Which OS on a laptop

vince3 · 18 Dec 2009 at 16:03

This seemed to belong here rather than the laptop forum as it's primarily about the OS

Toshiba have two laptops with near identical specs apart from the OS.
The L555-10R has Windows 7 Premium 64 bit and XP 32 bit available on HDD.
The L550-13M has Professional 32 bit installed and XP Professional 32 bit as 'downgrade' on HDD (and there is no "Easy Media" package)

Both machines are 4GB memory (8GB possible), so the 32 bit Windows 7 seems a bit odd, especially as I understand it's not possible to get a free 64 bit version on an OEM base.
So I'm wondering which to go for, if Tosh finishes up as my preferred machine. The alternative would be the similar Samsung R720-PS02UK.

I'd appreciate any advice or comments on this.
Thank you

Meatball · 18 Dec 2009 at 16:14

Windows 7 Professional 32bit

. All you need to do is format the drive (imaging beforehand for backup purposes) and install 64Bit from a standard W7 64bit DVD. Your licence key covers you to use both 32Bit & 64Bit, all you need to do is source a trustworthy W7 64Bit DVD or ISO..

vince3 · 18 Dec 2009 at 16:27

Meatball said:
Your licence key covers you to use both 32Bit & 64Bit, all you need to do is source a trustworthy W7 64Bit DVD or ISO..

OK - thanks a lot. In my browsing I found an ISO 64 bit (in "My Digital Life" site). It was just that I'd read somewhere that the OEM keys were version limited.

Meatball · 19 Dec 2009 at 17:31

vince said:
OK - thanks a lot. In my browsing I found an ISO 64 bit (in "My Digital Life" site). It was just that I'd read somewhere that the OEM keys were version limited.

Nope your licence key covers you for 32bit and 64bit, tried and tested myself

. I bought a laptop with Vista and it came with a free upgrade to Windows 7 32bit. I just used a 64Bit CD and it accepted/activated the key fine

.