Running 64-bit Windows on x64 hardware

Thought I had to share this with you. Last week I received a Ferrari 3200 Laptop (just for testing for a couple of days L).

The test system has:

. 1 GB of RAM

. AMD Athlon 64, 2800+ processor

. 128 MB ATI graphics board

. 1040x1050 native LCD screen resolution

. 70 GB harddrive

. DVD burner

. 4 x USB-2

. 1x Firewire

. 1 GBit network card

. Bluetooth

. Wireless

. Windows XP Professional (32-bit) pre-installed (which I removed)

I installed one of the latest internal builds of XP for x64, used the File and Setting Transfer Wizard to migrate some of my setting from the current 32-bit laptop over and installed all my favorite apps. Office, including Visio, Frontpage and OneNote. Media Encoder that I use for recording PPTs. eTrust for x64, MapPoint, Whidbey Beta 1 refresh, my flash animation program SWISHmax and a couple of other apps including my VOIP softphone. All are 32-bit still and run exceedingly well.

 

And the trial download of VMWare’s workstation also installs and runs 32-bit (Windows) guest OSses like a charm.

Driver support for this box is great. Most of the drivers install out of the box with the OS. ATI has a website for the latest beta graphics drivers for 64-bit Windows. Built-in wireless is from Broadcom. They have a beta driver on their website.

We are still weak when it comes to my favorite external gadgets like CardScan and WebCam or my color printer at home. I guess many other drivers are missing, too. I know the driver team is working hard with partners and hardware vendors on getting as many drivers as possible into the final version. Well, for now since they are supported via USB, I can use them in my 32-bit VMWare guest OS.

 

ActiveSync 3.7.1 (downloaded from microsoft.com/downloads) with the Smartphone works as does the CD burning process. I still can’t get Bluetooth to enumerate the services my headset offers but it finds the headset already! Maybe a missing driver.

 

If you are about to buy a new laptop, maybe you want to wait a couple of weeks and get this cool looking very per formant 64-bit laptop and start running 64-bit Windows on it or use the dual boot option to ALSO install a 32-bit Windows. :-)

 

The Ferrari laptop and other great 64-bit gear can be found at: https://www.amdboard.com/athlon_64_notebook.html

 

BTW, Windows Media Player 10 works with music CDs, my MP3 player for sync-up and also plays my favorite news channel: https://www.dradio.de/streaming/pop_up.html. Real Network’s free player unfortunately still refuses to install on the 64-bit OS.

 

Have you tried a 64-bit Windows OS lately? You can download test versions and register for a beta via: https://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/64bit/default.mspx.

 

Want to share your experiences with Windows on 64-bit? What apps do you use, what works, what doesn't?