The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    64 bit vista and 32 bit??differences?

    Discussion in 'HP' started by ahmednagy5, Feb 2, 2007.

  1. ahmednagy5

    ahmednagy5 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    32
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    what is the difference between them ?regarding specs or speed ,productivity??and what specs the 64 bit vistra would need?
     
    ahmednagy5, Feb 2, 2007
    #1
  2. Jalf

    Jalf Comrade Santa

    Reputations:
    2,883
    Messages:
    3,468
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    64-bit would need a 64-bit CPU (Core 2 og pretty much any AMD CPU)

    Speed? Pretty much the same. According to a recent Anandtech article, the 64-bit version feels a bit slower, although they couldn't provide benchmarks to back it up. However, once 64-bit apps start becoming available, the 64-bit version may perform a little bit faster. But don't expect miracles either way.

    The 64-bit version can handle a lot more RAM. 32-bit can only manage up to 4GB (including pagefile).

    And that's pretty much it, I guess.
     
    Jalf, Feb 2, 2007
    #2
  3. byrds6

    byrds6 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    468
    Likes Received:
    26
    Trophy Points:
    41
    Vista doesnt seem slower to me. I use it and have 2 gigs of ram. Programs seem to respond faster to me with Ultimate 64bit installed than it did with XP Pro. But hell what do I know Im just a user and not a tech guy that only goes off numbers hehe.
     
    byrds6, Feb 2, 2007
    #3
  4. tti_7

    tti_7 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    13
    Messages:
    32
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    A good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit

    In summary 64 bit has 2 key advantages: computational (64-bit registers), and memory addressing. Of course the OS and Apps have to take advantage of the new hardware to gain any advantage.

    Car analogy: 4-cylinder car will probably run faster than an 8-cylinder running on only 4.
     
    tti_7, Feb 2, 2007
    #4
  5. plattnnum

    plattnnum Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    107
    Messages:
    592
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    you have a 64-bit processor. ;)
     
    plattnnum, Feb 2, 2007
    #5
  6. JadedRaverLA

    JadedRaverLA Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    273
    Messages:
    724
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    For Vista, the main differences (that you'll actually notice) with 64-bit Vista are:

    1) Able to use more than 4 GB RAM
    2) 64-bit Vista REQUIRES signed drivers (no option to load unsigned drivers)
    3) 64-bit Vista has advanced kernel protection to protect against certain kinds of attacks (rootkits especially)
    4) 64-bit Vista requires 64-bit drivers which, in some cases, are harder to come by than 32-bit ones
    5) 64-bit Vista has some additional program incompatibility issues than 32-bit Vista (mainly programs that require a driver (antivirus and the like)
    6) Eventually more programs will be "enhanced" for 64-bit. Right now few are, though that's changing. Office 2007 has a few 64-bit specific files it installs if it detects a 64-bit OS, that speeds up things like database searches, etc.

    There's really not any difference in speed between the two, and the only real additional hardware requirement is a 64-bit processor.
     
    JadedRaverLA, Feb 2, 2007
    #6