64-bit processors have been around, but not everyone buys or feels comfortable buying AMD. There are the hardheaded people that use what they grew up with and that’s Intel. However, it seems like EVERY system I see advertised either has a Intel 64bit or AMD 64bit processor in it. To all those people I say “your welcome” as I have been running my AMD FX55 since the thing came out. I tried XP 64-bit when it came out, and not only did I have driver issues, I had software issues getting Flash to run in IE, etc.
Now I am running Vista Business 64-bit edition and I must say there is great 64-bit driver support. If the company has a 32-bit Vista driver chances are they have the 64-bit edition too. Some companies like HP don’t have Vista drivers yet for all their printers, their short term resolution is to use the USB cable instead of the Network connection for things like Fax/Scanning. Other companies like Razer don’t even have Vista drivers yet.
This leads me to my point, how long have these companies known Vista was coming? You can truly see which companies are dedicated to ensuring there products work with any OS and those companies that are just too small to spend the time developing drivers for every OS. Logitech Razer, etc. Suprisingly about the only Vista driver Razer does have is for the Habu mouse they make for Microsoft.
But for those of you thinking about upgrading to 64-bit OS, do it! There is no distinguishable issues that I have run into outside of the lack of general Vista (32bit and 64bit) driver support for some of my devices. I am able to run IE, Firefox, Adobe CS2, Unreal Tournament 2004, Open Office, Office 2007, etc without issue. To me after I disabled all the extra stuff (Defender, Firewall, System Restore), I swear Vista boots faster then my old XP install.
And the Vista GA release doesn’t crash like the RC1 version did either. There is a good availability of virus software out there, personally I use Kasperky. If you bought or are thinking about buying a new system that has a 64bit CPU, you paided for it, might as well use it!