Ability to run 64bit programs.
More secure.
Requires certified drivers (so potentially more stable).
Going 64bit means not having to worry about moving to 64bit later. (You don't have to worry if you're old apps work or not since you'll already know if they do)

robertmo wrote:

Are there any adventages of windows 7 64-bit over 32-bit apart from using more than 4 GB memory?

The 64bit is snappier for the most part.

And you can even run some 16-bit Windows programs on 64-bit Windows 7 with XPMode.

bushwack wrote:

The 64bit is snappier for the most part.

I'll agree with that. I have also found 64-bit XP and Vista to be more stable than their 32-bit brethren. I have only had Windows 7 64-bit and can't compare it to 32-bit, so I can't say for sure, but I imagine it is the same for 7, as well. I think that most of the people that complained about Vista were mostly the 32-bit users.

Looking at this article and comments:
msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx
I figured out that:

Even if you have a 64-bit Windows, and have a gfx card with 2GB ram, games won't be able to use more than 2GB of motherboard's memory cause 32-bit aplications cannot use more than 4GB ram in total (2GB gfx ram + 2GB motherboard ram = 4GB). And all games are a 32-bit applications cause they work on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of windows.
Am I right?

robertmo wrote:

Looking at this article and comments: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx I figured out that: […]
Show full quote

Looking at this article and comments:
msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx
I figured out that:

Even if you have a 64-bit Windows, and have a gfx card with 2GB ram, games won't be able to use more than 2GB of motherboard's memory cause 32-bit aplications cannot use more than 4GB ram in total (2GB gfx ram + 2GB motherboard ram = 4GB). And all games are a 32-bit applications cause they work on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of windows.
Am I right?

Don'y forget games like Crysis that takes advantage of a 64bit PC with a 64bit OS
Even Half Life 2 episode 1 and later supported 64bit

Windows Vista and 7 don't have DRM... the codecs however might, to enforce protection of discs but that can be worked around via AnyDVD etc..

As for the OP, you might like PRO. Ultimate offers minimal additional features and is usually not worth it. Any features from PRO that exist in a lower edition will offer the exact same functionality unless otherwise specifically stated.

I believe that the only thing that Ultimate has that Pro does not is multilanguage support and Bitlocker.

I just ordered Pro last night along with a bunch of other parts for my new desktop because I had a newegg coupon code for $15 off of Win7 x64 Pro. I still need to pick up a case, video card, and RAM (the case and video i want are currently sold out).

swaaye wrote:

x64 and x86 are still separate DVDs. The only potential reasons I can see to run x86 are 1) don't have >= 4GB RAM 2) want NTVDM for 16-bit apps 3) use some device that only has Vista x86 drivers.

Personally, i would go for the 64 bit ed unless i was running a 32-bit CPU. Long as you have a reasonable system (More than 2GB RAM) (And more than 20 or so GB of HDD to burn), then it should be fine.

If you go with the Ultimate you get a built in XP VM, which is nice if programs dont like the Vista/7 Kernel (like 2000/XP).

Problem with any NT-based OS is they don't support the legacy programs so much these days, but as there is no alternative.....

You can get XP Mode with Pro, too. BitLocker and multi-language support are the only things that Ultimate has over Pro.

I've heard that that the XP Mode VHD works in Vmware Workstation/Player. Haven't confirmed tho.

XPMode is a joke imho....
It''s just Virtual PC with a different name.

Couldn't they have integrated it into the OS instead yoy have to fire up a whole virtual machine (virtualpc) to run a small app....ridiculous

One good thing about it is that you don't need to own a copy of XP. The image is a free download. I would rather have a temporary burden placed on a virtual machine than to add extra layers to the OS to slow it down for everything else.

PMode is a joke imho....
It''s just Virtual PC with a different name.

Couldn't they have integrated it into the OS instead yoy have to fire up a whole virtual machine (virtualpc) to run a small app....ridiculous

Absolutely, that's exactly what it is. But it's the only way to guarantee compatibility.

Trawl through your windows directory, and you will find a whole host of things win32 and certainly win64 don't need. progman.exe, filemanager.exe, command.com, config.sys, autoexec.bat etc etc.... - They're all there to ensure backward compatibility. Unfortunately, if you make changes to the kernel, some things simply aren't going to work. - The only way is to have a copy of the old kernel.

Windows 7 in simple speek:
32 or 64bit?
Get 32Bit if you don't have a 64bit enabled cpu or need to run windows software that requires special drivers or 16bit subsystem components (siemens step7 etc). Use vista or windows 2008 drivers if none are available for win7
Get 64Bit in any other case - next windows version is exclusively 64bit rumors say

Versions:
Get home basic if you're using very old graphics hardware (pre geforce 6 graphics)
Get home premium to get aero - once you have it, you wouldn't want to be without it
Get ultimate if you want access to everything except windows domain support.
Get professional if you need it as part of a windows domain or access to windows xp mode*
Get enterprise if you want access to everything. You don't want to pay for that.

* XP mode is also available in enterprise and ultimate, but in both cases it may be cheaper to secure an xp license for dualboot instead. Get the professional license or use dualboot, vmware viewer or similar instead. This also avoids some limitations in xp mode.

neiro wrote:

Get ultimate if you want access to everything except windows domain support.
Get professional if you need it as part of a windows domain or access to windows xp mode*
Get enterprise if you want access to everything. You don't want to pay for that.

That doesn't quite jive with the link I posted on the first page, which implies that Ultimate and Enterprise are functionally equivalent and both a step up from Professional.

I don't know the jive word - anyway ultimate and enterprise are essentially the same - one's for companies and the other for private individuals ... and both are overpriced and provide nothing of value that pro doesn't.

My point was that you mentioned that Ultimate doesn't have domain support, though, which I think may be incorrect.

I was going to go with Home Premium because it had everything of interest except for Remote Desktop hosting (I could have lived with VNC instead) but I ended up going with Professional instead because newegg had a sale.

Also, you can supposedly pay Microsoft to upgrade on the fly if you find yourself needing a feature that is locked out in the version you're using.

Ye I think you're right about ultimate. I only know that from the rc though - I know that the home ones can't as that's a problem we run into at work quite frequently. Anyway yes you can upgrade on the fly. The curious thing I've noticed about the versions is that our mak and kms keys seem to work both with enterprise and pro .... anyway personally I'd recommend pro to anyone who can afford it.

One interesting thing I've discovered recently is that Microsoft uses a different method to validate Windows if you're using an OEM machine.

Royal OEMs (like Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.) are only required to put a sticker with the serial number on the outside of the case, but they are NOT required to enter the serial number into Windows.

It turns out that the validation in those cases is limited to checking whether the digital certificate installed inside the BIOS chip in the motherboard matches the one installed in Windows or not. The serial number is just a generic one, and it's always the same serial for all of the machines.

What this means, for us, is that you can buy a machine with the cheapest Windows 7 edition, format the hard disk, and afterwards you can grab yourself a DVD of Windows 7 Ultimate to install it.

Then you just have to install the digital certificate issued to your manufacturer (they are very easy to find on the forums) and .. voila! your Windows 7 Ultimate edition will pass the authentication and validation procedures with flying colors.

It's a loophole that many people are taking advantage of, but Microsoft cannot do anything right now to stop it.

The reason seems to be that OEM manufacturers pressured Microsoft very hard because they didn't want to have to enter a unique serial number for each Windows edition. They just want a generic serial number so it's easier for them to dump the same OS image to all of their hard drives untouched.

I know it's very tempting to try the trick, but remember that it's not legal to do that! Although I really doubt that anyone will notice if you do it 😉