A dilemma
Free software has caused me a bit of a dilemma. Through
Georgia Tech and the
MSDNAA, I now have a free copy of each of these:
- Windows Server 2003 Standard
- Windows XP Pro SP2
- Windows XP Pro 64-bit
- Visio Pro 2003
- Access 2003
All of these are downloading now, in simple ISOs that I can burn to CD. I already have XP SP2, but hey—I couldn't resist a free copy of it. My conundrum and my question is this: I can install XP 64-bit edition. I know nothing about said OS's stability or how it compares to what I've got now. This wouldn't be such a problem if I didn't already have an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor—perhaps I would greatly benefit from a 64-bit operating system. Or, perhaps, it would function just the same and be a whole lot cooler.
Either way, here's what I've got to run it on:
- AMD Athlon 64 3200+
- 768MB RAM
- 60GB HDD (20 GB free)
Help! Should I pull an upgrade or leave well enough alone? I could gain speed, functionality, or just plain
leet-ness; but I could run into install troubles or application incompatibility. I've done no research on this, so I ask my faithful readers to help point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance!
2 Comments:
I frequently changed operating enviroments while an undergraduate. I suggest running FreeBSD on your laptop; that will build character :-)
I'm going to go with bulldawgy on this one.
Take a look at this:
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition FAQ
Driver support is still very lacking, and unless you are having resource problems that are a direct result of 32-bit limitations (very unlikely), it sounds like you're asking for a lot of trouble.
I work in IT for a living, and thoroughly enjoy geeking out and installing operating systems, but if you plan to do any actual work with this system of yours, I wouldn't do it.
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