Installing a 64-bit on a 32-bit dell inspiron 1720, ramifications?

"Proceed with confidence. I reload all my Dells from scratch with x64 operating systems. As a rule this will work on all systems as long as the CPU supports 64 bit. The only issues you may run across is with drivers for device support. Before you begin your transformation record all the devices found in your hardware device manager. After loading your 64bit OS go back into the hardware device manager to check that everything is recognized correctly - it should be unless you are using an older laptop with legacy hardware.

As a general rule, all the major brand laptops that are Centrino branded or are core iX branded will be supported for Windows or Linux x64 operating systems."