What I'd suggest, is checking to see whether or not drivers actually exist for the hardware you want to use, then decide in large part based on that. And if you go 64-bit, make sure there are 64-bit drivers, not just drivers period.
I don't really know what "annoying problems" Vista had, since it was nothing but smooth sailing for me while using it. Most of the complaints I've seen are from people who either hate any kind of change, were expecting a lot of whiz bang features and weren't happy with a lot of major "plumbing" improvements, or bought some really low end system and expected it to perform as well as a top of the line $2500 system. Not to mention the people who buy some really cheap low end Acer or HP system, so not only are the specs barely adequate, you have to contend with hardware of questionable quality. I don't care what OS you put on a system, if the hardware's defective, or even just dodgy, it'll have problems. If you could be a bit more specific as to what "annoying problems" you had with Vista we might be able to offer a better opinion.
As for me, I've been using Win7 x64 since pretty much the day it was released, no problems. But I am very particular and selective about hardware and planned for this sort of thing. If you do the same, you should be fine. You just have to realize you can't go out and buy any random cheap POS printer or scanner out there, which is kind of a blessing in disguise if you ask me. True, you have less selection when looking for 64-bit compatible devices, but if a company goes that extra little ways to add 64-bit support, odds are this isn't some device being dropped onto the market for 6 months which will have one and only one driver release, etc.
And on the Pro v Ultimate question. That's a purely subjective question, so only you can answer what is best for you. Type in each of those features to your friendly neighborhood search engine and see what comes out. Then decide if that's something you care about or not. Also, with the anytime upgrade system, you can always buy Pro, and then upgrade it to Ultimate in place.
Hi guys, i am currently using a Core i7 based machine with Windows XP and i've been feeling the need for a snappier interface like the one OSX and 7, since XP doesn't do the job anymore in 2010
I've used 7 when it was in beta and i had some problems with it like printers not working and so on, but now it seems to get more popular and most of my stuff will probably work on it, however i have some doubts, first of all, are there any annoying problems with it like on vista?
I've also been thinking to get 7 Pro x64 since i plan to have this OS for some 5 years and my motherboard supports like 16GB of ram so a 64 bit OS would be future-proofing it, however is 64bit Window 7 as painful as 64 bit XP?
I saw this Comparison chart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions and Windows 7 Pro seems like the best option after Ultimate, (i want to save some money) and i don't even know what most of the features that don't come in Pro mean, however i might jump on Ultimate just to future proof and make sure that i have the right thing
So looking at it closer i think my 2 questions are if 64 bit is ok and if Ultimate is worth the extra cash

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