I just bought a brand new special order Dell M1330 with Vista home premium and the T9300/2.5G/6ML2 Cache.

When I view "windows/system", it shows only 4M with 32 bit operating system. Huh??

I was assured that this machine was fully 64 bit capable and all current versions of Vista including the cheapo basic version are supposedly 64bit, according to what I read.

Did I somehow mess up & how can I correct this? fyi, I have little or no old software to put on this machine, so having 64 bit operating system should not be an issue.

thnx for replies.

Sounds like Dell screwed up. How unusual is that? Check your recpt to see if it's supposed to be there, then contact Dell to find out why the dell it's not.
Vista does come in either 32 bit or 64 bit. If you did not specify that you wanted 64 bit, sorry, 32 bit is the default.

dell install 32bit windows by default for all of their laptop and windows. i think you will need to pay extra.

Although your hardware is certainly fully 64-bit capable, as endyen writes, Vista comes in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

You can get the 64-bit of home premium but you have to buy the OS you cant upgrade to 64-bit with a OME key I tryed all ready.

Edit: I called Microsoft before about upgrading to 64-bit and they said not worth buying unless you have over 4GB of ram, even for gaming it will not make a different. Plus they told me that they made a a patch so windows vista 32-bit now see 4GB of ram.

so i think i will keep 32bit for longer then.

Windows Vista 32-bit can see all your RAM, it will show it in properties, but it still has same RAM restrictions. I have 8GB of RAM in my system, Vista 32 shows I have 8, but it can still only access 3.2GB of it.

I have 32 bit installed along side 64 bit cause of some old hardware I still need with no Vista 64 drivers =/, will go 64 only once I get upgrade.