Your opinion on 64 bit processors? For this laptop in particular.

[freebird73717]

Link to the laptop I'm considering buying

My wife is going to go back to college to upgrade her nursing degree. She needs a laptop and as I have very little experience with laptops I wanted some opinions. The laptop in the above link is a 64 bit processor. Are there any major pros or cons to 64 bit processors? This will basically be used for her school work which will consist of surfing the web, using MS Office(yuck- required by the school), and the occasional powerpoint presentation. Will she have any issues with compatibility or anything special she needs to consider.

I also plan to install ubuntu (obviously the 64 bit version) for a dual boot option.

Any comments are welcome and appreciated.

edit - also if you have any recommendations of a good laptop that might work better please let me know. Her basic requests are that it have a 17inch screen, integrated wifi, and a 10key numberpad.

[edDV]

Link to the laptop I'm considering buying

My wife is going to go back to college to upgrade her nursing degree. She needs a laptop and as I have very little experience with laptops I wanted some opinions. The laptop in the above link is a 64 bit processor. Are there any major pros or cons to 64 bit processors? This will basically be used for her school work which will consist of surfing the web, using MS Office(yuck- required by the school), and the occasional powerpoint presentation. Will she have any issues with compatibility or anything special she needs to consider.

I also plan to install ubuntu (obviously the 64 bit version) for a dual boot option.

Any comments are welcome and appreciated.

edit - also if you have any recommendations of a good laptop that might work better please let me know. Her basic requests are that it have a 17inch screen, integrated wifi, and a 10key numberpad.

Most current processors are 64bit but usually run 32 bit XP or Vista. This gives broad compatibility with existing software and drivers. 32 bit would be even more important for medical apps which don't upgrade often or need to. For your wife's needs stay with 32 bit Vista Home Premium. Later you may need to add dual boot 32bit XP for legacy applications. Try Vista's 32bit XP emulation first.

For your needs you can use 32 bit or 64 bit Linux. Choice would depend on the applications and drivers available for 64bit. Availability of laptop drivers needs to be researched. Heavy multi-tasking users go 64 bit to access greater than 4GB memory. This laptop won't top 4GB so that issue is mute. 64 bit apps don't necessarily run any faster unless tuned for memory access.

If you want to experiment with with 64 bit Linux, go ahead. Just stay with 32bit Windows for the wife.


PS: I'm running a similar AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core Compaq laptop but found mine for half that price by shopping Staples deals. I was able to replace the stock 2x512MB memory with 2x1GB matched Corsair for about $50. The Turon is fine (runs hot if encoding video) but at $880 you should be able to find an Intel Core2 Duo which is better and runs cooler.

[freebird73717]

Thanks ed for replying. You have addressed some of my unasked questions very well thank you. I was wondering if you could install a 32 bit OS on a computer with a 64 bit processor and you answered that.

Most current processors are 64bit but usually run 32 bit XP or Vista. This gives broad compatibility with existing software and drivers. 32 bit would be even more important for medical apps which don't upgrade often or need to. For your wife's needs stay with 32 bit Vista Home Premium. Later you may need to add dual boot 32bit XP for legacy applications. Try Vista's 32bit XP emulation first.

I can install xp pro as a dual boot easily enough as her school offers XP pro for free to new students (which is good since they require MS software apps).

For your needs you can use 32 bit or 64 bit Linux. Choice would depend on the applications and drivers available for 64bit. Avaiability of laptop drivers need to be researched. Heavy multi-tasking users usually go 64 bit to access greater than 4GB memory. This laptop won't top 4GB so that issue is mute. 64 bit apps don't necessarily run any faster unless tuned for memory access.

If you want to experiment with with 64 bit Linux, go ahead. Just stay with 32bit Windows for the wife.

If there would be little improvement by installing 64 bit then I will just install 32 bit OS as this is what she and I are used to (yes she enjoys linux almost as much as I do).

Once again thanks for the reply and the helpful info!

[edDV]

Also you will find the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M (mine is the GeForce Go 6100) runs dual monitors including analog component 720p or 1080i to an HDTV and works fine for MPeg2. This came a pleasant surprise for a bargain laptop.

Don't expect great game performance. The 7150M is a tad bit faster than the 6100 but not much. The second number indicates 3D speed.


PS: This one is similar to mine but has a different graphics chipset. Main difference from the HP above is it lacks a PC card slot and IEEE-1394 interface. I got mine last year for ~$380 after rebate.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3748439

[freebird73717]

Dual monitors would be cool. Not much of a gamer so that is not an issue.
Anyways... the wife has already informed me that this will be her computer so I can't put any of my "stuff" on it! That's okay though. This way she wont get upset when she want to use the computer but I have it tied up with other things. She can just get on "her" laptop.

[edDV]

Let me know how Ubuntu runs on this machine (if the wife relents). I have Suse Linux and XP unning on my other older Vaio laptop.

[freebird73717]

Oh she is pushing for ubuntu ( I converted her a couple of months ago). She would rather have it than vista anyday...but unfortunatly her school requires MS software apps.

When we get it ( should be an 3 weeks to a month from now) I'll post back on ubuntu performance. Thanks again for the help.