I’m sure some of you have been using a 64-bit version of Windows for a few years now, but have experienced frustrations when coming across problems such as driver incompatibility. That might become a thing of the past as 64-bit Windows PC’s become more prevalent.
The Windows Vista Blog has posted information that indicates a rapid rate of growth for 64-bit computing. The number of Vista computers running the 64-bit version of the operating system has more than tripled over the last three months in the United States (worldwide has doubled). They also took some information gathered from the computers connecting to Windows Update, and they’ve found that 20% of new Vista computers in the United States are 64-bit PC’s. In March of this year that number was a meager 3%. That means 20% of Vista PC’s being sold are equipped with the 64-bit version of the operating system.
Ed Bott has even noticed that a growing number of retail computers are coming with 64-bit Vista Home Premium:
When I looked at the flyers in last Sunday’s paper, I saw several PCs at Best Buy with 64-bit Vista Home Premium Edition installed, including notebooks from HP and Toshiba and quad-core desktops from Gateway and Dell; the former came with 4GB of RAM and a 19-inch LCD monitor for $750, while the latter had 6GB of RAM and a 19-inch monitor for $830.
If I didn’t know better I’d say that the 64-bit computing era is upon us. We noticed this trend back in May, but it appears to be in full-swing now. It will be interesting to see what the stats are like as the end of the year rolls around, but with 64-bit versions of Photoshop and other major apps around the corner I’d have to imagine that it will finish out the year strong.
Enjoyed the post? Subscribe to our feed to get a daily dose of CyberNet!
Tags: Hardware, Windows, Computers, Windows Vista
Related Posts:
- Mac Market Share on the Rise
- Free 152 Page PDF Or Web Book On How Computers Work
- Mac OS X More Vulnerable than Windows
- Dell Might Release AMD Computers By September
- 2 Billion Personal Computers In Use Within 6 Years
I have been running Vista64 since last Oct., and except for ZoneAlarm, I haven’t had any problems finding what I wanted. And Comodo Firewall is just as good, plus I have a hardware firewall in my router.
I take that back, the program CoreTemp was not 64 ready for a few months after I built, but they updated and works great now.
Also, I just bought a laptop for my wife last month at BestBuy (it was on sale really cheap) and it came with Vista64. A Toshibia with 4 gigs of RAM.
Wow, a laptop that comes equipped with 4GB of RAM at a retail store is pretty crazy. I’m surprised they’d put that much in one of their laptops. Normally they’d want the “Geek Squad” to upgrade it for you at an outrageous price.
Well, it’s about friggin’ time.
We’ve had 64-bit computers for ages but still running 32-bit OSs.
It doesn’t make sense and this should have come much faster.
The transition from 16 to 32-bit was much faster/easier right?
A 64 bit pc has no significant advantage over 32 bit unless you are talking about very large disk space and more than 3 gb of RAM but its definitely the way 2 go.
BTW long before Vista 64 bit, we had 64 bit linux distro’s and i have to say that Linux has shown the way once again.
Yes, it was faster, but there also weren’t as many computers out there. Now there are so many more peripherals, hardware, and software that they need to have switch over to the 64-bit world.