Should a 4gb (max ram) laptop run on a 32 bit or 64 bit OS

I recently purchased a laptop that has a MAX of 4gb of ram that came programmed with Windows 7 professional 64 bit. I understand that a 64 bit OS needs a minimum of 4gb and because I cannot increase the amount of ram, would running a 64 bit OS slow down my computer if I ran many programs (5+) at once ? Would running it on a 32 bit version be better in the long run ( I will probably use this laptop for 3-5 years).

My question is should I have it changed to a 32 bit version of Windows 7? Why or why not? What are the pros and cons of running the computer on a 32 bit and 64 bit? Would it make a difference in speed etc.? Which OS would be the most beneficial for running many programs? Why?

Thanks

lfk said:

I recently purchased a laptop that has a MAX of 4gb of ram that came programmed with Windows 7 professional 64 bit. I understand that a 64 bit OS needs a minimum of 4gb and because I cannot increase the amount of ram, would running a 64 bit OS slow down my computer if I ran many programs (5+) at once ? Would running it on a 32 bit version be better in the long run ( I will probably use this laptop for 3-5 years).

My question is should I have it changed to a 32 bit version of Windows 7? Why or why not? What are the pros and cons of running the computer on a 32 bit and 64 bit? Would it make a difference in speed etc.? Which OS would be the most beneficial for running many programs? Why?

Thanks

It's difficult to say with only 4GB RAM. minimum for windows 7 64bit is 2GB that is 1GB more than 32bit, because 64bit OS uses more RAM than 32bit.
With 32bit you will get around 3.5GB (other ~0.5GB is reserved for other memory like vram etc) out of 4GB. 64Bit will be able to use all of 4GB RAM. because 64bit OS uses more ram difference is almost nothing.
If you have 64bit OS now running fine and all your drivers and sowftware works fine there is no need to change to 32bit and in future 64bit support will get even better as more and more 64bit programs comes out..

Who told you it needs 4 gigs ? It will run with 1, 2. or 3 !! Your motherboard only supports so much memory wether it`s 32 or 64 bit. If your laptop came with 64 bit leave it alone. Find the maximum amount of memory your board supports and install it. 4 gigs is plenty enuf for a laptop.

My new laptop shipped with the 64 bit version of Windows 7 and 4 gigs of RAM. I opted to add another module for a total of 8 gigs.

Truthfully, I'm not a real power user. No heavy video editing. It ran well with 4 gigs, and I didn't notice any improvement after the upgrade.