# A tale of two laptops: Which one is better?



## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

I’m in the market for a new laptop – well, used actually. There are a couple that I’m looking at. Both are the same model Dell with a 250 gig HD and 4 GB RAM. The difference between them: One has a 2.93 GHz processor and is loaded with 32-bit Windows 7 Home Edition. The other has a slower processor, 2.66 GHz but has 64-bit Windows Professional. Would one of these be better than the other, and if so why? Or is it a wash?

Regards, 
Wayne


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## J&D (Apr 11, 2008)

You will not notice any difference between the processors given that they both have the same amount of RAM and identical hard drive. That small difference in clock speed is negligible. I would rather have the 64bit Pro version of Windows 7.

JD


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## Harpmaker (Oct 28, 2007)

I too doubt there will be any discernable performance difference between the two machines if they are the same CPU type. What are the CPU's? Just curious.

If you are using older peripherals you might have to upgrade their drivers to the 64 bit versions if you go with 64 bit windows.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Agreed, the 64bitWin7 machine would be a better fit as that is where you will get better speed.


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## AudiocRaver (Jun 6, 2012)

I vote Windows 7 64-bit as well. Most well-supported applications these days either come in 64 bit versions or are made to behave well in a 64 bit environment. Hard to say for certain, but 64 bit is _supposed_ to go faster, all else being equal. It will be more flexible, and going 64 bit is _progress,_ baby!:bigsmile: That's what I would do.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

All right, 64-bit it is! I’ll have to look in to the issue of drivers for peripherals, though – thanks for the warning about that!

Regards, 
Wayne


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## Sevenfeet (Feb 2, 2009)

Wayne A. Pflughaupt said:


> All right, 64-bit it is! I’ll have to look in to the issue of drivers for peripherals, though – thanks for the warning about that!
> 
> Regards,
> Wayne


64-bit drivers are not really a problem these days. Most peripheral manufacturers started the process in the Vista days. The only issue is if you have something really old or really uncommon.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

I do have one older peripheral, an outboard Creative USB soundcard. Creative’s website lists updated drivers for Windows 7, but doesn’t specify 32- or 64-bit. So that one I’m a bit worried about. Not that it would be a big deal to have to get another soundcard…

Regards, 
Wayne


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## Jasonpctech (Apr 20, 2010)

agree, Win7 x64 for the win. Also MS security essentials for antivirus and go to portable apps dot com put that on a thumb drive with crystal disk to test the hard drive before you pay. That will take 2min.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Well, I didn’t get the 64-bit laptop because it ended up selling for more than I wanted to pay. The one I ended up with is capable enough, though – 2.93 gHz processor, 4 GB RAM and a 250 GB hard drive, but with Vista. I bought it with the intent of upgrading to Windows 7, but my licensing has expired on the 32-bit version I bought a while back (used it too many times).

So since I have to buy a new Windows 7 anyway, I want to “go all the way” and get the 64-bit version. Judging from what I see on the Windows website, it looks like my new baby has plenty of “juice” for 64-bit, but I am concerned about the video card requirement. They say I need a “DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.” I looked up my video card and it’s a “Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family (Microsoft Corporation WDDM 1.1).” 

Am I correct in assuming that what really matters here is the “WMMD” spec, and my video card will support Windows 7 64-bit?

Regards,
Wayne


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