What is going to happen?

Am I missing out on anything?

Laptop has an AMD Turion 64 2.0ghz mobile processor, 1gb of RAM.

It has XP media center on it but got a virus that ruined it and I do not have restore disks only a full copy of Vista Home Professional.

9/22/2009 3:06:24 PM

no, not really. Just don't plan on going over 3gb of ram.

9/22/2009 3:24:02 PM

yup, no more than 3gb of ram and no 64bit apps (which most people don't use). Will run just fine otherwise.

9/22/2009 3:26:57 PM

Question: Why would you want to, though? I'm pretty sure if you have a copy/license for Vista 32-bit you can get a 64-bit copy for fairly cheap.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033/ordermedia/default.mspx

i.e., I believe your license should work for 32-bit or 64-bit Vista HP; all you need is the 64-bit media. All you need to do is order the media, which I believe can be done for very little.

9/22/2009 4:14:20 PM

The only reason I'd stick with 32-bit is because the software to VPN into work will not run on 64-bit OSes. They don't plan to upgrade either.

I've even heard the plan is to just stop allowing remote access by the time a majority of people are off 32-bit. Nice plan. So, how long will 32-bit last? I'd imagine that one day Dell, HP, etc. will starting having a minimum of 4BG of RAM, so grandma's PC will be 64-bit and 32-bit will finally receive an overdue burial.

EDIT: Oops, forgot. Now thanks to the i7 proc with its tree channel memory... it creates a viable architecture for 3GB and breathes a bit of life back into 32-bit OSes. Might be a while until 6GB becomes the norm.

\/ How well does that work? In this case the reason it doesn't run is because two services that the app depends on won't start.

[Edited on September 22, 2009 at 4:26 PM. Reason : -]

9/22/2009 4:21:21 PM

Well, there's always XP mode on Win7...

9/22/2009 4:23:04 PM

Quote :

"How well does that work? In this case the reason it doesn't run is because two services that the app depends on won't start."

Not sure yet - I haven't had the chance to test it myself, but my understanding is that it is a full-fledged copy of XP running in a native VM environment, assuming your processor supports virtualization.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XP_Mode#Windows_XP_Mode

I'm actually quite eager to try it; a friend of mine who was running the Win7 Beta seems to think it performed quite well, and may solve some of the problems you describe with 32-bit apps, since it's an actual Win32 environment running separately.

I'm getting a copy of Win7 Ultimate (yay MS party!) so, we'll see, I guess - I've got some old games that run only in WinXP (won't run on Vista-64) that I currently use Virtual PC for, so it should be a worthwhile test.

9/22/2009 4:46:49 PM

Quote :

"only reason I'd stick with 32-bit is because the software to VPN into work will not run on 64-bit OSes"

will win7 XP mode facilitate this goal?

9/22/2009 5:49:17 PM

Can someone explain the difference in laymans terms?

9/22/2009 6:32:54 PM

I read like two words in this thread and I know nothing about OS, so excuse me if I mytwocents myself here, but what's with everyone talking about a 3 gb RAM limit? I thought 32-bit OS had a 4GB max on total memory.

9/22/2009 7:31:52 PM

3.5gb addressable. 4gb physical.

Basically, if you don't know why you should be installing one version or the other, use the 32bit version. Memory is the only layman's difference between the two versions, and unless you have OVER 4gb, it doesn't matter.

9/22/2009 7:42:47 PM

Re. Windows XP Mode. Running one app is one thing. I suppose the VM would kick in automatically to run the app, then close once the app is closed. Unfortunately these are services, I'd rather the VM not run the whole time my computer is on. I assume the VM isn't that friendly with resources.

I suppose I could go through the pain of manually stopping and starting the services for just when I use them - or create a batch file that handles it. That or the company can pull their heads out of their rumps and make their stuff 64-bit compatible. Do they even have a business model that carries them into the future (or even the present)?

9/22/2009 7:46:25 PM

Two posts beat me to responding to Ernie. Bleh.

^
I'll leave that rhetorical question to you. Suffice it to say, there are VPN clients that can more robustly run on 32-bit, 64-bit, and a variety of OS's. Convincing said solution is better, converting to said solution (software, education, helpdesk, etc.), AND getting a given workplace to change network security can be difficult though.

Per Wikipedia: "XP Mode applications run in a Terminal Services session in the virtualized Windows XP, and are accessed via Remote Desktop Protocol by a client running on the Windows 7 host."

This assumes a lot of security-level items can be somehow "passed" via the RDP session and then used on the host OS. Specific to the VPN solution, if the VPN solution allows packets from a different source IP address, that may work. However, normally you run the VPN client in the guest OS with bridged networking.

To answer your question, for your laptop, no you will not miss out on anything.

[Edited on September 22, 2009 at 7:50 PM. Reason : .]

9/22/2009 7:46:47 PM

Quote :

"3.5gb addressable. 4gb physical."

I've notice this varies on some Xp 32bit machines with 4gb of memory installed.

I've seen it show 3.25, 3.5 and sometimes it will just show 3.0 Gb in the 'my computer' window. Why does this vary PC to PC?

9/23/2009 9:23:02 AM

you will be missing 32 bits~!

9/23/2009 9:24:03 AM

Quote :

"Question: Why would you want to, though?"

i've had some weird problems with quickbooks in 64 bit. pdf printer won't install. not a big deal to just use 32 bit for the average person

9/23/2009 9:30:43 AM

Quote :

"The only reason I'd stick with 32-bit is because the software to VPN into work will not run on 64-bit OSes. They don't plan to upgrade either."

http://shrewsoft.com/download/vpn
works perfectly. will even import your cisco PCFs.

(i'm assuming, of course, that you're referring to the non-SSL (i.e. ipsec) cisco VPN client which cisco threw everyone under the bus with by requiring them to switch to anyconnect (and pay the subsequent licensing fees))

9/23/2009 5:27:41 PM

Quote :

"I've notice this varies on some Xp 32bit machines with 4gb of memory installed. I've seen it show 3.25, 3.5 and sometimes it will just show 3.0 Gb in the 'my computer' window. Why does this vary PC to PC?"

The short answer to this questions is that there are differences in the implementation of the PCI-E bus and they affect how the system addresses memory. Google should get you a more technical explanation.

9/23/2009 5:45:45 PM

^^ Do you think that would work with sonicwall's vpn?

9/23/2009 7:39:08 PM