R. C. White said:Hi, Ray.
A DVD player can also play CDs. A CD player can't play DVDs.
Maybe that's the best analogy for the difference between a 32-bit computer
and a 64-bit computer. A machine with 64-bit hardware can run 32-bit
software just fine. A 32-bit computer can't run 64-bit applications or
drivers - or a 64-bit operating system.
A "classical" music player can become a "country" music player just by
taking out the Pavarotti disk and slipping in Hank Williams, Jr. or Sr.
An "XP machine" can become a "Win7 machine" almost as easily. That phrase
doesn't tell us if it has a 64-bit CPU.
If either of your computers has 32-bit hardware, it will be limited to
32-bit Win7. If either has 64-bit hardware, you can take your choice
between 32-bit and 64-bit Win7.
If you bought your computer more than, say, 3 years ago, it probably has
32-bit hardware. If you bought it more recently, there's a good chance
that it has a 64-bit CPU. Many 64-bit computers came with 32-bit WinXP or
Vista pre-installed. We can't "upgrade" from any 32-bit to any 64-bit
operating system, but we can "clean install" 64-bit Win7 on them as easily
as 32-bit Win7.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
[email protected]
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64
R. C. White said:If either of your computers has 32-bit hardware, it will be limited to
32-bit Win7. If either has 64-bit hardware, you can take your choice
between 32-bit and 64-bit Win7.
If you bought your computer more than, say, 3 years ago, it probably
has 32-bit hardware. If you bought it more recently, there's a good
chance that it has a 64-bit CPU. Many 64-bit computers came with
32-bit WinXP or Vista pre-installed. We can't "upgrade" from any
32-bit to any 64-bit operating system, but we can "clean install"
64-bit Win7 on them as easily as 32-bit Win7.
Dabbler said:One of the advantages of 64-bit architecture that is less mentioned is
the elimination of 2 GB or 4 GB limitation in many applications that use
32 bit integers. Such integers have only 2 GB (signed) / 4 GB (unsigned)
maximums.
Unfortunately, even if you bought some 64-bit HP notebooks last year, you
can still say goodbye to upgrading to 64-bit Vista. My tx1410us (part of
the tx1000 series tablet notebooks) is one of them that came with 2 GB
memory, supposedly upgradable to 4 GB (according to the specs,) but that
turns out to be a lie when you actualy try to replace the 2 x 1 GB memory
cards with 2 x 2 GB units. According to the MS upgrade compatibility
advisor I need more than the existing memory to upgrade to the 64-bit
Win7. Also, HP does not upgrade any of the notebook-specific drivers to
Win7. So your notebook does not need to be 3 years old or older to be left
out from the Win7 upgrade path. At least if it's an HP notebook. Upgrading
to 32-bit Win7 is also a risky proposition for such notebooks because of
the lack of driver upgrade support from HP but possible if you are willing
to give up some functionality, such as fingerprint recognition.
PvdG42 said:While the 2Gig memory limitation might be a reason not to go to 64 bit
Win 7 (although I thought the specs said 2 Gig is OK for W7-64),
my experience with a Gateway laptop that came with Vista tends to
indicate that drivers *may* not be an issue.
I did a clean install of Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit on the wiped notebook
HD, and Win 7 found *all* needed drivers on its install media. Beyond
that, the common experience of those of us who participated in the
tech beta was that > Vista drivers worked OK in Win 7.
Well, that's a good news for me and I just might change my mind about
the upgrade. I am still ambivalent about the 64-bit Win7 version
because it's just too expensive. You could buy a new netbook for what
MS wants for it. How much did that Ultimate 64 cost you?