Windows XP Pro 64-bit

[SSA]

Does anybody have any real-life experience of using this OS? Specifically, has driver support improved? Does anyone know of any reliable, quality articles on the subject?

I've heard the code is based on Windows 2003 Server rather than Windows XP Pro. This leads me to suspect that some issues may await me if I try to load games onto it (much the same as when I tried it with Windows NT4).

Is this OS still just an intellectual curiosity given that we can't buy it in the UK yet?

[directhex]

this question pops up every now & again.

1) driver support is still pretty lame - for example: bluetooth, printers, scanners, webcams

2) games may refuse to install, either due to 32/64 bugs (Fahrenheit) or because they detect NT 5.0 or 5.1, and won't install on 5.2 (Vampire Bloodlines)

[johnny02004976]

ive just got myself onto 64bit (still dual booting with XP Pro), as directhex said the driver support is pretty terrible, microsoft are producing products which dont even work with its own OS - fingerprint readers etc etc which is really quite poor.

Tbh id stick with what ur using at the moment until theres acceptable support for it

[Blackmage]

not all bad for me 64bit ATI Drviers, i use 64bit chipset drivers, 64bit audio drviers

[SSA]

Hmm, I sense a dual-boot situation around the corner...

[machinist]

I've installed XP64 no less than 3 times now hoping it would get better, but driver support is still awful. As previous poster said, webcams, scanners are the worst offenders.

Tbh, most manufacturers are gearing up for Vista, and I for one don't blame them. XP64 appears to have simply been a stop-gap for Microsoft, just so they had a consumer-grade OS on the market with 64-bit support.

Wait for Vista (Jan '07), I know I am.

[SSA]

Tbh, most manufacturers are gearing up for Vista, and I for one don't blame them. XP64 appears to have simply been a stop-gap for Microsoft, just so they had a consumer-grade OS on the market with 64-bit support.

Annoying, but most likely true.

Regarding Vista, I hate myself for it but I can already feel the money being sucked out of my wallet...

[machinist]

Regarding Vista, I hate myself for it but I can already feel the money being sucked out of my wallet...

Me too, but then I've always been one of those people who wants the newest thing ASAP !

[SSA]

Me too! Normally, a combo of tight-fistedness and a shortage of cash reins me in but I have to confess to being an early adopter when XP came out...

[Mithrandir]

You can always try out the 4 month free trial.

I used that and I've had no real problems. Only a couple of older game titles not loading and also aquamark, but it's very stable and I've played Doom3, Farcry, UT2004, Oblivion, Age of Empires 3, Call of Duty 1 & 2 amongst others.

I use Power DVD 5 & 6 for watching films and to convert files onto my Genus Vizo. I'm happy with XP64.

[atrull]

took me three times to install it, since I really needed to upgrade my bios before using it.

It's been stable and happy ever since, TBPH.

I only use it for games - no word processing, music listening, webcaming or printing done on this machine. I have propper workstations for that ****e (not running windows) .

[SSA]

Yeah, I was wondering about the free trial. Four months, eh? I see an OEM licence is listed on Scan for £89.38 but I thought it was possible to trade-in existing XP Pro licences to 'upgrade' to 64-bit. I looked on Microsoft's UK site the other day but that didn't even acknowledge that it was available to buy in the UK yet.

[directhex]

Yeah, I was wondering about the free trial. Four months, eh? I see an OEM licence is listed on Scan for £89.38 but I thought it was possible to trade-in existing XP Pro licences to 'upgrade' to 64-bit. I looked on Microsoft's UK site the other day but that didn't even acknowledge that it was available to buy in the UK yet.

it was possible, for a few months, shortly after launch

[bledd]

i've had is my main os on my opteron pc, and yet to find anything that doesn't run on it software wise..

my tv card didn't like it (built for mce anyway) and my sony camera didn't have drivers for it, the games i tested on it worked fine, steam did too