I buy new computers every couple years, and up until now I’ve avoided 64-bit systems because it seemed that a lot of software was incompatible with it. I left the 64-bit ones to the uber geeks.
So now I’m looking around for a laptop and it seems that many, if not most of them are 64-bit. Have 64-bit computers reached the point where they’re advisable for mainstream use? Are there any precautions or downsides to consider?
I would advise a 64-bit OS for a new computer, absolutely. The ability to handle 4GB+ of RAM is bound to come in handy down the line, and the problems that used to exist with drivers have pretty much been eliminated in all new hardware. Legacy hardware from several years ago can unfortunately be another matter, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem for a laptop.
Running 64-bit Windows 7 RC and am a happy camper with my 4GB RAM. The computer crashes a maximum of once per day and I am having not much problems with comparability issues over drivers. (For games, it’s DirectX that causing the grief and more of dual-core problems)
I would say it’s safe to get a 64bit system. There is still going to be software that has issues, but as the other poster said the ability to handle more RAM is a selling point.
Best thing to do is look at the software you simply cannot live without and see if it has issues before you buy.
:eek: Once per WEEK would have me pulling my hair out. I hope the laptop I’m typing on now lasts another few years (it’s nearly 5).
If your computer is crashing once a day I’d say something is seriously wrong. My Vista desktop never crashes. Occasionally Explorer will freeze and restart when I’m using old buggy software, but Windows itself never crashes.
The 32-to-64-bit transition was a complete non-event for most Linux and BSD users. If anyone is considering running any of those OSes, don’t hesitate to buy a 64-bit computer: The extra RAM alone is worthwhile.
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The more I hear about both Mac and Windows, the more I think the open-source world (Linux and the BSDs) handled the 64-bit transition the best out of everyone making OSes for commodity hardware (desktop computers, laptops, netbooks).
To begin with, all our old software works. Yes, even the binaries. I’m running 32-bit Firefox on a 64-bit Linux system (the OS itself is 64-bit) right this very second to compose this post. All of the (32-bit) plugins (well, Flash is the only one I bother with) work and all of the 32-bit dynamic libraries (DLLs, for you Windows users) are found without a hitch. I have a small number of other 32-bit binaries that work just as smoothly.
In addition, software that’s recompiled for 64-bit systems also tends to work. Relatively few coders in the Linux and BSD world assume that pointers are always 32 bits. None of them rely on undocumented system calls.* I credit this to the fact these OSes have been running on 64-bit systems since the early 1990s, when the Alpha CPU was introduced: Seriously incompatible code in widely-used applications got smoked out early and new incompatible code got kept out.
*(Undocumented system calls seem to be the particular favorite of Windows devs, as evidenced by the horror stories posted by Raymond Chen at his blog, The Old New Thing. The Linux kernel devs would have no patience for any such shenanigans.)
Finally, and I don’t know how big of a deal this really is in the Windows world, but Linux and the BSDs never had to worry about 16-bit code. At least some 32-bit Windows OSes could (in theory) run 16-bit Windows 3 binaries. A 64-bit CPU running in 64-bit mode cannot run 16-bit code at all.
[/aside]
I don’t know where you get your information from.
64bit is completely transparent on OS X. All old apps work fine. There are some driver issues, but all OS’s are going to have that probelem.
No idea man, but I just say “It’s a RC” and moves on. If this behaviour goes on after release I would to do some checks, but the strange thing is the computer crashes soon after boot-up, and after it crashes it will never crash again.
There’s no real reason not to get a 64 bit processor nowadays. Even in the worst case scenario you can install a 32 bit OS on it and it will function the same as a 32 bit processor.
It’s the same way in Windows. The software was never an issue*. It’s only drivers that have compatibility issues. Which is made even worse by MS making it so you cannot run unsigned drivers in the 64 bit versions of Vista and Windows 7. I don’t know what signing a driver entails but none of the homebrew drivers I’ve come across are signed so if the hardware manufacturer doesn’t have 64 bit drivers out you’re pretty much screwed. Though that’s pretty much a non issue now for most people as any mainstream hardware made in the past several years will have 64 bit drivers out there.
*Well that’s not entirely true, you can not run 16 bit apps in 64 bit versions of Windows. But I can’t imagine many people are going to run into that problem. And if they do there’s always virtual machines.
Thanks for the info. My eyes glaze over whenever I try to make sense of this.
Check your UAC settings, I was in driver hell for the past few weeks (still messed up and I can’t play 2004 or older games, but meh) and I tried several homebrew. Windows always just popped up a big red box going THE WORLD IS GOING TO END! YOUR DRIVER IS UNSIGNED!!! Continue?
16bit is so awesome that nobody should considering anything beyond it.
Yeah, I’m, an old fart. Why do you ask? 
Whippersnapper. 36-bit is the only word size anyone could ever need. IBM, DEC, and Honeywell all agree, so it must be the wave of the future!
Not true. You can run 16 bit code inside a VM.
That isn’t the CPU running the code directly. It’s the CPU running an emulator that runs the code. I thought that would be clear from context.
I still think I would try to figure out what the problem is. I’ve been running Windows 7 RC, and before that the Beta, both 64bit, and I honestly cannot tell you the last time my computer crashed.
Yeah, well, but since I got to reformat and reinstall when 22nd comes, I might as well wait 
Other than the Intel Atom (which is used on cheap netbooks) and whatever AMD equivalent there is, what 32 bit processors are still being made? Even the cheap Sempron and Celeron processors are 64bit now.