Is there a significant limitation on useable software on a 64-bit Windows machine?

I have a 32-bit laptop that I've had for like two years. I'm getting a new one now, and I'm now noticing that lots of laptops come with Windows 7 64-bit. I've always heard that it's harder to find certain software for 64-bit OS's than 32-bit. Is there any truth to that? Am I significantly limited as far as useable software on a 64-bit machine as opposed to a 32-bit machine?

Solution 1:

Virtually all 32-bit software will run on a 64-bit computer: There are compatibility features built in, like the "\program files(x86) directory, and the WOW registry keys. There is still not a lot of native 64-bit applications, but even there, Office 2010 now comes in a 64-bit version (both on one DVD actually). The only thing you really have to worry about is device drivers, like for your printer, but nowadays, even those are not rare, so you probably only need to worry if your printer, scanner or other devices are pretty old. Just check the manufacturer's web site for drivers before you buy.

Solution 2:

Absolutely not. You can run any 32 bit application just fine on 64 bit Windows. Windows XP 64 bit was a bit unstable but Windows has matured much since then. I would recommend 64 bit to anyone. It will work fine. Plus, on 32 bit systems you won't be able to use more than 3 GB of RAM. As most systems ship about 4 GB and over these days, I would say the reasons of getting 32 bit is a very short list.

Solution 3:

Some laptops released as recently as three years ago do not provide drivers for 64 bit windows. You may be able to solve this by enumerating every bit of hardware not detected by windows in the machine and looking on the original manufacturer's website, but the bundled utilities are unlikely to function in 64 bit windows. Depending on how useful those utilities are, this may or may not be a problem.

If the support website for your laptop has 64 bit versions of the drivers and utilities, there's probably little reason not to move to 64 bit, particularly if you have more than 3GB of memory installed (32 bit windows may have trouble addressing all of this). If you want to run some very old (16 bit) windows programs, you may also hit trouble, but there's XP mode for this, and it's only likely to be a problem in corporate environments with very old legacy software.