win7 home premium 64-bit or win7 professional 32-bit

[manoutoftime]

Hi
I'm thinking about buying a new computer which comes pre-installed with win7 home premium 64-bit.
I'm presently running win7 professional 32-bit.

should i keep win7 home premium 64-bit on the new computer or reinstall win7 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 win7 professional 32-bit because I'm familiar with it.


thanks

Mitch

 

[richc46]

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

 

[Windows i7 920]

Hi
I'm thinking about buying a new computer which comes pre-installed with win7 home premium 64-bit.
I'm presently running win7 professional 32-bit.

should i keep win7 home premium 64-bit on the new computer or reinstall win7 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 win7 professional 32-bit because I'm familiar with it.


thanks

Mitch

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.

 

[EternalRZ]

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!

 

[J.R.]

I'm leaning toward reinstalling win7 professional 32-bit because I'm familiar with it.

Mitch

Go with your instincts.

 

[Zepher]

If you don't use/need the added features of Pro (XP Mode and extra networking features), then just keep Win7 HP 64bit on it.

 

[kword88]

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
"win7 home premium 64-bit or win7 professional 32-bit?" :>)

 

[manoutoftime]

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

 

[Darician]

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.

 

[manoutoftime]

Darician,

Would I need to upgrade using the disk for Win7 Pro 64-bit (that I would have to borrow), then insert my Product Key for Win7 Pro 32-bit?
thanks.
Mitch

 

[Darician]

Yep, that would work.

 

[gregrocker]

I hate to see anyone not use the OEM WIn7 which comes with a machine because it is a waste of about $100 of the value of the computer.

If you're really torn over it, you can install Pro in a side partition to Dual Boot and compare, sharing the files off of HP. Then when you decide we can help you remove the one you don't want.

Or you can run Pro on it until you find another machine to migrate Pro to, so you can use the Premium which came with the rig and get the full value for your purchase of both OS's.

 

[essenbe]

If you are worried about being comfortable with Home premium, quit. I have two computers this one has the Pro version and the other has Home Premium. Although both are 64 bit versions, There is very little difference between them. You will feel right at home with the Home Premium and will know where everything is.