Should I install 32-bit?

I recently bought a Sager laptop and it was already installed with 64-bit Vista. I've heard that many things are not compatible with 64-bit, so I was wondering if I should install 32-bit Vista instead. I only have 2 gigs of RAM so 64-bit isn't necessary. Is there any reason I should keep 64-bit or should I go to 32-bit?

 

32bit will actually be faster...

 

Why would it be faster? I always thought that 64 bit would run faster. I'm just wondering if going with 32bit has a much larger advantage right now and for the future. I don't want to install 32bit now and find out that 64bit is actually better later.

And is it difficult to install 32bit when I have 64bit installed already? Will I have to reinstall all my programs (Firefox, etc)?

What about 32bit to 64bit in the future?

 

As Vista matures the compatibility problems are being resolved. I think 64 bit is the future. I have 32 bit Ultimate installed now but I ordered the 64 bit version for installing in the very near future. From what I have read, going to 64 bit from 32 bit requires a complete reformat of the drive. I'm not sure about the other way around but I think that would also be the case. As for 64 bit being slower, I would not know why. The 64 bit version also allows for more ram. Up to 128 gig with Vista 64 bit Ultimate. If I were you, I would stay with the 64 bit version. Just my 2 cents.

Jim

 

There aren't very many 64 bit applications developed for the consumer market, and there won't be many released in the near future. Don't worry about switching to 32 bit - you'll be fine for the foreseeable future.

Regarding speed - it's all relative. A 64 bit operating system running on a 64 bit system should run faster, but when applications are 32 bit you may see some slowdowns, as the operating system has to run in 32 bit compatibility mode. (Resident experts, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.)

There are a lot of good resources on the web for the 32 vs 64 bit questions. Start with the Wikipedia and go from there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit

 

I'd imagine there would be little to no performance hit from running in 32 bit compatibility mode... Mainly because the consumer flavors of 64bit isn't true 64bit to my understanding. It is 32bit with 64bit extensions...

To my knowledge that is the difference between Intel's consumer 64bit (Intel 64) and their enterprise 64bit (Itanium)...

 

Default Re: 64bit Vista better on Sagers than 32bit?
Just read some stuff about 64bit Vista having major compatibility problems with things like printers, scanners, etc. I'm going to entering college with this laptop and I don't want to have problems with the school printers or other things. Would it be wise for a college student like me to install 32bit or should I stick with 64bit?

And when do you expect 64bit to be completely stable with driver issues and compatibility issues. When it does, would I have to revert back to 64bit or stay 32bit (assuming I change).

Lastly, how difficult is the process of going from 64bit to 32bit and vice versa. I have never reformatted a computer before.

 

Yeah a lot of colleges don't support 64-bit stuff =/

 

64bit is faster on my 1GB desktop than 32bit.

I haven't tried it on my 2GB notebook yet, but I'm pretty sure it would be faster.


And I have experienced very little compatibility problems on 64bit.
It's a good idea to wait until it's broke to fix it. Stick with 64bit for now.

 

The thing with that is, if I go up to college with 64bit and I have some problems, then I don't want the trouble of dealing with it. I want to fix it as soon as possible.

What disadvantages do I have for going with 32bit instead of 64?

 

The biggest disadvantage I can think of atm is the ability to use more than 3GB of RAM. A x86 OS will not fully recognize 4GB of RAM, thus switching to a x64 OS will probably be wiser.

Mike.

 

I do not plan to use more than 2 gigs of RAM on this laptop. Does that mean I should go for 32 bit? In my case, what other disadvantages are there?

Also, is it a big hassle to install 32bit from 64bit? I can't find a set of clear instructions on how to do it. I am scared that I might make a huge mistake.

I am thinking about sticking with 64bit unless there are some glaring disadvantages in doing so.

 

There are no problems running x32 programs on a x64 OS. You'll be ready for the future if developers ever decide to upgrade their programs/hardwares drivers to x64. Otherwise why bother with x32 OS installation if the one you have now works.

 

Actually, it won't recognize 4GB of virtual memory. which means that even with a pagefile, you won't ever get more than 3.something virtual memory recognized by Windows.
So you don't need more than 2GB RAM to run into that restriction.

Also, individual 32 bit applications can only use up to 2GB memory on a 32-bit OS, but 4GB on a 64-bit OS. (So you might, if you're unlucky, run into out-of-memory problems on a 32-bit OS)

Same way you install any other OS. You just pop the DVD in, and let it install.

Good idea. 32-bit generally has better driver support, but if you've got drivers for your hardware already, then that's a non-issue. So don't bother switching unless a problem with your current system crops up.

 

You'll lose some security features found exclusively in 64bit OSes. But that's probably not much of a big deal.

By the way, i ran a trail with Vista x64 in my polytechnic environment and found that some important software (notably VMware) would not work. The only alternative was to use Virtual PC 2007 but the Linux image used in lessons are in VMware format. Well, that's one of the many troubles i had to deal with x64. It will better if you stick to 32bit or have a dual boot environment.

 

VMWare does have a 64-bit version.. And it allows the client OS to run 64-bit as well.

It'd be interesting to compile a list of applications that do/don't work on 64-bit, as well as possible alternatives.

 

If you're compiling a list, I've seen a few problems with 64-bit Vista...


1) PuTTy (Free secure-shell software). It would work for a little while, then invariably, after a few minutes, lose it's connection.

2) Checkpoint SecureClient VPN -- no 64-bit release available at this time.

Also, MS-Studio2005 .NET was a little odd (and maybe it was just Vista, not the 64-bit), in that it would tell me I should run it as administrator, but when I selected the 'Run As' and so forth, Studio would STILL tell me that I should run it as administrator. Other than that, it seemed to work okay, and all the software I'm currently working on (c++ and c#) compiled and ran without any troubles.

Firefox was also a little buggy -- with NO extensions configured, it seemed to freeze up a fair amount. Not all the time, and not unbearably, but since switching to good old 32-bit XP-Pro, firefox has been great.

Running FEAR on 64-bit Vista, I had quite a few times when the game locked up (pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del would eventually bring the screen back with a message that the display drivers stopped working, and then I could continue on). Under XP, that hasn't happened at all.

 

Vista x64 recognizes 4gb of RAM but x32 version recognizes 3.3gb. Paging file is different than RAM access. I've set my paging file to 5gb with 4gb RAM on my Vx64 HP laptop. The reason I did that because some programs (Roxio EMC9) needs lots of mem to play with especially if making videos.

 

VMware player? My module required me to run VMWare Server. But i've finished my semester.

 

Which also supports 64 bit. We use it to run several 64-bit servers at work.