Win 7 64bit. vs. Win 7 32bit.

Hello All.

Great resource here. I have spent the past 2 hours rummaging through some posts trying to answer my own question, but to no avail.

Ok here goes-

I just purchased a brand new Dell Laptop with Win. 7 64bit. However, for alot of the work i do, I use Hardware that is not your "run of the mill" hardware. (Laser Light Show controllers).

I can not install these systems on my new computer due to the fact that there ar eno drivers for 64 bit support.

Is there a way to downgrade O.S.'s you think? This is probably a REALLY dumb question, but can I in essence, take my 64 bit OS and make it 32 bit? I like Win. 7 it seems rock solid stable. However, for what I need to use the computer for, it is useless to me in a 64 bit version.

any ideas??

Thanks in advance for any help.

-Marc

I'd return the laptop to store and ask. Don't think "you" have the option to "downgrade" on a OEM install.

If you have Win 7 Pro or Ultimate you can download the free XP Mode virtual machine from Microsoft which runs in 32 bit. So there is no need to downgrade.

You can't change a 64-bit install to a 32-bit one without a clean install unfortunately - which would mean you need the 32-bit install DVD.

Are you 100% sure that there are no x64 drivers available for the laser controllers, as 64-bit is becomming pretty standard now. It may be worth contacting the company to see if they have any new drivers in development.

I'm still kind of new to this thing (64 bit), but isn't it becoming the standard? Most of the new PC's are 64 bit.

It seems that many manufacturers are dragging their feet on the 64 bit issue when it'll be a necessity eventually....gues we gotta demand more 64 bit drivers and drag tem kicking and screaming into the 21st century

I agree with draceena--we need new drivers for Win 7 64 bit for many existing
applications. Adobe Flash Player is still not supported in 64bit browsers. I am
also having trouble with logitech webcam and the skype program.

I have to say, I had three gigs of ram with x86 and it ran fast. I now have five gigs of ram on x64 and I notice no speed difference. So I would tell you to stay x86 if you have it (32-Bit), and to your question, no. I asked the question a few months ago, except I was looking to go from x86 to x64. It's impossible because x64 uses a totally different file system and formatting than x86, so there's no way to do it except wipe and do a clean install. Sorry.