Buying a laptop with 32 bit OS

[shans]

Hi,
My hobby is video and audio editing. I use programs with 32 bit OS. Now, I am in US as a visitor and want to buy a laptop to get myself engaged during my stay here. I searched in local shops and found most laptops were preinstalled with 64 bit OS. Can I install and use 32 bit programs in 64 bit OS. I can compromise in speed and multitasking features. So, I want to go for i3 dual core processor 4 GB RAM within a budget of 700 $. Suggestions are welcome.

[Cornucopia]

It's possible to downgrade install a 32bit OS, assuming it supports all the drivers that are needed for a new laptop, but I strongly do not recommend it.
Why are you wanting to stick? You do realize, don't you, that most 32bit apps can run properly on 64bit OSes, they just won't be optimized, and you'll need to ensure the whole multimedia pipeline (calls, dlls, apis, plugins, codecs...) stay in the same bitness.

Seriously, moving on is a good idea.


Scott

[sum_guy]

I'm not sure what part of the US your in, but I think you can do much better processor wise in your price range, at least a Core i5, maybe a 7, If you don't need to see it, feel it, touch it, NewEgg and TigerDirect would be a good place to look. If you want to see it, check out a BestBuy or Staples store.

[redwudz]

Most all newer laptops are running Windows 10, 64 bit these days. But most 32 bit programs should be fine with that.
A few very old games or maybe accounting software could have problems. Or some poorly written 32 bit programs.

Most of my PCs run 64 bit OS's and I can't recall many video or audio editing problems with 32 bit software.
If I did, I just moved on to a programs that worked properly.

But Windows 10 does have a 'compatibility mode' that can handle most problems.
I've had more compatibility problems with the Windows 10 OS itself than I've had with 32 bit programs running on it.

You might look to this article, which is a bit long, but addresses the 64/32 bit problem.
http://www.howtogeek.com/228689/how-to-make-old-programs-work-on-windows-10/

[shans]

Thanks Scott, and sum_guy for your suggestions. Thank you redwudz for your explanations and the article link which clears all my doubts. I was under the impression that I should go for only 32 bit OS to get 32 bit applications to work. Now, I am clear and will go for either i5 or i7 64 bit.

[ahhaa]

Just a quick note- the big linux OS's are dropping 32 bit versions entirely. That is handwriting on the wall...

If you get a Win7 machine remember it will try to upgrade itself to win10; google up on how to control that.

[usually_quiet]

Just a quick note- the big linux OS's are dropping 32 bit versions entirely. That is handwriting on the wall...

If you get a Win7 machine remember it will try to upgrade itself to win10; google up on how to control that.

Systems with Broadwell and older CPUs running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 might be available, but most new Windows laptops will have a 64-bit version of Windows 10 installed, especially those with a Skylake CPU.

Microsoft has announced it will discontinue all updates but critical security fixes for Skylake systems running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 after July 17, 2018, to discourage customers and retailers from installing them.

[sophisticles]

Just a quick note- the big linux OS's are dropping 32 bit versions entirely. That is handwriting on the wall...

If you get a Win7 machine remember it will try to upgrade itself to win10; google up on how to control that.

Which "big" distros are dropping 32 bit? I run a variety of distros on 5 different computers, OpenSuse 42.1 Leap is 64 bit only but Tumbleweed is both 32 bit and 64 bit, Mageia, Manjaro, Ubuntu and Fedora all have 32 bit variants available.

In fact, if you have a 64 bit processor from Core2Duo back you are better off running a 32 bit distro because a) you will probably have a low amount of ram and 32bit OSes use less ram than 64bit and I have found that 32 bit OSes run faster thanks to more instructions fitting in the cpu's caches and with Core2Duo's ability to fuse 32 bit instructions but not 64 bit it makes sense to run a 32 bit OS.

[johns0]

Don't ever buy a system with a 32 bit os,You can always install more ram,32 bit systems do not run faster than 64 bit systems in equivalence hardware.

[usually_quiet]

I keep a 32-bit version of Windows around because I still use some legacy hardware and software that isn't compatible with Windows 7 64-bit. People who don't have any old software or hardware that they still want to use will probably never encounter a problem caused by running a 64-bit version of Windows.

[pandy]

I have found that 32 bit OSes run faster thanks to more instructions fitting in the cpu's caches and with Core2Duo's ability to fuse 32 bit instructions but not 64 bit it makes sense to run a 32 bit OS.

Are you able to elaborate on this - your remark triggered my curiosity.
TIA

[sophisticles]

Don't ever buy a system with a 32 bit os,You can always install more ram,32 bit systems do not run faster than 64 bit systems in equivalence hardware.

You misunderstood what I said, the Core2Duo was able to fetch, execute and retire 4 instructions simultaneously (the P4 was able to do the same to 3), however the Core2 was the first that had the ability to "fuse" certain type of instructions and execute them as if they were 1 instruction but it could only do that with 32bit instructions, it wasn't until Penryn IIRC that the ability was extended to 64bit instructions.

If you have a legacy system with a Core2Duo or any processor older than that, 32bit OSes DO run faster and before you say "no they don't", I have a couple of old systems and yes they do, ram is not the limiting factor.

Now I am making no claims with regards to Windows but with Linux and older hardware, you should be using a 32bit variant.

[sophisticles]

I have found that 32 bit OSes run faster thanks to more instructions fitting in the cpu's caches and with Core2Duo's ability to fuse 32 bit instructions but not 64 bit it makes sense to run a 32 bit OS.

Are you able to elaborate on this - your remark triggered my curiosity.
TIA

I explained about the ability to fuse 32bit instructions in a later post, with regards to cache, the Core2Duo came with either 2 or 4 MB L2 (I think the really high end may have had 6mb L2), the E6300 and E6400 only had 2mb L2, since instructions are fetched and cached in the caches (hence the name) and since 32 bit instructions are smaller than 64 bit instructions, you can fit more 32 bit instructions in that small cache. With programs that are cache sensitive, assuming ram isn't a limiting factor, the 32 bit version will run faster, all other things being equal.

There is something acting to counter balance this tendency and that's the fact that in 64 bit mode a program has access to more registers, which in theory should allow it to run faster.

In practice, if you have an older PC my tests using 32bit and 64bit Linux Mint, Fedora and Suse Tumbleweed have proven that a 32 bit OS runs smoother and faster than the 64 bit variant.