Thread: Vista 64 vs. XP 64

I'm really interested in the advantages of Vista.

I'm building a new PC next weekend and I'm torn between operating systems. I'm going to go duel boot with a 64 bit OS and regular XP. I won't be gaming doing mostly video editing and PhotoShop type stuff. I checked all my hardware, MOBO and my virus protection and it all supports XP 64 as well as Vista 64.

I know that in 2 years I'll probably be on Vista 64 but I'm concerned with what happens between now and then. Other then support from Microsoft, what does Vista buy me today?

I stayed on Windows 2000 until XP SP2 had been released and I didn't have any problems. I know a number of people in my industry that have tried Vista and many moved back to XP. I don't want to install Vista 64 and spend most of my time in XP 32 because of issues. I don't need a new user interface, a different side bar and my network is pretty tight right now.

I know that DirectX 10 would be nice but is there more?

Does Vista 64 really buy me anything now?

I would not speculate that you are on Vista in 2 years. MS plans to have their new OS out by then. XP 64 is a nice and smooth OS - i personally prefer it over Vista. It runs everything i needed it to run (with a few hiccups here and there).

Why do you need a 64 bit OS? If you need more than 4GB RAM and are a avid gamer i would suggest Vista since it comes with DX10 which might become an asset in the future. Otherwise XP 64 is quite sufficient.

Vista is power hungry, I wouldn't suggest it for everybody, but if it's ok for you, why not; I got no software or hardware issues (but my system is a month old). I think that most compatibility issues might come from the 64 bits rather than Vista itself so if you are going to buy any of the 2 OS, I think you might as well try Vista. On the other hand, if you already have a XP 64, just use that.