Gateway makes the leap to 64-bit Vista

Gateway becomes the first large PC vendor to ship 64-bit Vista pre-installed on select PCs.

The 64-bit systems are in the FX and GT series - the FX7026, FX7029E, GT5676, GT5678 and GT5685E. Here's the spec on the FX7026:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
• 4GB PC5400 DDR2 RAM
• Factory overclocked nVIDIA GeForce 8800GT 512MB
• 640GB SATA hard drive

All that for $1,099.

This move will be welcomed by many. For a while now high-end PCs have been coming up against the 4GB of addressable memory limits. vendors such as Dell have been dodging the issue by shipping systems with 3GB of RAM, which prevents the waste of RAM that you see on 32-bit systems with 4GB of RAM fitted.

But are there downsides to running 64-bit Windows?

I've been running on Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit for several months now and I can count the problems that I've had on the fingers of one hand:

• My Microsoft Fingerprint Reader wouldn't install (I've now replaced this with an Eikon Digital Privacy Manager unit).
• Virtual CloneDrivenot compatible with 64-bit.
• Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars would install but not run because of the copy protection mechanism used on the DVD.

Everything else that I've tried has worked flawlessly. Not bad really considering the vast array of hardware and software that I go through. As an added bonus of switching to 64-bit I'm also enjoying a performance boost for no additional hardware investment compared to 32-bit.

there's no doubt that 64-bit is the future, it's just taking some time for PCs to get there.

Thoughts?