Pros and cons of 64bit vs 32bit Windows

"Perhaps have a look at these questions:

Whats the difference between 64 and 32 Operating systems?
Other benefits of 64-bit OS apart from memory expansion?
Should I install 64-bit versions of operating systems?"

"I would just like to add disk usage difference between 32 bit and 64 bit Windows 7 installations (fully updated).

In my case that's

32 bit - 13.5GB
64 bit - 24.5GB"

"You might like to listen to the recent RunAs Radio podcast Phil Peery On the Powers and Pitfalls of 64 Bit Operating Systems!, it is somewhat server orientated but I found it interesting.

Personally I run 64 bit Vista and Sever 2008 at home as well as a few 32 bit OSs, I had lots of problems with an ATI graphics card blue screening the Vista box but after replacing it with a Nvidia card it's all good now and I'm really glad to have 8G of ram on both machine. (especially with how cheap it is now!).

I have only found one device (a barcode readers RS232 adaptor) where the 64 bit drivers are not available which is a pain but then I just use it in a VM."

"I'll just copy the reply I gave on a similar topic. It might help you.

This should help you, even though it is written for Windows Vista. Windows Vista 64-bit - Is it worth the upgrade? This explains the following: benefits & limitations introduced by 64-bit, what to consider when installing the 64-bit version, benchmark results and user experience changes. All things here do apply to Windows 7 as well. I've been using the RC version of 7 for a few months and i confirm that's the case."

"^64 BIT

The PROS are...
You have double the bandwidth across the CPU for every single clock cycle
You have more memory that is accessable to the operating system
You have the ability to speak to applications in 64 bit mode which can be a significant performance increase

The Cons are..
Insufficient device driver support across the board.

For 32 bit

PROS
Good across the board device driver support

CONS
SLOWER
Less memory available to the OS"