & Ultimate to XP if you ever need to. 64-bit support is still limited and not worth it IMO.
 

Parasitic

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Aug 17, 2002
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Off-topic post: Is SPSS related to SAS?

On-topic post: pocket the change and get the 32-bit Home Premium now. If you ever find yourself needing to upgrade to 64-bit, pick up a copy of Vista Home Premium upgrade and order the 64-bit media from Microsoft. If you are (or remain) a student you can probably get a good deal on the upgrade (I paid $69 for mine, full retail upgrade box). And I think the 64-bit disc is like only $10 direct from Microsoft?
 

onlyCOpunk

Platinum Member
May 25, 2003
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SPSS is like SAS in that it's used for statistics but they are two different entities. I've worked with both and must say I like SAS much better.
 

Unmoosical

Senior member
Feb 27, 2006
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Alright, thanks all. I'll plan for 32bit. Although just for information's sake, I'd love more input as for why people choose one over the other.

The money argument was understood. ;)
 

VinDSL

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Apr 11, 2006
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www.lenon.com
Originally posted by: Unmoosical
I'd love more input as for why people choose one over the other.
Well, speaking for myself...

I read a LOT of bad stuff about Vista - so much, I was afraid to run it - but I tried it anyway.

Truthfully, I've had '0' problems with it. I'm even running Microsoft Office 2000 on Vista HP, which isn't officially supported.

After I got into Vista more, I started wondering what ppl had against it. I went back and started rereading the negative posts.

More often than not, the most visceral haters were former XP Pro x64 (actually based on Server 2003 code) who upgraded to Vista x64.

For all I know, 64-bit Vista is just fine... but, I don't think so!

One of the things you 'give up', for instance, is the ability to run 16-bit code, which is more important than one might think.

THIS might help you understand the situation a little better... ;)


Sadly, the various benefits of the x64 Vista versions are counterbalanced by a number of limitations, the most important of which are compatibility issues. 16-bit applications are not supported, which is less problematic than it was a few years ago, but still an issue for some applications that use legacy application installers. 32-bit device drivers are not supported, so you can't use any of the existing hardware drivers out there, but must instead use the subset of x64-based drivers that are currently available. This situation will improve over time, but x64 Vista users are going to be orphaning hardware.

New 64-bit applications will need to adhere to the new Windows Vista application standards in order to run correctly on these versions. That means that even some software written specifically for XP x64 might not work correctly.

As with Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, the various Windows Vista x64 versions represent a compromise of sorts and are, thus, not necessarily a good choice for most Windows users ... Yet.