Windows 7 on a 64-bit computer

"I'll answer my own question with an answer I was given on another website:
http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-7/why-windows-7-64bit-requires-that-much-ram/173.html
Response number 3 on that page is the one I like:

Yes, it will require more memory from time-to-time, but it's not cut & dried. The reason M$ is suggesting at least twice as much memory is to allow for adequate contingencies since your 64-bit Windows comprises 32-bit libraries as well as 64-bit libraries for 32-bit app compability ... see below.
""The main disadvantage of 64-bit architectures is that relative to 32-bit architectures the same data occupies more space in memory (due to swollen pointers and possibly other types and alignment padding). This increases the memory requirements of a given process and can have implications for efficient processor cache utilization. Maintaining a partial 32-bit model is one way to handle this and is in general reasonably effective. In fact, the highly performance-oriented z/OS operating system takes this approach currently, requiring program code to reside in any number of 32-bit address spaces while data objects can (optionally) reside in 64-bit regions.""
http://en.wikipediadotorg/wiki/64-bit"

"It's a misconception. I've been running a 64 bit version of Vista (and more recently Windows 7) for about 2 years. Vista 64 runs ok with just 1 GB RAM; there's no real difference between a 32 bit OS and a 64 bit OS when it comes to memory consumption.

On the other hand, if you have a 64 bit OS, some apps might actually be faster, if they are also 64 bit (for example, 7zip and WinRAR have 64 bit apps that are faster than the 32 bit ones)."

"I'll answer my own question with an answer I was given on another website:
http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-7/why-windows-7-64bit-requires-that-much-ram/173.html
Response number 3 on that page is the one I like:

Yes, it will require more memory from time-to-time, but it's not cut & dried. The reason M$ is suggesting at least twice as much memory is to allow for adequate contingencies since your 64-bit Windows comprises 32-bit libraries as well as 64-bit libraries for 32-bit app compability ... see below.
""The main disadvantage of 64-bit architectures is that relative to 32-bit architectures the same data occupies more space in memory (due to swollen pointers and possibly other types and alignment padding). This increases the memory requirements of a given process and can have implications for efficient processor cache utilization. Maintaining a partial 32-bit model is one way to handle this and is in general reasonably effective. In fact, the highly performance-oriented z/OS operating system takes this approach currently, requiring program code to reside in any number of 32-bit address spaces while data objects can (optionally) reside in 64-bit regions.""
http://en.wikipediadotorg/wiki/64-bit"