Hi Jackie, Must say I am glad I upgraded to 64 bit on my Toshiba Portege laptop. I stupidly bought 4GB of RAM to ad to the machine to give it 6GB, but with 32 bit I was only using 3.4Gb of that memory, so a waste of time buying it. However, after installing 64 bit Win 7 Pro it utilises the entirewhole 6GB. Only problem I have is the fact that Microsoft recommend using the 32 bit version of Office 2010 rather than the 64 bit because some of the features in 2010 are not available in the 64 bit version - seems a little weird to me. Not had any trouble finding drivers, although finding all the 64 bit Toshiba drivers was a little time consuming, but that was down to me, I should have listed the drivers I wanted before upgrading to 64 bit. John. -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jackie Cairns Sent: 07 January 2012 09:53 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: New PC - Windows 7 X32 or X64 bit? Hi John Snap! I've just seen your message following my thoughts to Gary, and I have to completely concur with you, I did exactly the same using JAWS Standard on 7 Home Premium. I also didn't have problems getting a printer driver, it just installed it without my actually looking. I bought the Opticbook 3600 scanner, and the driver was a bit of a pest to install for it, but it was available. I've put 8GB of RAM in the desktop machine, so hope it will last for a while without having to upgrade. Kind Regards, Jackie Cairns -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John Gregory Sent: 06 January 2012 22:37 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: New PC - Windows 7 X32 or X64 bit? Hi Gary, I suppose it all depends on what you want. For example, if you go down the 32 bit route you are restricted to a maximum of 4GB in RAM memory because Win 32 bit cannot extend past this limit, so even if you put 8GB of RAM in the PC it would use less than 4GB of that. Whereas 64 bit would utilise it all, making processing much faster. The other point is that 32 bit programmes will still run in 64 bit Windows and MS Office 2007/2010 defaults to 32 bit mode even if you have a 64 bit machine, unless you state you want 64 bit mode. For what it is worth, my advice would be to go down the 64 bit route and contact your printer, scanner and lable printer manufacture to ask for the 64 bit drivers for these products. I cannot imagine that they would not have 64 bit drivers for them, but who knows. The other thing to remember is that even if you did purchase a machine with 64 bit architecture you could revert to 32 bit if you wanted as the same product key would work on both options. Not sure about the XP emulation, haven't tried it and wouldn't even know if it is accessible. The other thing to consider is your screen reader. You will have to choose the relevant Win 7 option depending on your JAWS product, i.e. JAWS Standard will not install on Win 7 Pro or Ultimate as you would need JAWS Pro for that. JAWS will install a 32 or 64 bit version depending on your system, so shouldn't pose any problems (apologies if you do not use JAWS). I switched to 64 bit a few months ago from 32 bit and really glad I did. Have had no problems obtaining 64 bit printer drivers, so like I say, contact your product manufacturer, or if you are having problems, ask the list if they can help source the drivers. Cheers. John. ________________________________ From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Gary Robinson Sent: 06 January 2012 22:03 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] New PC - Windows 7 X32 or X64 bit? Hi all, I know this has been asked before, but I am looking for a new PC and can't make up my mind as to whether to go 32or 64 bit for the Windows 7 OS. It doesn't look as if my peripherals HP laserjet, Seiko lable printer and Epson perfection scanner have 64 bit drivers though. I know that if I choose the Windows 7 professional version XP emulation mode is available, but will that still be 64 bit if i choose the 64 bit version of the OS or is it 32 bit regardless of the word lenght of the parent OS? Thanks Gary ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq