Milhouse Van Houten wrote:[color=blue]
> In terms of driver availability and application compatibility? In other
> words, is it still a fight or are the devices and applications it
> doesn't work with now down to the obscure? The latest evaluation of it
> I can find is many months out-of-date.
>
> Also, does anyone know the memory delta on average between it and
> 32-bit? I know it takes more but am not sure how much.
>
> Thanks[/color]

I have it running on 2 laptops and 2 desktops.
I can honestly say that I've had no problems finding 64-bit drivers.
With one exception (an older Canon printer where I was surprised that
they even had a 32-bit driver) I've found the hardware vendors provide
both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. One of the laptops is a Lenovo X61T
tablet and has a pile of drivers to install, but all the 64-bit versions
were there. Likewise for one of the desktops which has serious Raid
storage as well as a TV tuner.

As far as apps are concerned, I've had a few (those with software pseudo
devices) where I had to wait for any version of Vista support (all there
now). All others run fine as 32-bit. One exception is a 32-bit app with
a 16-bit install, but in that case merely copying over the directories
from a working system and pointing to the .exe works fine.

I also installed Virtual PC 2007 with a copy of XP under it to handle
any possible exceptions, but can honestly say that apart from using it
to accesss some capabilities in WMP10 I never fire it up.

I also have 3 32-bit systems (only because they can't run 64-bit Vista)
and I can't say I notice any difference at all in the memory usage.
There's a very small disk overhead (a few extra copies of 32-bit apps in
Vista) but maybe only a MB or 2.

I see repeatedly advice warning of a lack of 64-bit drivers but my
experience doesn't bear that out. But I would recommend checking with
your system provider's download site as well as Intel/AMD's and the
sites of any add-on hardware devices before taking the step.

As far as stability and operation is concerned, I see no difference
between 64-bit and 32-bit, in fact maybe from some of the comments here
I have less problems than most.

Hope that helps!