Going with a 64-Bit system has the obvious advantage of being able to access more memory, but some say there can be some compatibility issues with things like drivers, plug-ins, programs. etc. Wondering about things like OEM software (i.e. DPP), third party (Nik, etc.) software or other issue.
Been smooth sailing for me in a personal capacity, with all my hardware being Win 7 supported. I'll have some problems when my dad does the upgrade though, as he has an old Epson scanner which Epson refuse to support into modern times.
Professionally we've had problems with instrument/software suppliers refusing to move on from their beloved WinXP but mostly these are now sorted too.
I have some very old legacy audio measurement suites that won't work (proprietary driver issues), otherwise it's all been all sunshine. I run everything from MSVC2010 (developing for both 32/64) to lightroom/PS and audio mixing suites, MatLab/Mathematica and Autocad.
hondageek wrote:
x64 is the only way to go. You won't have any issues unless you have some ancient peripherals that you should have replaced a long time ago.
The only thing that I have that would be considered "ancient" are my LaCie CRT and a K550 printer (non-photo usage) that is probably only "old" and maybe an external hard drive or two.
One other concern ... Kodak DCS SLR/c ... Kodak's OEM software would probably be my most 'critical' factor that I need to take into consideration ... not sure @ 64-Bit compatibility there yet.
I'm not sure if your Kodak DCS cameras will present a problem or not. While the software will likely run under Win7 x64, if a driver is needed for the camera (likely), I'm sure the driver will only be 32-bit, therefore not letting the software see the camera. I have a couple of Kodak dyesub printers, for which there are only 32-bit drivers. I solved my problem (using the printers) by installing VirtualBox (free virtualization SW from Oracle/Sun), installing an old copy of Win XP, old copy of Photoshop, and the printer drivers. I do all my photo editing in CS5 in a 64-bit environment and save the images for printing. I then launch VirtualBox/WinXP, open the images in Photoshop and print them. It's an extra step, however it only takes about 30 seconds for XP & Photoshop to launch (I put the virtual machine to "sleep" when I'm done, so it opens with PS already running). This might be a possible solution for you if your DCS camera requires a driver.
RustyBug wrote:
Going with a 64-Bit system has the obvious advantage of being able to access more memory, but some say there can be some compatibility issues with things like drivers, plug-ins, programs. etc. Wondering about things like OEM software (i.e. DPP), third party (Nik, etc.) software or other issue.
What has been your biggest issues to deal with?
not really having any issues at all
maybe a few old games and a very old version of MS office is about it
If you want to cover any possible remaining problems, you may want to consider implementing a dual-boot arrangement. I still have XP installed this way so I can go back if needed. As mentioned, peripheral drivers are probably the biggest risk - particularly scanners. I have a Minolta film scanner that has software not compatible with 64-bit. VueScan works but sometimes I like to go to XP to use the Minolta software.
In my case, I left XP installed on one drive and I installed win7 on another. Win7 is my default boot. If I want XP, I hit the boot options key on startup and specify the XP drive for boot. Works fine and I don't get bothered by a "Which OS?" question everytime I start up the PC. I spend 99% of my time these days in Win7 though.
+1 @ Eyeball ... that would be the way I'd likely go. Maybe even putting XP on the same drive as I'd normally assign to use for the PS scratch disc ... since I'd no longer be using PS with XP, they'd never be in use at the same time.
Cool ... got the bases covered, with a simple plan. Now it's just a matter of finding the right combo of CPU & Screen combo with desired features.
15.6" Matte Screen, FHD (still undecided at gamut)
54 Express Slot (flush CF cards)
Number Keypad (Excel work)
Eyeball wrote:
If you want to cover any possible remaining problems, you may want to consider implementing a dual-boot arrangement. I still have XP installed this way so I can go back if needed. As mentioned, peripheral drivers are probably the biggest risk - particularly scanners. I have a Minolta film scanner that has software not compatible with 64-bit. VueScan works but sometimes I like to go to XP to use the Minolta software.
In my case, I left XP installed on one drive and I installed win7 on another. Win7 is my default boot. If I want XP, I hit the boot options key on startup and specify the XP drive for boot. Works fine and I don't get bothered by a "Which OS?" question everytime I start up the PC. I spend 99% of my time these days in Win7 though....Show more →
yes good point, i actually have a triple boot XP, vista 32, W7
it's also nice since you can put games with weird copy protection and test stuff on say your Vista 32bit without risking your nice primary W7 64bit install or your precious ancient game saving old XP install.
Check out the laptops in person before you buy. I have a Lattitude E4300 (a couple of years old, but not so out of date) and the screen is completely awful for photo work: The Spider 3 software basically laughed at me when i asked about colour gamut. Furthermore the graphics output to external screens is awful too. The bigger models might be better, but i wouldn't bet too much on that.
15Bit wrote:
Check out the laptops in person before you buy.
Would love to ... but I have no way of doing that. I don't know of anywhere that you can go to physically see an FHD or IPS or RGBLED laptop screen before you buy it. There's no such thing as a Dell/Lenovo/HP store anymore and the retailers will never inventory anything remotely close to a workstation/high end screen. I've called OEM mfrs directly to ask for someplace to see them and they've only been able to tell me that they have no stores.
If anyone has any ideas how to compare high end laptop screens in person ... I'm all ears. I'm an hour+ from STL and around 4 hours from Chicago/Indianapolis/Nashville/Memphis/Lexington, so I'd have to incorporate that into a weekend trip or something like that, but it's not out of the question for the chance to be more certain @ what the visual diff is between an FHD and a DreamScreen or an RGBLED.
Short of ordering one of each and using/abusing a return policies, I'm at a loss for a good way to visually (or emperically) compare them. I suppose I could do that, and then do a webpage writeup about it ... but, not my gig. Although, I would partener/fund/refund such an endeavor as a JV with someone.
I did run my Spyder3Elite on my current screen for the full battery of tests, so that I've got a baseline for reference. My current display is 1400x1050 IPS on my T60. I was most suprised by the emperical data @ central illumination vs. edge sectors variance ... as my eye/mind doesn't perceive it nearly as much as it actually is.
In Win7-64, there is a HUGE bug in the "file exploder"!.
I was/am still amazed this has not been fixed.
You can Google for more people who have experienced it.
If you just point to a big .tiff in the "file exploder" it will consume 100% memory.
Yes, I have the review pane turned OFF, all eye candy settings are OFF.
I use Q-Dir now, and use .psb files too.
It only occurs on .tiff files, and did not manifest itself in Vista, nor XP.
RustyBug wrote:
Going with a 64-Bit system has the obvious advantage of being able to access more memory, but some say there can be some compatibility issues with things like drivers, plug-ins, programs. etc. Wondering about things like OEM software (i.e. DPP), third party (Nik, etc.) software or other issue.
Shrug, I haven't found the low limit in which this exhibits the problem.
Though, anything > 1GB shows it.
My system is a Dell XPS17 laptop, Intel Core i7-2670QM - 4 cores, 8GB RAM.
My GPU is a 3GB nVIDIA GeForce GT 555M.
See : https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1079446
My only reason and use of Win7-64 is for photoshop and related apps.
I think I am now going to build yet another desktop, this time with mega memory.
RustyBug wrote:
buggz2k ... interesting.
What do you consider a "big" tiff ... and how much memory does your system have?
Interesting that 1GB file would use 100% memory @ 8GB (or even 4GB) system ... how do you have your preferences (in PS) set up for memory utilization/allocation ?
