As Windows XP’s life-cycle is coming to an end for OEM and Retail on June 30th, Microsoft is forcing everyone to switch to Windows Vista. However as you switch to Vista, you may have noticed that there are many different editions available. We’re going to go through the editions and point out the differences so that you can make the best choice for your business.

32 bit vs 64 bit

The first thing you’ll notice is that you can choose between 32 bit and 64 bit of Vista for certain versions. In general, you will have better compatibility with the 32 bit version. However there are some reasons why you would run 64:

• You can run more than 4GB of RAM. For most users, running 4GB of RAM or less is fine.
• 64 bit is faster.

Reasons why you might not run it:

• Application compatibility problems. A lot of the issues have been fixed as of this writing. However there might be older programs or printers that might not work with the 64 bit version of Vista. Your best bet is to check with the vendor that makes the application and make sure that it runs on 64 bit Vista.
• Existing 32 bit drivers will not work. This means you will have to download the drivers for printers, scanners, cameras, etc. and you will have to get the 64 bit version. If it exists..

Windows Vista Basic

• Not meant for businesses
• No remote desktop
• Not meant for laptops

Windows Vista Home Premium

• Not meant for businesses
• No remote desktop
• Prettier; Has Aero desktop (3D)
• No Windows Backup features built in

Windows Vista Business

• Meant for businesses
• Includes Windows Backup
• Has remote desktop

Windows Vista Ultimate

• Fail-safe; contains everything that is in all the other editions

Summary

So as you can see, most business will either want to run Windows Vista Business or Ultimate. Personally I will recommend 64 bit for a new computer, even though I have had some issues with driver compatibility however they have been fixed within the past year. The main reason I suggest 64 bit is not because it might be useful now but in the future. Applications will progress towards 64 bit and they will be faster.

Tags: microsoft, windows vista

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Straight Talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.