64 vs 32

Are there any disadvantages to having Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed - rather than 32bit?
Utilities, etc.?

Yes I know you can pre-install either one, but was wondering if certain utilities like Partition Magic, and others work in 32 but not in 64. Will there be certain things that will not work in the 64 version because it is 64bit?

I exchanged the 64 bit pc for a 32 bit because one of my much needed programs would not work with it, no matter which compatibility mode I set it to.

richc46 said:

Anderson2 said:

Yes I know you can pre-install either one, but was wondering if certain utilities like Partition Magic, and others work in 32 but not in 64. Will there be certain things that will not work in the 64 version because it is 64bit?

Sorry, I misunderstood. Almost everything works on 64 that works on 32, but not all. Time for 64 is not here 100%, but my the time of the next windows presentation, it will be a 64 world. Nest windows is coming out in 64. So it is up to you. You can find out for each of your programs or you could just go 64. I will try to find the MS list of which programs work with 64. Check back by tomorrow and if I could find it I will post here. Otherwise wait for others who may know about your specifics. I believe Part Magic works with 64. They probalby will let you know on theier web site.

Anderson2 said:

Yes I know you can pre-install either one, but was wondering if certain utilities like Partition Magic, and others work in 32 but not in 64. Will there be certain things that will not work in the 64 version because it is 64bit?

Partition Magic has been discontinued by Symantec, and is not compatible with Windows 7. You might try Easeus, which works with 32-bit Windows 7 and offers some advantages over the basic Disk Management utility.

The Windows 7 Compatibility Center that richc46 mentioned already is a great resource for not only determining compatibility of various software, but also for locating driver updates or application patches.

Cheers,

Walker
Windows Outreach Team

I agree. The Powers That Be, have been trying to get the world to switch to 64 bit for over 6 years now. It's like beating a dead horse.

The problem is software developers have not caught on yet. When the PC went from 16 bit to 32 bit the devs started making 32 bit software right away and it was not very long that no one made 16 bit apps anymore.

I am running Win 7 64 bit But I keep a hard dive around with Microsoft's Best Operating system to date - XP 32 bit - because it will run Everything (aside from a few DirectX 11 games that need DX11 and a DX11 capable graphics card) - and I do have things Win 7 won't run.

Really Vista and Win 7 was Not needed. They should have kept the core of XP and just made a new OS out of that.

I use 64 bit because I want my PC to see and use all of my 4 gigabytes of Ram which XP 32 won't do. That and This way I have also enabled ACHI Mode in my SATA drives to take advantage of all my hard drives features. (I was under the impression this does not work too well running a 32 bit OS)

Also I understand Win 7 uses less resources in general and it will more so if all of your applications are 64 bit. I simply get all the 64 bit apps I can and what I can't find for 64 bit, I don't worry about and use the 32 bit ones. A lot of times I use the 32 bit apps anyway because the certain software I like doesn't yet come in a 64 bit version. A lot of the 64 bit app I see are made by cheesy companies I don't trust or just plain don't like the software even if it does give me a performance boost by using less resources.

You just have to pick and choose, weigh one poison against another. One day when everyone only makes 64 bit applications, things will get better. For now, Just hold tight and ride that wave.

I hate to see what will happen the day 128 bit come out - Whooohoooo !