The 64 Bit question - Upgrade

[dieselstation]

I'm in the same boat!! i want to use 4GB or even 8GB or ram. and i have JUST done a fresh reinstall of Vista 32bit. IS IT POSSIBLE TO UPGRADE from 32bit to 64bit without doing a fresh reinstall again?

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: dieselstation
I'm in the same boat!! i want to use 4GB or even 8GB or ram. and i have JUST done a fresh reinstall of Vista 32bit. IS IT POSSIBLE TO UPGRADE from 32bit to 64bit without doing a fresh reinstall again?

No. 🙁

 

[foghorn67]

I almost ready to bite the bullet on this. I am going to buy OEM Ultimate, and I need to decide 32 vs 64 because I will be stuck with what I decide.
I am really leaning towards 64. If something is really wrong, or it gets annoying, I have my XP to fall back on I suppose.

 

[WicKeD]

I recently installed Vista Ultimate x64.

I have had no driver issues, game issues, etc. Steam, Q4, Doom 3 all work fine. I do not use too many apps, but they all work fine.

I do have Vista on my laptop for over a year and hated it. I am liking Vista on my desktop and should have upgraded it sooner.

There is really no reason not to go x64 is your system is capable.

 

[Dadofamunky]

Originally posted by: Mem

Originally posted by: pm
Where did you get 64-bit Firefox? The only ones that I found with Google are Alpha releases of Firefox 3 from back in Sept.

Thanks

Link.

New version!
The version requiring no installation of 64-bit Firefox has now been released! The official name is Firefox (Bon Echo) Community Edition Release.

The downloaded file is a self-extracting archive, which, when executed, creates a folder named Firefox Community Edition at the selected location. This folder includes the file named firefox.exe, which is used to execute the 64-bit program. Thereafter, the software can be used as usual.

Version release date: 2008-02-01

Yeah, FireFox doesn't seem to be totally baked yet; I did find a FF 2.0 64-bit version called Bon Echo) that runs well, except that it does not load any plug ins whatsoever. I'll go check out your link.

So far, I'm quite happy with Vista 64-bit, except that I just ran into some instability in Internet Explorer (now where have we heard THAT before?) and some persistent network permissions issues, but in general I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[foghorn67]

Installed Vista 64 Ultimate, everything seems fine so far. Still loading apps though.

 

[ingeborgdot]

I have found nothing that I need, that I was not able to install on my 64 bit vista. Well, there were a couple of programs but I figured that they must not be keeping up with the times so I installed their rivals software that did work.
If we listen to some on here 64 bit will never make it because there will be nobody pushing them to advance and make it.
If we were like some on here, computers may still be in the dark ages because they would always be saying "You don't need to have a bigger hard drive then 64 mb, why would anyone need more than that?" We would not have a lot of things. Everyone should look to advance and at least try it.

 

[JustaGeek]

No matter how enthusiastic anyone can be today, the 64-bit OS will not be the mainstream system for another year or two, perhaps longer.

We are running it on our machines today with 99% of all the software and drivers running in *32 mode.

There is no real need for it - it's like the electric car. No matter how advanced that is, until there is oil, no one will push for it hard, because there is still a lot of money to be made on oil!

Or 32-bit Operating Systems and applications...

 

[ingeborgdot]

And as long as people keep saying there is no need for it like you, then it may take longer than even next year. When you push, people move a little faster sometimes.

 

[JustaGeek]

It's all about money, dude.

Nobody actually cares what you or I are saying.

If there is a buck to be made, they will all move to 64-bit with lightning speed.

99% of computer users don't care, as long as it works.

The OEMs don't want hassle - they want a customer that will NOT call the support hotline.