Thinkpads Forum

Hi, I'm considering buying a w500 in the next few months and am looking to take full advantage of the 4GB memory option.

From what I'm hearing here, that means I'd have to choose the 64 bit edition of Vista.

Am worried about how big an issue backwards compatibility with X86 software is?

I have a t42 now with 32mg of dedicated graphics, and am looking forward to playing some great x86 games released over the past few years that I can't play now.

Would things like Age of Empires 3, Half Life 2, Bioshock, and the like work on a 64 bit system?

Thanks!

This is a difficult question that only you can answer for yourself. I moved to Vista Business 64-bit, and I have had to replace a lot of software (a bigger change than from 9x to NT some years back). The deeper software goes into the internals, the less likely legacy software will run on a 64-bit machine.

So: Symantec Corporate Security, CommView, SafeNet SoftRemote, most of the IBM drivers (no issue - came with machine), Fax software, iPass software, Blackberry software, VMware and so on all had to be replaced and a number of the upgrades cost.

Then, having said all that, I see no point whatever to a premium machine or in Vista unless the whole thing is 64-bit. It is too late in the game to buy all new and stay 32-bt. ... JDH

I am running Vista Home Premium 64 Bit and have had very few issues with my software. The only things that does not work is the Adobe PDF writer. I have gotten round that by using CutePDF. Once the PDF is created, Acrobat 8 Pro will work it. Here is a partial list of my apps:

Office Ultimate 2007
Adobe CS3 Suiite for Web
Adobe Premium Elements 4
Printshop 23
iTunes (64 ver.)
Quickbooks 2003 (amazed it works better in non-compatibility mode)

I don't run any games but I can check with my son....I gave him my quad core desktop with Vista 64 Ultimate on it when I got my W500.

can you tell me if the screen is bright - can you give comparisons? - can you see this fine in the sunlight outdoors? - the NIT brightness and contrast ratio do not tell me too much.

I use Vista 64 on both my W700 and my X300. I also use Vista 32 on my X300 sometimes. Vista 64 is faster and more stable.

MTWIZARD

I also am finding Vista 64-bit to be very stable. Since my XP machines **never** crash (not ever), then nothing can be "more" stable. Time will tell how stable Vista 64-bit is, but it looks good from here.
... JD