Window 7 x64 or x86?

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Level 1

15 points

Window 7 x64 or x86?

Hello,
I have a MacBook Pro 13" mid 2009...
I know I will have problem with sound and the iSight webcam, but I was wondering if it is better to install the 64 bits or the 32 bits version of Windows 7.

With Vista it was a no brainer since most of the drivers for the most common peripherals where available only in 32bits.

What is the most trouble free option for Windows 7? x64 or x86?

Cheers
Luca

MacBook Pro 13" 2.53Ghz Intel core 2 duo, Mac OS X (10.6.1), English OS

Posted on Oct 15, 2009 3:54 AM

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Answer 1

Fortuny

Level 7

21,455 points

Oct 15, 2009 5:02 AM in response to S_eye

Hi Luca,

unless you have Windows programs to run which are only avaiable as 64-bit programs and/or have more than 4GB or RAM in your MBP I would propose to use the 32-bit Windows 7.

Regards

Stefan

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Answer 2

S_eye Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 15, 2009 5:29 AM in response to Fortuny

Hi Stefan,

thanks for the answer. I have 4Gb of ram. Windows 7 x86 is addressing only a bit more than 3Gb.
So there is no point to risk driver instabilities in the sake of an extra 700Mb (more or less)...
I will go for the x86 version 😉

Ciao
Luca

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Answer 3

Fortuny

Level 7

21,455 points

Oct 15, 2009 5:32 AM in response to S_eye

Hi Luca,

consider yourself lucky...

On my Mac Pro I have a 32-bit XP which leaves me 2GB of my installed 8GB.

But I don't need more in Windows, so what.

Have Fun

Stefan

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Answer 4

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Oct 15, 2009 7:11 AM in response to S_eye

Also, you can't (not recommended but allowed) to upgrade 32-bit to 32-bit when it comes to Windows 7.

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Answer 5

Oct 16, 2009 10:50 AM in response to S_eye

I attempted to go the x64 route when I installed Windows 7 with Boot Camp 3.0. The Windows 7 install went properly and seemed to work fine, but I got errors when I attempted to install the Boot Camp drivers - something like "x64 not compatible". Everything, including Boot Camp driver install, went perfectly when I reinstalled Windows 7 using the x86 option.

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Answer 6

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Oct 16, 2009 11:30 AM in response to Dick Young

I assume anyone reading, realized I meant "go from x86 32-bit to 64-bit" but I didn't catch it at the time!

Apple support for Windows could be improved and much better - a lot better. BootCamp drivers cause problems, need to be updated and current, and the warning message from Microsoft, you can say "okay but install anyway" and sometimes you just need to navigate the DVD (or copy to hard drive) and find the BootCamp64 part yourself - that is all, you could have stayed with Windows 7 x64.

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Answer 7

Oct 16, 2009 5:58 PM in response to The hatter

The hatter wrote:
I assume anyone reading, realized I meant "go from x86 32-bit to 64-bit" but I didn't catch it at the time!

...sometimes you just need to navigate the DVD (or copy to hard drive) and find the BootCamp64 part yourself - that is all, you could have stayed with Windows 7 x64.

I tried that, and still got the incompatibility message. x64 isn't important to me, so I just went ahead with x86.

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