Windows 7: win7 home premium 64-bit or win7 professional 32-bit

Hi
I'm thinking about buying a new computer which comes pre-installed with Windows 7 home premium 64-bit.
I'm presently running Windows 7 professional 32-bit.

should i keep Windows 7 home premium 64-bit on the new computer or reinstall Windows 7 professional 32-bit?

is 64-bit "better" than 32-bit hands down, or do the added functionalities of professional outweigh those of home premium?

I'm leaning toward reinstalling Windows 7 professional 32-bit because I'm familiar with it.




thanks

Mitch

Mitch, If you give us the system specs, we can answer your question,

Please see the Forum Rules and Info sticky for information on adding details to your system specs on your account. We are unable to help you if we do not know what is in your system as a lot of issues can arise from that. The more details you can give us, the better we can help as we can eliminate many things which could go wrong and narrow it down.

To be honest, I would just take the computer with the OS that is already pre-installed on it, mainly because there's less to deal with and honestly, the differences in 64 and 32 bit copies of Windows are pretty minimal with the exception that you have two installation folder directories now: "Program Files (x86)" and "Program Files." The reason that there are two installation directories is because now any programs that you would normally install under a 32 bit copy of Windows go into "Program Files (x86)" and any programs that are meant to run in 64 bit copies of Windows go into the plain old "Program Files" folder. For example, if you install Photoshop CS5, it will install Photoshop CS5 into the x86 folder and then install Photoshop CS5 64 bit into the normal Program Files folder. Plus if the machine you are buying has 4GB of RAM in it, and you install a 32 bit copy of Windows into it, you could end up hindering it because 32 bit copies of Windows can only read 4GB of RAM but use only 3GB of RAM. If the machine that you are buying has 3GB of RAM, then i guess its okay, but I'd still recommend that you not mess with the OS that is already installed on it, just to save time, effort, and trouble.

PS: Its rumored that 64 bit is better than 32 bit in the performance department as long as you have the proper hardware. I'd take a 64 bit copy over 32 bit in a heartbeat haha!

Hope this helps!

Go with your instincts.

If you don't use/need the added features of Pro (XP Mode and extra networking features), then just keep Windows 7 HP 64bit on it.

if you have 4gigs or more of RAM, go with 64bit. if you have lots of hard drive space, you could dual boot.
then every time you restart, you will have to ask yourself
"Windows 7 home premium 64-bit or Windows 7 professional 32-bit?" :>)

Thanks everyone for you responses.
My biggest concern was software issues, among which I'm running Office 2007 and don't really want to upgrade to 2010 for budget reasons.
EternalRZ made good points about the two program files folders as well as the RAM issue (as did kword88). Since the computer I'm considering will have a minimum of 6GB or RAM, I'll keep the installed O/S.
thanks again,
Mitch

And actually, if you have a copy of Windows 7 Professional 32-bit, it entitles you to use the 64-bit version with the same product key instead of the 32-bit version so if you ever do decide to put Windows 7 Professional on that PC, it can be 64-bit.

Darician,

Would I need to upgrade using the disk for Windows 7 Pro 64-bit (that I would have to borrow), then insert my Product Key for Windows 7 Pro 32-bit?
thanks.
Mitch