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    Older Satellite reinstall: 32-bit or 64-bit?

    Discussion in 'Toshiba' started by MadGirlDisease, Jun 14, 2014.

  1. MadGirlDisease

    MadGirlDisease Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi. I have a Satellite L305-S5918. It's from 1999 with a Pentium T3400. It's old, but I like it a lot. I'm still satisfied with its performance, though I wouldn't want it to show its age any more than it already does.

    I have wanted to do a clean reinstallation of Windows 7, but didn't want to lose access to my current installation which is set up and highly personalized. So I set up a dual boot and installed Windows there from a retail disk.

    I have also installed the most recent Toshiba drivers for this model (most of these are from 2010 IIRC.)

    The original install is 32-bit. I did the new one at 64-bit, just to see what if any difference there was. I only have 2 Gb of memory, and I know that 64-bit can use more.

    It's too soon to tell for sure, but I don't think I see any significant difference in performance between the two installations. But I am noticing video disturbances in the 64-bit install. Areas where a rectangular shape will flash from time to time, eg, along a section of a scroll bar, or in the corner of the task bar. The entire screen flashes occasionally. This was going on before I installed the Toshiba drivers, and is continuing now. It's intermittent. Not very often, but often enough.

    My question is this. Assuming I could fix this flashing, are there any advantages to 64-bit or 32-bit OTHER than the ability to access more memory? Would it be worth trying to get to the bottom of the flashing? Or if I'm satisfied with 32, should I just stick with it?

    Nearly all my programs are 32-bit.

    I could not bother reinstalling at all, but I know the it has gotten a little slower over time... but the 64-bit I just installed seems about the same. So I'm not sure what to think.

    In a 5-year old computer with these specs, is it just as well to stay with 32-bit, or is there a good reason to go 64-bit -- assuming I can get rid of the flashing, which I don't have a lot of confidence in since I've already installed the drivers. There's no advantage to 64-bit that could be worth living that.

    Thanks
     
    MadGirlDisease, Jun 14, 2014
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  2. MadGirlDisease

    MadGirlDisease Notebook Enthusiast

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    anyone...?
     
    MadGirlDisease, Jun 16, 2014
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