difference between vista 32 and 64 bit?

[ZMan2k2]

What is the main difference between these two? Is it just that drivers are harder to get, or have they fixed that problem?

[colsankey]

some older hardware does not have 64 bit drivers from the manufacturers and most anything in the last year or so typically does.

As long as your not putting anything too unique or old into your system you should be fine. 64 bit is great for the extra memory allocation, but I think its unnecissary for a lot of people. (allthough if you had to get vista, I'd get the 64 bit version and 4+ GB of RAM)

[BlkMaxima]

I have vista 32 bit. When I upgraded my ram to 4gb. It is only able to use 3200mb or something. Kinda disapointing.

[SpireTECH]

If you have a 64-bit processor, and none of these apply to you, then run Vista 64:

1. You have old hardware (2 years+) for which no Vista 64-bit drivers are available
2. You run old software and games (2 years+).

For the most part, older software and games that don't run under Vista 64, don't run under Vista 32 either. So if the question is simply 64-bit or 32-bit, then you might not need to consider this.

Microsoft provides a free program called Microsoft Virtual PC. It allows you to install a 32-bit OS under a virtual computer, which shows up as a window, that you can use just like a normal PC. This may be a viable solution, if you have one or two applications that simply don't work in Vista.

[schocker]

I opted for 32bit over 64bit for the memory differences. It has been quite smooth, with the only problem being certain programs that dont work properly or at all under this enviornment such as quicktime and hysis.