Are 64-bit PCs Finally Catching On?

Looking back to three years ago when I wrote an article entitled, ‘Windows XP – 32-bit vs 64-bit’, I have to laugh. As it stands, three years later, the majority of the computers on the market right now are still running 32-bit operating systems (OS X 10.5+ is the only one that’s 100% 64-bit), and past that, many common applications still lack native 64-bit binaries.

One thing’s for sure, though… things were far worse back when I wrote that article. Using Windows XP x64 was a chore, because so much hardware would simply not function, and most companies would laugh if you requested a compatible driver. With Vista, things improved quite a bit, and as long as you are not relying on very old equipment, then very little should get in the way of your computing experience. On my Windows machine, I have been running 64-bit Vista for quite a while and have found it far, far more stable than the 32-bit Vista, ironically.

A recent CNET blog entry references an official Microsoft blog entry posted earlier this week that stated 20% of new computers sold during June, connected to the Windows Update service, were running the 64-bit version of Vista. That is an impressive stat, and hopefully one that will encourage developers to hurry up and finally release native 64-bit software. It’s sure been a long wait thus far…

Among the factors leading to the shift are the fact that 64-bit machines, unlike their 32-bit brethren, can directly address more than 4GB of memory. Also, more 64-bit software is finally coming to market, as evidenced by last week’s release of a 64-bit optimized version of Adobe Lightroom.