[Gllug] Dual core 32 bit ... or should I go 64bit?

[Richard Jones]

On Wed, Jul 05, 2006 at 10:57:52PM +0100, M.Blackmore wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-07-05 at 20:32 +0100, Richard Jones wrote:
> > For a new computer, go for 64 bit every time.
> Trouble is for a personal budget machine for someone who is out of work
> due to long term disability (autoimmune illness of rheumatic form) the
> 300 odd quid more that would cost puts it beyond budget possibilities
> (preschool family to feed and fund activities for) to She Who Must Be
> Obeyed.

If you're on a limited budget, are you sure you should be going for a
new computer at all?  You mentioned in your original post going for a
refurb, and that sounds like the right thing to do - it won't be as
much fun as a new 64 bit computer though :-(

> For a desktop mobo replacement, not a doubt I'd go 64. But do I need 64
> bit for a laptop if 90% of what it does is web browsing, email (lots)?

For reasons that escape me, it seems as if web browsing _is_ the most
heavyweight application around at the moment.  I'm typing this on a
~1.2 GHz PPC laptop with a whole gig of RAM, and it swaps and swaps
doing even the simplest web browsing.  Only a decade ago, a machine
with this sort of spec would have been a supercomputer.

> And, anyway, haven't there been problems with 64 bit OS'? Or does a 64
> bit chip run 32 bit stuff seamlessly?

AMD64 (ie. the 64 bit Athlons, Opterons and Intel Xeons) run 32 bit
processes mixed with 64 bit processes just fine.  They run 64 bit apps
better, mainly because the AMD64 architecture allows more machine
registers to be used.  The only problem you'll run into is with
certain proprietary software which is only available for 32 bit x86
(mainly, web browser plugins like Flash and media codecs).  You can't
run 64 bit compiled Firefox with 32 bit plugins, and running 32 bit
Firefox is possible but seems like a bit of a waste ...

My personal prediction is that the 64 bit address space will enable
some interesting new applications.  It has certainly allowed us to
actually write analysis software which would be very difficult to
write on a 32 bit machine.  That's why all Merjis's new computers are
64 bit Opterons.

Rich.

-- 
Richard Jones, CTO Merjis Ltd.
Merjis - web marketing and technology - http://merjis.com
Team Notepad - intranets and extranets for business - http://team-notepad.com
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