Vista - A little advice please.

Hi,
I've recently installed a trial from Microsoft of Vista Enterprise x86, and I'm going to purchase Vista Home Premium soon, and I have 2 questions:

1. Will the purchase (from a local store) come with both 32 and 64 bit versions?
2. Which should I use? I have a 64bit processor from AMD (Phenom tri-core) with 2GB of RAM, and 1GB 9400GT Graphics. Would it be best to install 64bit, 32bit, or both, splitting my 500GB HD into double-partition system?

Hi tails5 and welcome to Vista Forums

You can obtain both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Home Premium edition, however only the Ultimate version is readily available in 64-bit (and actually comes with both 32-bit and 64-bit disks in the same package).
I recommend the Ultimate 64-bit edition - you can always purchase the Upgrade version to save money, and follow the instructions here to install it: Clean Install From Upgrade Vista
You can install both versions as you suggest, but this will entail you purchasing a separate key for the other version as only one copy can be assigned to a single key - however, this should be unnecessary as the 64-bit version can run 32-bit programs without any problems, the only limitation being that if the program has a 16-bit install program as those cannot be run on a 64-bit system.

I'm a little confused, if Vista Home Premium isn't "readily available" in 64bit version, then how do I obtain it?

Would I be required to use a friends Ultimate x64 DVD with my Home Premium key?

Also: I'm getting the acedemic edition, as I'm a student. It's only $100, and Ultimate Upgrade is $300 here as far as I know.