Sold a new PC with 6GB RAM... and 32-bit OS

bigmacca81625

savemoney wrote: »

bigmacca81625 you cant have links or url in your signature by the way

see this rule

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sorry and thank you

esuhl

prowla wrote: »

By a two-bit company?

Ha ha! I think he said it was Curry's, actually...

bigmacca81625 wrote: »

it is fit for purpose though, it works!

PC's often come with parts that you won't be able to use unless you buy extra equipment, i.e. a firewire port or printer port.

Well... over 2GB RAM isn't "working" as things are. One could argue that he has bought a 6GB PC which isn't fit for the purpose because he cannot use it as a 6GB PC. He uses specialist music-creation software and bought the PC partly because of the advertised amount of memory.

Sure, PCs might have ports that cannot be used without extra equipment, but this should be obvious to the average consumer. It is not obvious that the 6GB cannot be used.

As an analogy, I could advertise a car with a 2 litre engine.... and sell a battery powered vehicle with a 2 litre engine in the boot. It's a car. It drives. It has a 2 litre engine. But...

bigmacca81625

esuhl wrote: »

Ha ha! I think he said it was Curry's, actually...



Well... over 2GB RAM isn't "working" as things are. One could argue that he has bought a 6GB PC which isn't fit for the purpose because he cannot use it as a 6GB PC. He uses specialist music-creation software and bought the PC partly because of the advertised amount of memory.

Sure, PCs might have ports that cannot be used without extra equipment, but this should be obvious to the average consumer. It is not obvious that the 6GB cannot be used.

As an analogy, I could advertise a car with a 2 litre engine.... and sell a battery powered vehicle with a 2 litre engine in the boot. It's a car. It drives. It has a 2 litre engine. But...

If he needs to use 6gb then he should know that he needs a x64 system? As trading standards go, it advertises, free software. You cant have a claim by saying the free software doesnt release full pc potential!!

[Deleted User]

bigmacca81625 wrote: »

Vista wont show 6gb if its only 32 bit, thats why i upgraded to 64 myself! it will only show 3.8, its all about the maths!!!!!

It will, one of the changes in SP1 was the way that Vista reported how much RAM was installed and available..

bigmacca81625

savemoney wrote: »

I wonder if you could change to 64bit OS cheaply

Bare in mind some legacy old hardware may not be supported if its a couple of years old, it may do but there is a risk

Found this upgrade path

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033/ordermedia/default.mspx

if its been sold with 6gb of ram, and hardware that wont support a 64bit OS, then he may have an issue...

Try getting a copy of 64bit linux as sugested earlier, you can get this on a live cd so that it wont install anything over yuor current system. Yet you can test wether it works! If it does then sorry there is no case to get money back

isofa

errrm, you could argue that it's future proofed, later on you can upgrade and make use of it, so what's the issue? Did he pay hundreds more for the extra 2GB, I doubt it very much. RAM isn't that expensive nowadays. How many cores has the processor got, if it's 4, then that's a waste too...

I personally don't think it's a fit for purpose issue, unless the salesman specifically mentioned the use of the full 6GB, eg "you'll be accessing the full 6GB which will help speed up high level image editing/video" etc. Then it's a mis-sale

However, he's entitled to go back and say it's limited to 4GB with the OS bundled, and therefore he'd like the RAM swapped for 4GB and a refund on the spare 2GB.

My car is limited to 165mph, I'm thinking of complaining to the German manufacturer to say I can't legally use it this country, I'd like a refund on speed above 70mph, what a cheek :rolleyes

esuhl

bigmacca81625 wrote: »

DatabaseError wrote: »

the 32 bit license key sold with the PC is/should be valid for the x64 version...just get hold of a disk and re-install

i very much doubt it, with vista nowadays, the key is registerd to your GUID which wil;l change if you change your OS. Plus the keys are generated for each different version, if what you say is right, that means it would also work for the ultimate, premuim, and business. Its not that unsecure, theyve developed some lovely ways to keep people out

Yeah - I though the retail licence for Vista allowed you to switch between the 32- or 64-bit versions, but not with the OEM versions... Actually - I've just found a few websites that seem to confirm this, although a few people have said that OEM keys work with both 32- and 64-bit versions. Interesting...

tomsolomon wrote: »

Or just install Ubuntu 64bit edition...

Great idea... but I'm not sure how he would get on with Linux. Definitely worth a go if I can find suitable music creating software and get his various bits of hardware working (a USB sound card and maybe some other musical bits and bobs).

I might suggest that he asks the retailer if they can sort something out, and if they won't maybe I'll try to install the 64-bit version with his original key.

Thank you all for your help - I'll let him know his options.

Money_Grabber13579

I think the 64 bit version of Vista is available for download on the Microsoft website for this very purpose. Hence I can't see why there would be any problem over writing with the 64 bit download.

prowla

tomsolomon wrote: »

Or just install Ubuntu 64bit edition...

Or a real OS, like Solaris.

Jakg

The Vista SP1 will show the full amount of RAM be it 32 or 64-bit - however the 32bit limit still applies, it's just going to show the full 6GB without actually using all of it.