Should I install a 32 bit or 64 bit system?

**Dragonbite** · October 8th, 2014

I have an older Netbook, a Gateway LT2022U Netbook, which includes an AMD Atholon chip capable of 64bit, but the system is maxed out with 2 GB of RAM.
GatewayLT2022U.jpg
I am looking at refreshing it, and possibly making it dual-boot with Windows 7 (it originally came with Windows Vista Basic ). Currently it has a 64-bit version of Linux. Looking at the system requirements for Windows I noticed 32bit requires 1 GB of RAM while 64bit requires 2! This got me thinking

On a low-powered system like this, would there be any benefit to going 32bit instead of 64bit Linux?
Should I look at using a 32bit version of Linux even though the chip can take 64bit?
Is there a benefit to installing the 64bit version of Linux?

Performance with the 64 bit and Xfce is adequate at this point. I would love to run Gnome shell on it but the system generally doesn't handle Gnome well (with a Live USB)

**sudodus** · October 8th, 2014

I suggest a 32-bit system. The corresponding software needs less RAM compared to 64-bit, so with 2 GB RAM, I suggest 32-bits. A 64-bit system might be slightly faster, but not enough to select it in a that computer. Of course, you can also test two corresponding systems live before you decide. If you do that, please share your results

XFCE (or Xubuntu) seems to be a good choice if 14.04.1 LTS works well. If you need 12.04.5 LTS to get good drivers for the ageing hardware, maybe you will like Precise Gnome Classic Tweaks. Both promise support until April 2017. You get it directly installed with the tweaks using the One Button Installer and the tarball

Code:

GnomeClassic1204-oem.tar.xz            # in OEM mode, password: changeme

**grahammechanical** · October 8th, 2014

What, in my opinion, will make or break the user experience is the capabilities or lack thereof of the graphic adapter and the amount of its own memory that it has. I do not think that the choice between a 32 bit OS and a 64 bit OS will make up for the deficiencies of the graphic adapter.

Regards.

**Dragonbite** · October 8th, 2014

It is currently running Xubuntu 14.04[.1] and is alright.

I'm going to refresh the system because I am considering installing Windows 7 Enterprise 32bit, which I already have, and thought it would be a good time to look at my Linux alternatives.

It even ran Ubuntu 14.04 w/Unity for a while. It just seems that the system doesn't like Gnome.

I am thinking I was incorrect in the model. I think what I have is the Gateway LT3103u