Dell Laptop Recommendation

[Mark Phillips]

My Dell Latitude just died...a subject for a different post. I just received an advertisement from Dell for a Studio 1555 on sale for $699 (Windows 7). The Dell sales rep said it is also Linux compatible. I want to install Debian testing on it.  It has a dual core 64 bit processor. I have never had a 64 bit processor pc before. 

Are 32 bit Debian packages/apps compatible with this processor? 

Are most Debian packages 64 bit today, or just a subset? Large, small subset? Growing?
 
Is there a way to re-install the windows 7 as a virtual os or am I stuck with a dual boot situation?
 
Finally, has anyone every used this beast, or other 15" Dell Studio laptops? Do you like it? Hate it? Why?

Thanks!
 
Mark
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