I think I'm going to make the jump from XP to Vista now that SP1 is available. Just wondering what people would think I should go with. My laptop is the following:

Hardware
HP 8510p
Intel T7300 @ 2GHz
4GB DDR2-6400
160GB 7200RPM HDD
Ati Radeon HD2600 Video
15.4" WSXGA+ Display

Software
Office
Quicken 05
Civ IV
Cisco VPN Client (REALLY important)
My friends are trying to get me into WoW, so thats a possibility
Nothing else really major othen then those listed above

I will be going with Ultimate, just wondering folks thoughts on 64 or 32 bit versions. I'd like to go 64 just for the performance issues, just wondering what other folks have had experiences with. Thanks much.

On a lappy, that originally came with the older OS, I'd be strongly inclined to stick to XP. The reason why is that makers often use proprietary devices in their machines and therefore it is more likely you'll run into driver issues. On a regular box, you generally don't run into issues like that since the componentry is standardized.

Quicken 05 and your VPN client - I'd make really sure those run on Vista. Office will run, no problem.

Its not an older laptop, it was purchased in March '08 and had Vista Business preloaded with an XP downgrade. I'm not really worried about many of the drivers, it seems most of the hardware is pretty standard and is available on HPs website or I still have the original drivers CD that came in the box. I'm just concerned with performance issues. I have the VPN client for Vista now, haven't tested it in 64-bit OS yet.

Regarding performance, early differences were mostly due to poorly optimized drivers. Here's a more recent test:

http://www.extremetech.com/article [...] 495,00.asp

Regarding the original drivers: Since they have to operate directly in the OS, I'd make sure they're good for the x64 version of Vista, rather than just the X86. Besides that, you should be good, then.

One last consideration, I have Vista Ultimate 32 w/SP1 on DVD presently, compliments of Microsoft.

HP has drivers for 64 bit Vista Business and Enterprise, will there work on Ultimate?

Yes, the drivers will work. The important consideration for the drivers is 32 or 64 bit.

The only question that I would have for the question after reading all the post is does your laptop allow 4GB of ram or more, because with a laptop you won't be upgrading the cpu and having the drivers already makes it easy. 32-bit is the good choice since you already have it and if you can't get more than 4 gb ram. 64-bit versions allow access to more memory locations but 64-ultimate does allow some x86 apps to run fine.

Incorrect - I have yet to find a 32 bit app that doesn't run on 64 bit Vista. The only exception being shareware that doesn't have a signed digital certificate, in which case it won't pass security checks.

No you are incorrect, I said some x86 applications work I never said all of them work because some companies added patches and expect you to pay for them to work instead of fixing it for free. Itunes did not use to work with 64 bit version of Vista but now it does, so advancement is there just some companies want you to pay for the updates to their apps to make them work with 64 bit addressing

An x64 processor cares not whether the binary is x86 or x64. The standard is fully backwards compatible, which is the entire reason we all use x64 and not IA64. The WOW64 service in Vista (and XP) handles the needed address and registry redirects, so the only issue left is whether programmers coded to the proper API or not. Therefore you're referring to a Vista or XP issue, and not a 32 or 64 bit one.

i know there is an issue with the cisco vpn client not working on Vista or well it will with some scripting hehe, id keep the XP for a while longer!

This is inaccurate. Almost all of us here are using Vista 64, virtually every 32 bit app works perfectly on it because they run in 32 bit mode, which is built into the processor, no purchase required! There are some apps that need a 64 bit version to run on 64 but these are readily available for free in virtually every case.

With the problem with the cisco vpn client, if you are connecting with a wireless internet connection its not always ultimate x64 that is the problem, because I have not had the problem on my lined or wireless like other people have. It can also be the version or the host of the vpn client.