Reinstall Windows 7 on a HP 620 notebook; 32 or 64 bit?


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My mom's friend has a HP620 and Windows 7 needs to be reinstalled.

It has a T4500 Intel processor, 2 GB RAM etc.

 

Although the RAM can be upgraded to 8 GB, I think she will stick to the current 2 GB.

A 64 bit was installed according to her (but that I'm not sure of....)

 

Does 32 or 64 bit WIndows 7 Home Premium runs smoother/better on it?

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Stick with Window 7 32bit if you don't upgrade the memory first, as 64bit OS's use more memory... Only until you have at least 4GB is it worth installing Windows 7 64bit.

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Stick with Window 7 32bit if you don't upgrade the memory first, as 64bit OS's use more memory... Only until you have at least 4GB is it worth installing Windows 7 64bit.

 

Got a source for that bit on 64 bit os's using more memory?  

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Got a source for that bit on 64 bit os's using more memory?  

personnel experience, though i have not checked with windows 8

with windows 7 it used about 200MB more memory, no source of this but if you really wanted to check your self you could set up two virtual machines and compare them

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64bit for sure, sounds like you may have access to get 4GB for it, and even if you don't, I'd recommend to them that they buy an upgrade themselves.

but with 64Bit your covered either way if you upgrade it now or down the line.

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Personally,

I don't see a lick of difference between 32 bit and 64 bit except that 64 bit OS's take longer to scan with an AV or malware tool and defrag.

 

Yes,

I know a 64bit OS will be able to utilize more memory than a 32bit OS, but depending on what the mom's friend is doing, what is going to require that memory?

 

A 32bit Windows 7 runs just fine with 2-3GB memory! As with ANY OS, it all depends on what kind of crap you have automatically starting up and running in the background, as to how fast it's going to continue to run!

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It is nothing to do with the OS... it's to do with programs. You see 64bit programs use twice the memory because the require more processing lanes than 32bit programs. Also to run 32bit programs on 64bit Windows requires more memory because windows, uses a system called Wow64 to emulate 32bit programs so they run can in a 64bit OS. Personally I would upgrade the memory of the PC to at least 4Gb before installing a 64bit OS.

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  • 4 years later...

I have been using windows 7 since it came out. My first machine had windows 7 64 bit and I never reached over one gig of ram. I am confused. In what scenario would window's 7 use more that one gig of memory.  The only time i have seen it use more, than one gig was when I ran a vurthial machine, and it was slower that a Comador 64,  unusuable. I am no expert just interested because every post says I am wrong.

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Quote "Houndsteeth  Jun 20, 2011, 10:10 PM"

If the processor supports 64-bit extensions and that it CAN run a 64-bit OS. As to whether or not you should install Windows as 64-bit all depends on whether or not you have a 64-bit version of Windows to install, have more than 3.5 GBytes of memory (the limit for 32-bit Windows), and have all the 64-bit drivers you need for the peripherals you have attached to your computer. Some older legacy devices are not supported since 64-bit drivers have not been written for them.

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