I will have to get a new notebook in summer, and as I always install the Win7 myself, once again (for me!!!) the question arises: 32bit or 64bit? I have used 32 all my life and I have learned the hard way that by changing something as basic as this will bring surprises that will waste a lot of time to fix. And at my age having to waste time is a real nuisance. I just bought a tablet and wasted a lot of my time (and the time of some you) figuring out that something like playing a movie on that tablet, which is stored on an external SSD, would mean an utterly preposterous effort. So, please, will someone enlighten me to the actual REAL advantage of a 64bit Win7 over a a 3bit? That it will perform certain actions 0.4 sec faster or I will otherwise waste a lot of my ram, is not an advantage in my world. And if, as I believe, it will not allow me to play certain old 32bit games, I would consider that a definite disadvantage.... I did some research and saw that there might be driver problem ? Thank you very much for help and effort in advance,,,,
Mostly newer laptops are 64bits. We suggest 64bits is better and still can backward any 32 bits apps is fine..
What notebook these days ships with less than 8GB? None. Don't limit yourself. You'll also find it harder to get 32bit driver support too. All your old 32bit apps will run as well.
Well, almost all of the CPU features Windows 8 and up need to run require a 64bit CPU, anyway. I expect the 32bit Windows support to go away in the long run. Note that while Windows 7 32bit is still a choice you can make, driver vendors like nVidia start phasing out their driver support for 32bit. Windows 64bit can run all 64bit and 32bit processes. The only thing it can't run are old 16bit programs from the Win 3.x or DOS era. And, there are emulation layers to counter that (like DOSBOX for old games).
Thanks for your answers What an amazing deja vu.... I have asked the same question about five years and then too I got no answer, NOT ONE !!!! Read your answers, all of them and name one reason why bigger is better for a normal user. When would a normal user like me run into a situation where he needs more than 2GB of ram ???? The worst one is this Brian Wilson comedian, instead of coming up with ONE single argument other than the 2Gb 4Gb ram difference he keeps repeating a whole article till the end that bigger must be better. If people need that much ram, no question I agree. But other than that? I have been here for many years and I know you all mean well, but: "Mostly newer laptops are 64bits. We suggest 64bits is better..." is NOT an argument, surely you can see that? "What notebook these days ships with less than 8GB? None. Don't limit yourself. You'll also find it harder to get 32bit driver support too." What on earth has that got to do with me ???? Why would I need one because they sell them? with more than 4GB? I have never NOT found a 32bit driver, and believe me I use a lot of strange stuff.... But I have met a lot of Firefox add ons, that will NOT work on 64! Carlos, seriously, which MS OS has been better than 7? And nVidia has stopped being a friend of users years ago and simply wants to sell their new products. I do not mine bitcoins, I do not even play any serious games! I use dos-box for many years, and I was not even aware there is a 64 version now. And my 32bit works perfectly. So really? The one difference is that I can use 8GB of ram? When does a normal user need that? And as there is already an answer of someone who joined a month ago and is such a brilliant person, that he cannot believe anyone would seriously ask a question like this... great! (I mean that question, because I do not know its answer. I actually would like to know when I would need more than 2GB ram?) And please forgive me any sarcasm you find in this comment, I always appreciate your help...
I think you may run into a larger issue than 32 vs 64 bit. Any new laptop that you purchase today will likely contain hardware for which there are no Win 7 drivers.
@ThomasMann i'll answer by keeping in mind which version you should choose. so lets get fact straight- 32 bit can only use maximum 4 GB memory ram which include graphic memory. in windows minimum requirement for 32 bit is 1 GB ram and in 64 bit, minimum requirement is 2 GB ram. its clear 64 bit require more ram. now another fact. 32 bit windows never works smooth in 1 GB ram. it actually requires 1.5 GB or more ram to work smoothly. 64 bit windows never works smooth in 2 GB ram. it actually requires 3 GB or more ram to work smoothly. (Based on my experience on lots of systems) another fact- in 32 bit windows with 2 GB ram, chrome is open with 10 working tabs. requires around 60 to 70 % ram. in 64 bit windows with 16 GB ram, chrome is open with 10 working tabs, requires around 40 to 50 % ram. so wth is that. actually its a good thing. free ram = wasted ram so windows utilizes ram as much it can and stores data in ram instead of hdd to increase speed in data accessing. so finally, install 32 bit if you have 2 GB or less ram. install 64 bit if you have more than 3 GB ram.
