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Vista 64-bit....

Shovelhead

New Member
I've seen posts concerning this and software compatibility but never paid much attention because I swore that I would never purchase a machine with Vista.

I am considering this notebook.

Maybe I'll run it as is or install XP.

:wine-smi:
 

Modern Ink

New Member
Install XP!


or better yet...... by a MAC!


I'm currently on PCs and you can bet the next computers in this shop are MACs!
 

omgsideburns

New Member
....but I'm not gay, watch Star Trek or reside in my mom's basement.

Star Trek geeks would definitely be in the same vein as Linux fan boys.

Apple fanatics generally have thick glasses and tight jeans.

//uses both mac and pc, whatever gets the job done.
 

omgsideburns

New Member
I guess I should be a little more constructive.

Let's pretend Apple doesn't exist for a moment.

Two years ago running XP x64 was a different story as far as drivers go. Now, not so much. Graphtec has said "no 64 drivers til after summer!" but both signlab and flexi don't even use the Graphtec drivers.

As far as 64bit Vista, I use it on my home computer. It's a core2duo 3.8ghz, 8 gigs of ram and a gig of video on it so 64bit was a necessity. I can run a serial plotter on it thanks to the Keyspan adapter with the 64 drivers from their website. I've demo'd signlab and flexi on it running a plotter without an issue. The newest versions of the Adobe suites take advantage of the 64bit so you're not "wasting" any of that power.

The only compatibility issue I've had with it since I started using 64bit vista was my old flatbed scanner won't work. That's fine, it was only 100 bucks 5 years ago.

As long as the software that you use on a regular basis will run on 64 bit, I would go for it. The support keeps growing, and the only things that aren't supported are most older and outdated. If it's important enough to keep using, SOMEONE is writing the driver for it, or already has.
 

SignBurst PCs

New Member
What software are you worried about?

We use Vista 64 exclusively (aside from testing Windows 7 RC1).

As long as your software is fairly recent, you probably won't have any issues. That being said, there are exceptions.
 

javila

New Member
Only issue I've run into with 64 bit Windows 7 is fleix 7.6, so I run that in XP compatability mode. Everything else works so far, what hardware/software are you going to be using?

Windows 7 has amazing great driver support as is, you can use it free until march.
 

SignBurst PCs

New Member
Graphtec has said "no 64 drivers til after summer!" but both signlab and flexi don't even use the Graphtec drivers.

As far as I know, Graphtec device drivers are OK in Vista 64. It is the USB drivers that have a problem. If you run it through Ethernet instead of USB, I think that is workable. Please double check with Graphtec about your specific device before doing anything.
 

Mason

New Member
I've seen posts concerning this and software compatibility but never paid much attention because I swore that I would never purchase a machine with Vista.

I am considering this notebook.

Maybe I'll run it as is or install XP.

:wine-smi:


I believe you can get XP Pro to run 64 bit, Vista sucks
 

iSign

New Member
on your laptop, I might guess that you won't have a whole signshop worth of obscure programs & device drivers that need to run on it...

I bought a Vista 64 bit upgrade just yesterday, on purpose, without a gun to my head... although I did call Casey (Signburst) first... but I went for it, and have no remaining fears about it serving me well.

As for your "downgrade" idea, running that laptop on XP... be forewarned, it is sometimes a very difficult process. More recently (last 2 years) a lot of Vista machines were built with this possibility in mind... but when Vista was newer, & M$ had hopes of more confidence in the marketplace, they assumed XP would fade away & made machines with no compatible drivers... Techman will tell you there is a way to get drivers for almost any component... but there is a way to scale Mt. Everest too... for me, after 6 solid hours of struggle, the XP OS I loaded on my Vista laptop was taken off again, since sound card, usb ports, CD drives & assorted other functionality was lost, with no luck & no optimism coming from HP tech support. I'm sure the right guy might have had better luck... but I'm not that guy, so I accepted my Vista fate & found it was nothing to fear after all... in my case.
 

1leonchen

New Member
my 2 cents

unleess u have some of the latest software such a corell x4, photo shop cs4, flexi 8.5 etc then your chances of runnig sucess full sign programs is going to be a head ace.also some of the newer labtops are not backward compatible meaning it wont work with xp you wontfind the drivers. speaking of drivers only if u have some real time and patience owuld i recomend this. mac is good but it cost a lot for software. and running boot leg software on a mac tends to make the system unstable (i have used the latest mac pro tower with cs3 and every time it registred it makes the lepoard malfunction)

my recomendation ask questions before you buy a labtop at the store a little more infonever killed any one. i traded my newwer vista lapbtop for a original 478 p4 labtop with parell port it has half the power but all of the thing i needed in a laptop.

:iamwithstupid
 

Shovelhead

New Member
Can someone explain why Best Buy wants $60 for a Windows disk?
...and how do they burn one from an already installed operating system?
 
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