TR reader Dillon Befus tipped me off to some very interesting system requirements for the 64-bit version of Microsoft"s Windows operating system. According to Microsoft"s own TechNet web site, Windows XP 64-bit Edition requires a minimum of 1GB of memory. On the same page, Microsoft lists Windows XP Professional as requiring only 64MB of memory, though 128MB is recommended. Microsoft doesn"t yet list a recommended memory size for Windows XP 64-bit edition.
Though its name is rather ambiguous, it looks like Windows XP 64-bit Edition refers to Microsoft"s desktop operating system for the Itanium 2. Just how different the system requirements for a 64-bit version of Windows tailored for AMD"s Athlon64 are remains to be seen, but given the incredibly steep memory requirements for Windows XP 64-bit Edition, I"m a little concerned.