Who here demands better 64bit driver support from Dell?

Dell sells notebook with 4gb of ram, but don't give people a choice to come with 64bit windows pre-installed. Plus 64bit drivers if released for some models are sometimes several versions behind.

Reason 1: 4GB of memory

For Windows Vista to use all 4 GB of memory on a computer that has 4 GB of memory installed, the computer must meet the following requirements: • The chipset must support at least 8 GB of address space. Chipsets that have this capability include the following:• Intel 975X
• Intel P965
• Intel 955X on Socket 775
• Chipsets that support AMD processors that use socket F, socket 940, socket 939, or socket AM2. These chipsets include any AMD socket and CPU combination in which the memory controller resides in the CPU.

• The CPU must support the x64 instruction set. The AMD64 CPU and the Intel EM64T CPU support this instruction set.
• The BIOS must support the memory remapping feature. The memory remapping feature allows for the segment of system memory that was previously overwritten by the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) configuration space to be remapped above the 4 GB address line. This feature must be enabled in the BIOS configuration utility on the computer. View your computer product documentation for instructions that explain how to enable this feature. Many consumer-oriented computers may not support the memory remapping feature. No standard terminology is used in documentation or in BIOS configuration utilities for this feature. Therefore, you may have to read the descriptions of the various BIOS configuration settings that are available to determine whether any of the settings enable the memory remapping feature.
• An x64 (64-bit) version of Windows Vista must be used.

 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605

Reason 2: both 32 and 64bit are required to get WHQL certification

The other side of this is that Microsoft is now requiring developers submit both 32-bit and 64-bit drivers when seeking WHQL logo certification of their devices. This is the certification that lets manufacturers use "Works with Windows Vista" or "Certified for Windows Vista" (depending on which one they get) in their marketing.

The requirement is fairly straightforward: if you want your 32-bit drivers to get the Windows Vista logo certification, you must also submit 64-bit drivers (and your 64-bit drivers must pass testing).

http://www.10stripe.com/articles/windows-vista-and-driver-signing.php

Reason 3: Alps drivers: latest 32bit from January2008 and latest 64bit from April2007. Dell RELEASE UPDATED ALPS DRIVERS FOR 64BIT Vista!! Check out Reason 2, Stop hiding the 64bit driver.

Reason 4: Some Might say go contact component manufacture to obtain the latest driver, sorry that doesn't work usually. For example Alps doesn't provide 3rd party support, Atheros doesn't provide 3rd party support, Nvidia doesn't release drivers for 8400M or 8600M.

Reason 5: When a new driver is available, release it to all products that support it!!, What Dell does now is provide a new driver for product A, but not for product B, even when it uses the same hardware. Customers shouldn't go driver hunting!

Reason 6: Sigmatel PC audio has been taken over by IDT in July 2006, companies like ECS, Gateway, Intel etc.. has replaced Sigmatel drivers with better updated version IDT driver. Dell has to provide updated IDT driver!

Reason 7: Upek for few months has been providing 64bit driver, that works on XPS1330, XPS1530, XPS1730 etc... but Dell doesn't seem to care, no driver on Dell site.

Reason 8: XPS1330, XPS1730 has few 64bit drivers provided on their site, but nothing for XPS1530, when in fact most of XPS1330 drivers will work on XPS1530, one exception is XPS1530 has ALPS touchpad, while XPS1330 has better Synaptics Touchpad.