It seems quite interesting to me, that the last 4 computers (laptops) that I have worked on by performing the initial installation and cleanup of the 'crapware' that they all come with, all have been the 64 bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium edition. Could it be that these are being bought up because they currently have the best pricing for new laptops? I am pretty sure in the 4 that I have worked on, non of these owners of new laptops realized the difference and simply knew it was Windows Vista, which was new to them since they were "used to using XP". Personally it doesn't matter to me, especially since I am a strong advocate of the new Windows 7 and will be recommending to everyone, once Windows 7 is released, to go out and buy a copy! Since it is now sounding more like the actual release date may be before the end of Summer, don't be surprised if there will be "free upgrades" available on upcoming sales of the Windows Vista systems. I warn you however, to not fall for this, as some may say to go for it because that way when Windows 7 is released, you will get this free 'upgrade' but that is just it, it is an 'upgrade' and not an "OEM" version which means, if you ever have to reinstall your operating system (in the case of a crashed hard drive where you are having to replace the drive completely), you will find you first have to install the original operating system, in this case VISTA and then perform the upgrade.
I know this first hand as I personally had this happen on two of the systems I had built right around the time when Vista was being released. Let me tell you how much of a pain it is, since you are doubling up on the amount of work and time it takes to get things back up and running smoothly again. I am hopeful that Windows 7 will be released at a Sub $100 price tag but will not be surprised to see it selling for $149, similarly as Vista was. I am almost afraid to be another one of those Windows 7 lovers, promoting the product before they do place a price tag on it in fears they will see that they (finally) have a winner on their hands and figure people will pay any price just to get away (as far and as fast as possible) from Vista.
Personally I don't find Vista to be that bad, so long as you have lots of memory and a fast processor, have it tweaked to optimum efficiency including all of the latest patches and updates, but comparing it to my initial beta install of Windows 7 where I have had it running without 1 issue since New Years Day... it is pretty hard to truly do any comparison. But do you require 64 bit versions of an operating system? Probably not.
