I`ve recently written an article regarding the differences between 32-bit and 64-bit. I will try to explain once again, I hope it will be even easier this time.
First of all, you should answer at those questions :
1. Your computer supports 64-bits ? You don`t know ? Learn here how to check what version you use and if your CPU will support 64-bits ( the last part of that article )
2. How much RAM do you have installed on your computer ? If you have less than 4 GB of RAM, you`re not going to notice a difference between 32 and 64-bit unless you`re going to use programs that were made only for 64-bit but again, I doubt you will feel the difference ( we`re talking about seconds here and I am probably optimistic )
3. What programs do you use ? Can you find versions of 64-bits instead of 32 for them ? Use the Internet and search to see what others said.
Here`s what I would answer based on these questions :
1. I`ve seen that my computer supports 64-bits but I will install it only based on answers from questions 2 and 3.
2. I have over 4 GB of RAM so it`s a good choice to install the 64-bit version as it can be more responsive when running more programs at the same time ( multitasking ) and it will switch between them at a faster rate.
3. If you are sure that 64-bit is a better choice and your computer performance allows it but the only inconvenient is the use of one or more indispensable programs that runs only in 32-bit environment than I guess you could still use 64-bit and run the 32-bit programs in a virtual machine using a product such as VmWare Workstation.
As you can see, the answer is quite simple, go for 64-bit if you have all resources that we talked about. The 32-bit dependency of some old programs that you need to use them could be solved if you decide to use a virtual machine.
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