Vista 32 vs 64

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jay Oken
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Jay Oken

I am looking at new laptops. What are the pros/cons of the 32 bit versus 64
bit Vista Home.
 
Mike Hall - MVP said:
Peripheral device driver availability is still better for 32bit..


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Click to expand...

I tried 64bit, which seemed to run somewhat better on my computer. Reverted
to 32 for lack of
some utilities. Mostly freeware.
 
Jay Oken said:
I am looking at new laptops. What are the pros/cons of the 32 bit versus 64
bit Vista Home.
Click to expand...

The big advantage to a 64-bit system is that it can use more RAM. A
32-bit system has a 4GB address space, and not all of that can be used
to access system RAM, so you'll be able to use 3.5GB or less. A 64-bit
system can go up to (IIRC) 128GB currently. The same thing is true of
the virtual memory space allocated to each process. In a 32-bit system
it's 4GB, in a 64-bit system it will be MUCH larger, but I'm not sure
exactly how much.

The drawback is compatibility. 64-bit Vista will NOT run 16-bit
programs, period. Nearly all 32-bit programs will work fine, but there
are a few exceptions. And you'll need to find 64-bit Vista drivers for
all your peripherals. That's easier now than it used to be, but still
not guaranteed.
 
I would definitely go for 64-bit.
It is constantly getting more support. 32-bit technology is fading away.
Try to imagine what will be in one year or in two years time.
Try to imagine new hardware. 4GB is quite common now. What about 8GB and
more? What about 4TB disks costing 200$ ?
If I really need something 32-bit, I would run it on Virtual PC/Virtual
Server or some other virtualization technology, or maybe even on the old
hardware. I'm happy with 64-bit Vista, but then again I don't carry old
baggage.
 
I am looking at new laptops. What are the pros/cons of the 32 bit versus 64
bit Vista Home.
Click to expand...


The 64-bit version is basically faster, and can also use more RAM than
the 32-bit version.

Those are the theoretical pros. *However* the improved speed of the
64-bit version is only present if you run 64-bit application software
and/or if you need more RAM than the 3-3.5GB that the 32-bit version
can use.

There is very little 64-bit software available yet, and whatever there
is would cost you extra money for newer versions. And very few people
can make effective use of the extra RAM the 64-bit version can use.

Also bear in mind that there may not be 64-bit drivers available for
whatever peripheral hardware (printers, scanners, etc.) you want to
use with it.

So in practice, there is little or no advantage to running the 64-bit
version now.

But its potential advantages will be realized as future applications
are developed. If it were me, I would choose the 64-bit version so I
could realize the potential advantages in the future, *if* its extra
cost was not significant, and *if* it worked with my peripheral
hardware.

One more con I should mention. It's not common, but an occasional
32-bit program (in particular, a utility) will not run under 64-bit
Vista and will have to be replaced.
 
So in practice, there is little or no advantage to running the 64-bit
version now.
Click to expand...

What about a program's paging file being held in RAM and not on the
hard disk? Does that not make a big difference? I've heard that 32bit
apps have this 'advantage' too.

Thanks in advance.
--
Cheers,

DrT

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** The nightmare starts when I wake up.
 
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