Which version of Windows 7 should I get?

[53Crëw]

Hey Guys - I'm thinking of making the jump to Windows 7 finally. Which version of Win7 should I get? I assume 64-bit is the way to go? Any drawbacks to 64-bit? Also, Home Premium, or Professional? (Upgrading from WinXP SP3. Running SONAR X1)

Cheers.

 

[Josh Burgess]

I'd go professional 64 bit. Definitely 64 bit.

Windows 8 is coming out this year though...

 

[PhilTheBeard]

ultimate 7 64 would be the best to go for. And i wouldn't trust windows 8 until it has been used and checked out a bunch haha.

 

[oroinvictus]

There isn't a whole lot of difference you'll get/notice between home premium and professional. Definitely go with 64-bit, especially if you have more than 4gb of ram. The only downsides you might encounter (I have) is compatibility issues with 32-bit plugins and bridging.

 

[Jind]

There isn't a whole lot of difference you'll get/notice between home premium and professional. Definitely go with 64-bit, especially if you have more than 4gb of ram. The only downsides you might encounter (I have) is compatibility issues with 32-bit plugins and bridging.

While probably not going to limit typical DAW usage , one difference between the versions of Windows 7 is the memory capacity limits (only really applicable for large sample libraries, but the 8 GB limit of Home Basic ruled it out for me).

Windows 7 Ultimate x86 max 4 GB x64 max 192 GB
Windows 7 Enterprise x86 max 4 GB x64 max 192 GB
Windows 7 Professional x86 max 4 GB x64 max 192 GB
Windows 7 Home Premium x86 max 4 GB x64 max 16 GB
Windows 7 Home Basic x86 max 4 GB x64 max 8 GB

 

[53Crëw]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

Jind, do you find that most 32-bit plugins run fine with the SONAR BitBridge? Any issues there?

 

[AD Chaos]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

Jind, do you find that most 32-bit plugins run fine with the SONAR BitBridge? Any issues there?

Sonar's BitBridge => POS.

If you want effective bridging, use Reaper.

 

[OneDaySky]

I hear Windows 8 is meant to be touch screen based? I use Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit, works perfect with my 8 gigs RAM

 

[Torgal]

Get Win7 Prof x64 and you'll be just fine.

 

[MindMunch]

Any Windows 7 will do, at least for audio tasks.

Sonar's BitBridge => POS.

If you want effective bridging, use Reaper.

I tried Reaper64 and it works, but it adds a very annoying extra detached window for 32 bits VSTs running though the bridge. As I heavily rely on plugins that does not have 64 bits versions yet (if ever) I sticked with the 32 DAW.

 

[Jind]

Sonar's BitBridge => POS.

If you want effective bridging, use Reaper.

BitBridge works fine for the majority of plugins, but there are some that still require a bit of outside assistance, thankfully jBridge fixes any issues one might find (jBridge is a third party bridging app). The only plugin I had problems with (mind you I don't load tons of plugins on my system as I have ones I like and stick with and in most cases all the plugins I use are already X64) was the Toontrack products prior to them being released in x64 - that was the only one that got me to have to use jBridge, but the ones that no longer work with Sonar's BitBridge are few and far between.

As an aside I don't think I'd ever use bridging as a reason not to use or in a recommendation of a particular DAW - too many other areas I'd be concerned about first since third party bridging exists and solves any problems one might have - Reaper users required jBridge for all bridging up to version 3.2 if the Reaper FAQ is correct. I have nothing against Reaper - I have it installed and used it for a few months between Sonar 8.5 and Sonar X1, but I find Sonar X1 just fits my needs and workflow better.

I think I may still have maybe three or four plugins I use occasionally that are not already x64 so bridging is not a major issue for me personally, as always individual mileage may vary.

 

[chdrummer]

i had to recently upgrade to ultimate from home premium because of the ram cap. if youre gong to install a good amount of ram at some point get atleast w7 professional

 

[oroinvictus]

While probably not going to limit typical DAW usage , one difference between the versions of Windows 7 is the memory capacity limits (only really applicable for large sample libraries, but the 8 GB limit of Home Basic ruled it out for me).

Windows 7 Ultimate x86 max 4 GB x64 max 192 GB
Windows 7 Enterprise x86 max 4 GB x64 max 192 GB
Windows 7 Professional x86 max 4 GB x64 max 192 GB
Windows 7 Home Premium x86 max 4 GB x64 max 16 GB
Windows 7 Home Basic x86 max 4 GB x64 max 8 GB

I didn't know the specifics of each version, very interdasting indeed... I'm curious as to how many people around here work with more than 4gb of ram?

 

[vaiman]

16GB, I'm running lots of Virtual Machines.
Not music apps, I use a Mac for music.

 

[updog]

Windows 8 is coming out this year though...

when has buying the newest version of any OS immediately after release been wise in any possible sense, in terms of audio work?