32-bit or 64-bit? How to decide which edition of vista to pick?

[Gozu]

The topic says it all. I have a dual-core AMD64 and I can't decide. On the one hand, 64-bit holds the promise for *potential* performance improvements and, I suppose, better support for large quantities of ram (>4 gb). On the other hand, I am worried about incompatibility issues with older software and drivers for semi-obscure devices.

It's been a little while since AMD and Intel processors have supported 64-bits so this must be a question many people will ask themselves when/if they decide to upgrade. Some expert opinions would be welcome.

Thank you for your time,

Gozu

[Gozu]

I still have faith.

[seenidog]

Don't even worry about it, wait for service pack 2 to come out, by then a lot of others will have been doing most of the bleeding and there will be much more information available so you can make an informed choice.

[TimeWinder]

You've pretty much hit the issues. On the plus side, you'll be able to support more memory, and you'll get a minor speed improvement from 64-bit apps. There's a better security model, too, but I'm not sure how big a deal that is, since even the 32-bit side is considerably improved.

On the minus side, you'll wait longer for drivers (it's harder to port to 64-bit than 32), CANNOT use an unsigned driver (which means a lot of free/open source projects will never support it, because they can't affort the signing/testing), and frankly for a while there aren't going to BE any 64-bit apps to speak of. Some older (16-bit) applications won't work, because 64-bit Vista doesn't support them.

The decision was easy for me; I need more memory. For most folks, I think it's going to be a lot harder.

[Sapo]

the question is: how many obscure drivers do YOU actually need/use? Take a look at your own suite of peripherals and apps and see which are ready for 64. If something that you just must have is still not ready, then wait.