Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium in stock

[hansmuff]

Originally posted by: Staples

Originally posted by: MrFanel
Why would anyone want to get the 32 bit version is beyond me...

There are problems with drivers in 64bit OSes. Most hardward manufacturers are not dedicating many resources to writing drivers for an OS that very very few people use. Also, I believe that using a 64bit version cuts your memory in half. Have you been enjoying that gig or memory? Upgrade your OS to 64bits and now you will have 512mb.

That's a lot of misinformation there.
How does it cut your memory in half?! I'd really like to know.

But to debunk the post:
(1) Driver support: Yes, it has been iffy in the past, in XP 64-bit. Nevertheless, even with XP 64-bit, all mainstream hardware was well supported. With Vista, 64-bit driver availability is part of the WHQL certification. If a manufacturer wants that certification, they must provide a 64-bit driver. It will make availability much better. Unless you have some off-beat hardware, you'll be OK.

(2) Memory: The 64-bit version uses just about as much memory as the 32-bit version. It does not cut anything. As a matter of fact, the 64-bit version removes restrictions that 32-bit has.
(2.1) 2GB per process MAX in 32-bit.
(2.2) 4GB addressable MAX in 32-bit.
A 64-bit machine/OS can address WAY over 4GB total, and can give each process WAY more than 2GB.

I anticipate there will be SOME hardware where drivers won't be available, but mostly really old or off-beat stuff. Replace that 10 year old TV tuner.

Also, the 64-bit OS will still run the 32-bit software just fine. It worked great in XP 64-bit as well, with no perceivable performance loss even in demanding games.

EDIT: With Vista, you want 2GB unless you enjoyed XP with 1GB. If you play modern games and 1GB was barely enough in XP, get 2GB for Vista.

 

[Zbox]

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: Zbox
lol, I couldn't agree more. The only thing I have to add is screw Microsoft for making dx10 Vista only... We'll see if it stays that way.

There are some major overhauls in Vista's driver model that require major changes in core DirectX components. Porting DX10 to XP would be a major effort with little benefit to Microsoft.

That's what they would have you believe. It is a pure marketing ploy, nothing more.

To quote John Carmack in a CES 2007 Interview:

There were some clear wins going from Windows 95 to Windows XP for games, but there really aren?t any for Vista. They?re artificially doing that by tying DX10 so close it, which is really nothing about the OS. It?s a hardware-interface spec. It?s an artificial thing that they?re doing there. They?re really grasping at straws for reasons to upgrade the operating system. I suspect I could run XP for a great many more years without having a problem with it.

 

[bigi]

I just upgraded from XP PRO to 2000 PRO. Have much less cr@p and all runs much smoother.
Vista gives you nothing better. Nothing

 

[karstenanderson]

Originally posted by: bigi
I just upgraded from XP PRO to 2000 PRO

lol.

 

[Desslok]

Originally posted by: bigi
I just upgraded from XP PRO to 2000 PRO. Have much less cr@p and all runs much smoother.
Vista gives you nothing better. Nothing

Put down the crack pipe dude!

 

[Tomer]

"Do you think you'll have better luck viewing protected HD content under XP?"

Absolutely. Read Peter Guttman?s paper or give a listen to some of the TWIT and SN podcasts. It is truly unbelievable all the new "premium content protections" Vista has built in, from ?revocable keys? to ?tilt bits? which will serve to mar legitimate users experience and do absolutely nothing to stop those who believe content that they purchase should be unencumbered.

In actuality by trying to lock content down even more they effectively *really* piss of the exact people who have the free time and skill to circumvent the needless restrictions.

In addition, about the time a key becomes public and they shut down a few million players only then will the s**t hit the fan as it should be now, before it happens.

Read the paper or listen to the podcasts, it is spine chilling.

Remember it wasn?t so long ago the RIAA was fainting about how the music industry was going to be in ruination due to digital downloading of music. Just as has repeated itself time and time again they had to be drug to the money tree, screaming and bawling like 2 year olds.

iTunes has sold how many billion tracks now? Just think what it would be if they were unencumbered by that evil DRM. Imagine the success of iTunes were it setup like Allofmp3.Com. Hell even I would buy music from them then.

There are many, many people who will not purchase a DRM?ed song or video simply out of principle.

 

[videopho]

Just been over the Egg site and didn't find any Vista 64 bit version. All I saw was the 32 bit version. Has anyone else seen this too?
Micro Center and Amazon carry both 32 & 64 on their respective site.

 

[Kaido]

32-bit Ultimate for $199:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832116213

 

[boles]

Originally posted by: Staples
Erased because people won't stop commenting on it.

lol, well i wonder why :roll:


And thanks OP....

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: MrFanel
Why would anyone want to get the 32 bit version is beyond me...

Because the 64bit version wouldn't work on my P4.

 

[dajeepster]

64-bit Ultimate for $199.99 at microcenter

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0251842

 

[marulee]

See. OEM.

 

[rmrfhomeoops]

Originally posted by: Tomer
"Do you think you'll have better luck viewing protected HD content under XP?"

Absolutely. Read Peter Guttman?s paper or give a listen to some of the TWIT and SN podcasts. It is truly unbelievable all the new "premium content protections" Vista has built in, from ?revocable keys? to ?tilt bits? which will serve to mar legitimate users experience and do absolutely nothing to stop those who believe content that they purchase should be unencumbered.

In actuality by trying to lock content down even more they effectively *really* piss of the exact people who have the free time and skill to circumvent the needless restrictions.

In addition, about the time a key becomes public and they shut down a few million players only then will the s**t hit the fan as it should be now, before it happens.

Read the paper or listen to the podcasts, it is spine chilling.

Remember it wasn?t so long ago the RIAA was fainting about how the music industry was going to be in ruination due to digital downloading of music. Just as has repeated itself time and time again they had to be drug to the money tree, screaming and bawling like 2 year olds.

iTunes has sold how many billion tracks now? Just think what it would be if they were unencumbered by that evil DRM. Imagine the success of iTunes were it setup like Allofmp3.Com. Hell even I would buy music from them then.

There are many, many people who will not purchase a DRM?ed song or video simply out of principle.

The article in the link that you've provided states:

?None of the AGP or PCI-E graphics cards that you can buy today support HDCP [...] If you've just spent $1000 on a pair of Radeon X1900 XT graphics cards expecting to be able to playback HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movies at 1920x1080 resolution in the future, you've just wasted your money [...] If you just spent $1500 on a pair of 7800GTX 512MB GPUs expecting to be able to play 1920x1080 HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movies in the future, you've just wasted your money?.

A reference to a firesquad article dated on Feb 2006.

Yet anandtech have done articles on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray playback on the PCs with various cards from ATI & Nvidia.
Although some of the things mentioned in the article does seems quite plausible but I would really rather wait for more people's experience b4 going to get a Vista.

 

[samduhman]

So can someone confirm the posts about the OEM version please.

For someone like me who upgrades his motherboard "on average" once a year should avoid the OEM version like the plague?

 

[kedlav]

Please retitle OEM DX10 with DRM laden OS for $200 please.