# Windows 7: 64 bit or 32 bit? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 13, 2010, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-64-bit-or-32-bit/546513 "2010-07-13T10:46:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-64-bit-or-32-bit/546513/21 "2010-07-14T01:49:17Z")
Just got a new laptop, so I’m a 64-er. ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-64-bit-or-32-bit/546513/22 "2010-07-14T02:09:58Z")
I’m in Linux most of the time (you rock-head!), but I dual boot on my desktop and go into 64-bit Win7 for games. ---
**Author:** ![Aestivalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Aestivalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aestivalis)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-64-bit-or-32-bit/546513/23 "2010-07-14T11:45:06Z")
I have 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium on my wife’s laptop and my kids’ desktop, but I just installed 32-bit Windows 7 Enterprise on a loaner laptop at work, so I chose both. I just remembered I also have it installed on a desktop in the basement (former kids’ machine) that I leave turned off. I haven’t had any problems with the 64-bit version; even a “Magic School Bus” CD-ROM that we picked up at a garage sale worked fine. I’ll eventually get a replacement work laptop with 64-bit Windows 7 professional as part of our internal pilot, so I’ll see how good it is for those purposes. I was thinking I’d run XP Mode if I needed any legacy applications to work, but I haven’t seen any need for it so far. My previous experiments with Windows 7 64-bit had me running my legacy OS in a Virtual Machine for most of the time, with no performance hit. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-64-bit-or-32-bit/546513/24 "2010-07-14T20:54:34Z")
The choice seems pretty clear-cut so far. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-64-bit-or-32-bit/546513/25 "2010-07-14T21:01:00Z")
Ok, I’m going to be a noob and ask: How many programs have 64 bit versions? And how do I find out which version a program is written for? Where I would LOVE it it is when I’m editing photos with The Gimp. If it had a 64 bit version, and I had a 64 bit version of 7, and I could have more than 4 GB of ram, it would make things MUCH easier and faster. (I guess.) What about Firefox? My music player (Rhapshitty, I mean Rhapsody)? etc. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-64-bit-or-32-bit/546513/26 "2010-07-14T21:42:39Z")
> [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](#): > > Where I would LOVE it it is when I’m editing photos with The Gimp. If it had a 64 bit version, and I had a 64 bit version of 7, and I could have more than 4 GB of ram, it would make things MUCH easier and faster. (I guess.) [64-bit GIMP](http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html) I’ve used both the 32 and 64-bit versions under Win7-64 with no problems. The 64-bit version is labeled as experimental and beta but it’s been solid for me. ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-64-bit-or-32-bit/546513/27 "2010-07-15T13:50:52Z")
Right after Windows 7 came out, I snatched one of those Home Premium “family” 3-license packs for $150. Man, those disappeared quickly! Best Buy and Staples ran out in a few days, and I was able to grab on of the last ones at Office Max. It came with two CD’s, one for each version. My Desktop and Laptop had Vista Home Premium 64-bit installed, so I did a clean install of 7 64-bit on both using the “double install” trick, and it was definitely a night and day difference! I just got a Netbook recently, and let’s just say the 32-bit vs 64-bit thing is much less important than making sure you don’t EVER buy anything with Windows 7 Starter Edition pre-installed. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![DJ\_Motorbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-64-bit-or-32-bit/546513/28 "2010-07-15T16:35:30Z")
I use 32 bit Win 7 because Intel 478 processors don’t support 64 bit software. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-7-64-bit-or-32-bit/546513.md?page=1)