I think the difference is mainly that 64 bit programs can use double amount of RAM compared to 32 bit. So 64 bit programs are useful or needed for programs that store a lot of data when running. If available, and on a newish machine, I would always choose 64 bit.
Perhaps someone will confirm this (or not).
If you buy anywhere near decent hardware, it should be 64 bit anyway. Any PC with over 4 gigs of RAM will have the 64 bit Windows installed by default. You'd have to purposely buy low end or go looking for a 32 bit system. I also think you'll find, most software is still 32 bit. They know it will run on a 64 bit system anyway, so why bother developing a 64 bit version, unless they have too. Not many people will pay extra for a 64 bit version, unless they know for a fact it has performance advantages. Even then, odds are they will cheap out and buy the 32 bit version if its price is lower than the 64 bit version.
Regardless of which one you get, 32 bit or 64 bit Windows. You can switch to the other at no cost. Other than the time it takes to clean install the other version. Your Product code is good for 32 bit or 64 bit. It's only the edition, Home, Pro etc that's locked in. You can even run 32 bit with more than 4 gigs of RAM, you just won't be able to use it all. You'll be caped at a little under 4 gigs.
It isn't simply double the memory. It's whatever the system has available. 32-bit OSes cap overall memory usage at roughly 3.8 GB, once hardware reservations are...reserved. 64-bit OSes use what the system has available, so if you give it 16 GB, and you're running an Excel macro that consumes 4 GB of memory...no problem.
Apart from some 16/32GB tablets and hybrids, it is virtually impossible to buy a 32bit pc anymore.
Microsoft recommend, and install by default, the 32-bit version of Office on 64-bit systems. This article explains the pros and cons of each. There are more disadvantages to the 64-bit version than advantages.
https://support.office.com/en-us/art...rs=en-US&ad=USMicrosoft Office Support said:
Visual Studio 2017 is also 32-bit, but VS Code is 64-bit. Both can still compile 32/64-bit software. :)
To the OP: Buy a decent computer. Get help from someone who knows computer hardware and can recommend a device that is good, will have a long lifespan but does not cost too much. If for some reason some application would not run on your new computer, then it's most likely something so old that you should not run it anyways.
recently i've switched from 32-bit to 64-bit (been used 32-bit OS for about 7/8 years)
i can say, 64-bit is better choice if u've 64-bit supported drivers for ur pc components :) multi-tasking is much more improved in 64-bit OS... and all my portable apps (32-bit) run smoothly in 64-bit...
good luck :)
EDIT: for multi-tasking, u need 4GB+ RAM to see real world difference.
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