You have a customer who received a PC running 64bit Windows

You have a customer who received a PC running 64-bit Windows Vista as a gift from a family member. She doesn’t understand what “64-bit” means. What do you tell her?

A. A 64-bit computer can process information faster than a 32-bit computer.

B. A 64-bit computer can support both 32-bit and 64-bit device drivers.

C. A 64-bit computer can support all 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

D. A 64-bit computer can address more than 4 GB of memory.

Solution

A and D. 64-bit Vista provides better performance and data throughput due to the greater amount of data that can be processed on 64-bit CPUs. A 32-bit computer can address up to 4 GB of physical data, while a 64-bit computer can address much more. Often, 32-bit architectures are referred to as x86, a term derived from successors of the early 8086 processors (all ending in the number “86”). The term x86-64 or usually just x64 is used to differentiate between 32-bit and 64-bit processing platforms.