Difference between 32bit and 64bit Vista?

I think im gonna get a Compal HEL90 from Powernotebooks.com, but the coupon they have for Vista is for 32bit only, what is the difference between 64bit and 32bit? I heard that Microsoft is pushing the 64bit, so is it important to have that?

 

64-bit Vista is the same OS, however, it processes 64 bits of data instead of 32. It's currently more buggy and problematic and 32-bit Vista, and I don't reccomend using it until the 64-bit move really starts. Which is not for sometime.

And no, it is not important at this time.

64 bit is still new, and probably not going to even start to being considered mainstream for 3 to 4 years.

 

Thanks for the help man, this site is great for people like me who know nothing about computers

 

And it was no problem. Glad I could be of assistance.

 

Also almost no software is written for 64 bit so there's really no point.

 

If you're a freak about security, the 64-bit version is allegedly much more secure than the 32-bit version. So sayeth Vista experts like Paul Thurrott. Of course, as has already been pointed out an awful lot of hardware and software won't work correctly on the 64-bit version. Heck, that's probably what makes it secure.

As they say, if you have to ask, then you probably don't need it.

 

IMO, the more people that move to 64 bit now will only help push the need for better drivers and software. It's coming sooner or later.

That said...

A couple reasons to go 64 bit.

1) You want to run 4+ GBs of ram
2) You want to be able to play HD-DVD and Blue Ray content from your machine.
3) Need increased security

PS) I switched over to 64bit last night and all my apps work fine, I have a couple missing device drivers but that should be solved in the next couple weeks.

 

Also to add to the mix - I would say 64bit will be mainstream sooner than 3 - 4 years, since xp pro x64 has already been out for 2 - 3 years now - and support for x64 has increased greatly - You can find drivers for x64 for a lot of major manfs. - it is faster , it is more secure - driver support is not like x86 but I had all my issues smoothed out in 2 days and that was when xp pro x64 was first released - Installed Vista rc1 x64 - it installed flawless and I had already found all drivers necessary for Vista x64 proir to install, they all worked flawlessly - Does that mean it will for you? no. Doesn't mean that it wont either? nope.

 

This is an excellent point. The spotty driver and application support isn't a technical issue, it's probably a resource issue. Vendors just aren't going to allocate their limited resources to developing support for a platform that so few people are utilizing. Of course, one may argue that if they built it, people would come. So I don't know which needs to occur first, the supply or the demand.

It's not unlike the move from 16-bit to 32-bit I guess, but it sure is taking longer. Of course, Microsoft helped then by making Win95 32-bit from the outset. Forced everyone to move along.

EDIT: Upon further reflection, my last paragraph isn't really accurate. Win95 still had a lot of 16-bit code. Maybe a better parallel is comparing 64-bit an 32-bit Vista to Win95/98/ME and Windows NT/2000. They co-existed a long time before unifying under WinXP.