When I got my new Lenovo T60p Vista rig awhile back, I made the decision to run with the OEM installation of Vista (and all the crapware that came along with it) for as long as I could stand it. I knew this would be somewhat painful, but I often like to do this when using a brand new machine because it helps me better understand some of the end user issues that our customers face.
Now, after I could no longer take the poor performance and system stability issues any longer, I decided to rebuild from scratch. Not only that, but I installed the x64 version of Windows Vista Business. I know a lot of people who are scared of a 64-bit OS on the desktop, but since the release of Vista I have seen lots of positive things about the x64 version, especially from the hardcore ThinkPad users.
After lamenting this for a few days, I jumped in to the 64-bit world head first. Now, nearly a month later, I have to say that I am loving the performance increase I am seeing on this system running the x64 OS. Here is everything that I installed on my system:
| Adobe Flash 9 x86 with IE7 x86 | Lenovo ThinkVantage Power Manager |
| Apple Quicktime | Lenovo ThinkVantage Power Mgmt Driver |
| ATI Catalyst Control Center | Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 |
| ATI Mobility FireGL V5250 v8.383.1.1000 | Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 |
| CutePDF Writer | Microsoft Office LiveMeeting 2007 |
| Diskeeper Professional 2008 | Microsoft Office Sharepoint Designer 2007 |
| eWallet | Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007 |
| FileZilla Client | Microsoft Silverlight |
| Foxit Software PDF iFilter | Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 |
| Foxit Software PDF Reader | Mozilla Firefox |
| Intel Matrix Storage Manager | PuTTy |
| Intel ® Pro/1000 PL NIC v9.6.8.0 (Microsoft) | Sun Java SE Runtime Environment 6 Update 3 x64 |
| Intel ® Pro/Wireless 3945ABG NIC v11.1.1.16 | Trend Micro Client Security |
| ISO Recorder | Verizon VZAccess for KPC650 |
| Lenovo ThinkVantage Access Connections | VMWare Workstation 6.0 |
| Lenovo ThinkVantage Active Protection Mgr | Windows Live Photo Gallery |
| Lenovo ThinkVantage Bluetooth | Windows Live Writer |
| Lenovo ThinkVantage Fingerprint Software | WinRAR |
| Lenovo ThinkVantage Modem | Zune |
My intentions are to update this going forward, and try to document any application issues that I find through my journey. Based on my experience thus far, I have to say that I can't see any reason to not use the x64 version of Windows if you have a CPU that will allow it.