XP or Vista 64bit?

I'm not a recent switcher as I have used Macs for years now however, I just purchased a new 15" Macbook Pro today. I went with the 2.4ghz model and upgraded the ram to 4gb (which leads to my question).

I know that neither 32bit versions of XP or Vista can use all 4 gigs of ram and that in order to use all 4 gigs I'll need to install a 64bit version of windows..

Having used both XP and Vista I prefer XP however this will be the first time I am using a dual-core processor and more than 2gb of ram. I remember trying the 64bit version of XP when it originally came out and had many problems with it and ended up going back to 32bit.

I plan on using Bootcamp for serious windows needs and VM Fusion for non pressing requirements.

What I'm wondering is should I use Vista or XP for bootcamp? What are the pros and cons of each? I consider myself a windows power user having used it in all its carnations since 3.1. Sorry if I don't make a whole lot of sense right now; it's 2:30 in the morning here and just doing some late night research.

64-bit support for Windows on Macs has come a long way since Apple first added the drivers for the Mac Pro last year. Since you just got a new Mac, I would presume it comes with the latest version of Boot Camp (2.1), which should have 64-bit drivers available. If that's the case, then you should just go ahead and install Vista 64 as you would XP or Vista 32 and it should work just fine.

I would definitely recommend Vista 64 simply for the fact that it will recognize all of that memory, which you've already deduced. Plus, Vista 64 will take better advantage of the 64-bit processor, speeding up applications in general. I remember making the upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit Vista myself not too long ago, and I noticed a slight speed bump right away.

Most people will tell you to stick with XP for its smaller foot print and performance benefit. However, Vista SP1 is just as fast as XP now and while it may seem that it takes up more resources, it's actually just utilizing them better than XP did.

I don't think you'll notice the difference between 3 or 4 GB, to be honest. I prefer XP32. But I agree Vista support has come a long way.

I am very positive on the new Windows 7 beta -- it is a much better Vista than Vista ... lol If I were starting out right now, I would not worry overmuch about what choice I made because I would be upgrading to Windows 7 later this year regardless. I've been running Win7 in Fusion and find it to be very snappy -- even with only 1 GB of RAM allocated to it. All the benefits of Vista, etc., with the system resource efficiency of XP.

So, don't stress too much. Either choice will work and personally, I don't think there's much need for the 64-bit versions of either OS because the vast majority of software is not compiled for it and the RAM differential is essentially unnoticeable.

Short answer - you can't really go wrong and check out Win 7 because you'll be upgrading soon (hence I would lean to whatever costs you less in the short run). If you're a bit of a risk taker, you could just start with Win7 and buy the license later, although I would expect a few bugs to show up (and be fixed) over the next few months.

Cheers

I'm pretty much in the same situation as the original poster, so hopefully I will not be getting off the original poster's topic.

I'm a longtime Mac user...and finally took the plunge recently purchasing a "Intel" based Mac (Is it really still a Mac with an Intel processor in it??? Ha ha!).

In any case, my main reason for purchasing an "Intel Mac" was to be able to do my "normal" Macintosh activities, and to be able to boot into Windows to play games that either take a long time to be ported to the Mac...or to play games that were never ported to the Mac.

I will most likely play Windows games that are on the "deep-discount" shelf at computer stores, or games that may be 1-2 years old, and are selling cheap...and were never ported to the Mac.

I purchased a one-owner Mac Pro "Quad" 2.66ghz, 3 gig ram, X1900 graphics card.

I'm absolutely a "newbie" when it comes to Windows, and very confused regarding which Windows OS package to purchase and use with bootcamp!

Can folks please explain what the Pros & Cons are with each option?:

- Vista 64 bit?
- Vista 32 bit?
- Windows XP 64 bit?
- Windows XP 32 bit?

Please keep in mind, my main purpose for running Windows is to play older Windows games (maybe 1-2 years old)...but who knows, I may want to run newer games as well.

Thanks,

- Nick