Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit

Question

I'm looking at the customisable configurations, and I see that you offer 8GB RAM but that a 64-bit system is required to support it. At the same time, the only option that explicity says it's 64-bit is the Business edition of Vista, which I definitely do not need. Is there any way to specify an order with Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit?
Yes, I know what I'm talking about and I need the power, but none of the administrative nonsense associated with the Business addition. From Wikipedia:
"Similar to Windows XP Home Edition, Home Basic targets budget-conscious users not requiring advanced media support for home use. ... Home Basic supports one physical CPU, but with multiple cores. 64-bit Home Basic supports up to 8 GB of RAM. ... Comparable to Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Windows Vista Business Edition targets the business market. It includes all the features of Home Basic with the exception of Parental Controls and the Windows Vista Standard theme. This edition can join and participate in a Windows Server domain. It includes Internet Information Services, fax support, Rights Management Services client, Encrypting File System, system image backup and recovery, Offline Files, a single user Remote Desktop server, ad-hoc P2P collaboration capabilities, Shadow Copy support which provides access to previous versions of files, support for Tablet PCs, and other business oriented management features. The Vista Business edition supports up to two physical CPUs. 64-bit Business supports 128 GB of RAM."
I'm looking at a configuration with a high-power, dual-core processor and 8GB RAM with the 2GB disk cache on top of that for, among other things, high-volume, intense audio processing. None of the extras associated with Business are things I need, but I do need a 64-bit system to utilise 8GB RAM. Frankly, I just really don't want to have to pay $79 simply for the RAM support, I don't want to deal with it through Microsoft, and although the basic edition is apparently not eligible for a free Windows 7 upgrade, I can cross that bridge when I come to it.
My questions:
If I'm configuring a machine with >3GB installed memory, will it by default be configured with the 64-bit version of the edition of Windows I've selected?
If so, will there be a cost difference? There is no cost difference between the listed 32- and 64-bit versions of the Business edition.
If not, is there any way to make this simple change on my order? Does Levono even ship Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Answer 1

buzgun wrote:
Okay, good to know. I still need to know whether I can get Levono to ship my machine with the configuration I've selected, only with Vista Basic 64-bit
SInce Lenovo don't offer either type of Vista Home in a X64 version, the answer is quite simply, no.
buzgun wrote:
what would be most cost-effective would also be appreciated.
Sweating on the OS cost when you are planning to put an expensive 8 GB of RAM into a system seems to be quite cost-ineffective IMO!
Cheers,
Bill
I don't work for Lenovo