New laptop with W7 64bit - should I downgrade and how ?

[Grimmbro]

Hello again old friends, my question today is somewhat the result of a trend in new laptop sales that I don't understand - the inclusion of W7 64bit OS and not 32 bit.
I bought my son a new laptop and it has W7 64bit preinstalled. However, I am under the impression that for applications to run on this laptop they have to be 64bit. Please excuse my ignorance about this, but is this true?
If no, then my post ends here.
If yes, then I am contemplating loading XP on the hard drive and then using my W7 32bit home premium upgrade to bring this to the level I think I need in order to load apps on the PC that will run. Everything we have is 32 bit.
This seems like a lot of work to undo something that is brand new and just paid for. Maybe there is an easier way. Any suggestions about how to proceed with this issue will be appreciated.

[David M]

Windows 7 64 will run both 64 bit and 32 bit applications. It used to be that there were not enough 64 bit drivers available to run hardware, which occasionally was a problem. It's not frequent enough to worry about it any longer.

There is a folder in Windows 7 64 called Program Files (x86) where all of your 32 bit applications are kept. Look in there and you will see how many 32 bit applications your laptop is already running or capable of running.

The advantage to 64 bit Windows is that if you ever find the need, your OS will be able to utilize more than about 3.5 gigs of RAM.

[Grimmbro]

Thanks David. Tomorrow is Christmas day so he will be trying it out for the first time. I will do as you suggest and report back if there are any further questions. As always, this forum once again has helped me with a dilemma and I am forever grateful.

[David M]

Merry Christmas!

[MikeMoss]

My wife has a Windows 7 HP 64 bit laptop and it runs every thing fine.

Merry Christmas.

[smnsam]

64bit is better than 32bit,

[Grimmbro]

Thanks to all for the comments. The laptop runs fine as is and as you have said it would.

[Grimmbro]

This is a follow on post to an earlier one that had my question answered. Now, I have some additional questions.
RECAP: I had asked about running XP on my C drive as is but adding a new hard drive onto which I could load W7 and thus have a choice of booting with one or the other system because of some legacy programs that the MS compatibility check identified as not able to run on W7. The answer was yes, just use the custom install feature to do so.

NOW: I added the new hard drive, tweaked the bios to boot from the DVD drive, and it booted and I followed the steps to the point where the screen says INSTALL WINDOWS 7. I stopped there because it did not offer me a choice to install it on a specific drive and I was worried that it could install over my XP on the C drive and wipe it. Does anyone know whether the choice to install to a specific hard drive follows the screen where I stopped ?

Also, another question. I have read a number of the threads here and the answers to a recent thread of my own about W7 64 bit. I want to install the 64 bit onto the new hard drive, but 2 things are unclear. Will this cause any havoc with the 32bit XP running on the current C drive (I don't think it will but just want to be sure) and does my memory and processor have to meet a certain criteria to be able to run W7 64 bit?

My rig described below:
ASUS M4A78-E AM2+/AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Newegg.com - ASUS M4A78-E AM2+/AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDX945FBGIBOX
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDX945FBGIBOX

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK

HIS H485QT512P Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support IceQ4 Turbo Video Card
Newegg.com - HIS H485QT512P Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support IceQ4 Turbo Video Card

PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II PPCMK2S750 750W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II PPCMK2S750 750W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Active PFC Power Supply
(Just replaced a failed OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W PS)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (Perpendicular Recording Technology) -Bare Drive
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (Perpendicular Recording Technology) -Bare Drive
(This is the main C drive)

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1501FASS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1501FASS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
(This is the new hard drive for the W7 - partitioned 500Gb/900Gb)

[glc]

Threads merged - please don't open "followup" threads. Thank you.

[Grimmbro]

Sorry GLC. Won't happen again.

[Grimmbro]

I have a forum rules question - yesterday I mistakenly posted a new thread as a follow on question. That new thread was merged with my old thread.
Can I repost a rewritten version of that follow on post as a new thread please ? It is actually a new set of questions and having it merged to my previous thread does not match the title of the thread so I am afraid I will not get my answers. Thanks

[glc]

Go ahead. I'm closing this thread.