32 bit or 64 bit win 7

[eugenenam85]

hello,

i'm trying to upgrade my windows vista to windows 7 but I was wondering if I should upgrade to 32bit or 64bit? Would there be a big difference in performance?

currently, i have a hp dvt2000 that runs a intel dual core t2370 1.67ghz with 2gbs of ram on 32 bit vista and my laptop is capable of upgrading to 64bit. I am not a extreme computer power user, but I would say I am an above average user. (music, movies, excel/word for work, photoshop and premiere for fun, video games that don't require crazy graphic i.e warcraft 3).
p.s I am going to upgrade my 2gb ram to 4gb if I upgrade to 64 bit.
p.s.s I'm also planning to build a computer next summer. Should I just save the money for summer and upgrade only to a 32bit win7 for now?

thanks a mucho!!!

 

[The_Prophecy]

Go for 64 bit. There is no reason to stick with 32 bit Windows anymore, unless you're using a computer that can't run x64 copies of Windows (netbooks mostly fit into this group).

 

[buwish]

Right on. I concur, go with 64-bit. Your computer will be able to use the full 4GB of RAM, which in turn should lead to improved performance overall.

 

[The_Prophecy]

To that end.... i'm glad Windows 7 will be the last version of Windows offered in a 32 bit flavor.

 

[eugenenam85]

thanks a lot, i'll get headed to the computer shop first thing tom morning!!!

 

[sminlal]

Just to be clear, an upgrade of a 2GB system from 32-bit to 64-bit alone won't really make anything run faster. What it WILL do is to let you add 4GB or more of memory and take full advantage of it, and THAT will probably speed up at least some things (a little or a lot, depending on what you're doing).

I agree with the other posters - there's really no downside to 64-bit and so it makes sense to choose it.

 

[eugenenam85]

the only reason I was hesitant was because my hardware is a little old (almost 2 years in computer years is forever). If the change in performance would be minimal, I was thinking about saving some money. Hmmm Im going to upgrade to 4gb of ram and install win 7 pro 64 bit tom morn. Hopefully I can notice a difference from my system now...or i will be sad that I used 200 bucks for nothing

 

[baddad]

Just remember going from 32 to 64 is a clean install.