Win7 - 32 or 64 bit? That is the question...

No question, it's a tad snappier with 1 gig (which is what I have), even though I'm not even using half of it. Noticeable mostly when I'm doing more than 1 thing at a time.

And within a week, I'll have 2 gigs.

If I were upgrading right now I'd be going with Win7 Ultimate 32-bit. But a lot can happen from now until XP's EOL (Aug. 2015, I believe).

Thanks for all the advice fellas (and ladies?)

 

No problems, just expect by the time 2015 roles around 16GB DDR will be the norm and windows 9 will probably use 4GB of DDR.

 

And when everyone's systems are crawling on that 16 GB of RAM because of their bloated OS's/programs, I'll still be here on my low spec XP box having everything snappy, functional, and uncompromised : )

I so hope they push that date back when it draws near... *evil laugh*

 

I've never seen Windows 7 x64 alone using nearly that much. Usually it's about 1.3 GB for me. I even used to run W7x64 with 2 GB of RAM, it was fine for normal use (browsing, light image editing, etc.) although it did slow down on some heavier games. Now with 4 GB I'm not seeing any performance slowdowns at all, even if I'd be playing something heavier and having multiple browser windows and tabs and other background programs running. I haven't even altered Windows services at all simply because I don't see the need for it.

Basically, if I'd upgrade now, I'd just get Win 7 x64 since it's the most future-proof choice. If you're not running out of RAM with XP and 1 GB, I doubt you'd run out of RAM with Win 7 and 2 GB either. But if XP does everything you need it to do, there's no huge reason to upgrade to 7 either.