You are the prototype of what I wrote about above. I asked a very simple question, and almost everybody does not bother at all answering that question, like you people are telling me what I should have asked according to them.. Who told you that I am planning to buy a NEW laptop? I ask a simple question: What is the advantage that 64 has over 32, aside from the ram?
Maybe this is seen as you buying a new laptop: Keep in mind, just like your soso english, many others here are not english speaking too. About the x86 vs x64 question, it's been answered a few times, x64 OS (with enough RAM) is the best choice, because: 1. x64 OS can run x86 Software (x64 software can't run on x86 OS) 2. MSFT has better security on x64 (afaik they never implemented the meltdown fixes in x86 patches) Tips: Windows 7 SP1 will reach it's end of life at Jan. 20. 2020. It won't be patched after that date, MSFT is a bit slacking with updating/maintaining windows 7 SP1 and prolly 8.1 too.
Thank you for at least trying. But once more the only thing you come up with is that: More is better! There is absolutely nothing, that I might ever need more than 2GB for, I wrote that clearly. "speed in data accessing." Really? I use an SSD and a by now fairly old i5. I have not been in any situation, where I ever noticed a lack of speed. Yet, still, thank you, because you are of course right: 64 is better than 32, because under certain conditions that neither I not the vast majority of computer users will ever encounter in their life, will perform faster. So the answer to my question would be: No, there is no reason for almost all the people of the world to "upgrade" from 32 to 64. If your computer feels too slow, after the many years you had, it do NOT get 64 instead of 32, get an SSD instead of a HDD, and/or get an i-Intel instead of your Pentium M.
Thanks, a very sensible answer. I disagree with all you say, but that is just a matter of opinion... I mentioned to you before that I prefer an answer to the question I actually did ask, which seems to be a rather unusual idea to many people... but you at least did that, thank you. I am just a normal computer user, and maybe, there you are right, I should have mentioned that. I have never run into any software that I could not run on my 32 installation, and as far as security is concerned. I have not had a virus in probably eight or ten years, and all I have runniung is Win Defender. Once weekly I run Malwarebytes or Stinger or Emsisoft, and NOT ONCE did either of them find anything except the usual false positives. And believe, I travel on strange sites. And so I will be happy to use Win7 after 2019. I am sure that the fearmongering of M$ will have scared most people away from Win 7 by then, and so no hacker will be wasting any time on writing a virus for such a small remaining market share.... Because even then I will probably be too lazy to learn Linux...
Maybe you should not ask anything anymore, the answersnever suit your needs... facts don't work in your world it seems, if the nonsense is what you wanted to here, then the answer is ok to you, byebye.....
Fact is, if you don't play many modern games and you don't have more than 3GB ram, then you probably don't need 64bit. 64bit was introduced because windows could not access more than 4gb under 32 bit. It's like a car that can achieve to 200 Mph but the speed limit on the road is, say 60 Mph. Also, driver problems on 64 bit were a thing of the past, pretty sure you won't have to worry about that. And another thing: There are programs and games that are 64bit only, they won't work on 32 bit, whereas 32 bit programs and games will work as natively on 64 bit. So I don't see why you shouldn't go 64 bit seeing as it's exactly the same thing just with more room to grow.
okay i will give it one more try to explain. if you are not using any memory intensive program, you dont need more than 2 GB ram. if you are using browser, music player, video files, 2 GB is enough. i use 10 year old pentium e5300 with 2 gb ram and 5400 rpm hdd, and frankly i dont feel a need to upgrade my system. its enough for my use. but if you are using any image or video editing software or games, you will need more than 2 gb ram, otherwise program will lag ridiculously. you questioned the statement that "more ram increase speed in program data accessing" well you are wrong. with increased ram windows can store more data in ram for programs to use. and ram are way more faster than ssd and hdd. bcoz of that it is faster in random program accessing and switching and multitasking. by that logic if anyone planing to increase speed in resource intensive program, adding more ram is perfectly good decision. since more programs and drivers are going 64 bit route only and ram is super cheap, thats why manufacturers are using 4 gb ram even in most cheapest laptop and it is a good decision by them. so in conclusion - use 64 bit and more than 3 gb ram if you are planning to run any resource intensive program. but 32 bit and 2 gb ram is just fine if you planning to use only simple program's. if you still dont understand than ask specific question.