Hi

I have an ASUS N51V laptop and i'm about to install Debian on it, but the question is, whether it shoul be the 32-bit or the 64-bit version?

The hardware on the laptop is:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 Ghz
4 GB DDR2 RAM
NVIDIA Geforce GT 130M - 1 GB
500 GB SATA HDD

Core 2 duo supports 64bit. You can install 64bit on your laptop.

Just to add, don't download ia64 version. Its not the same as x86_64. Your download cd/dvd (iso) will be named x86_64 or amd64. Debian mentions as amd64.

Good luck.

I've heard that 32-bit systems, only support up to 3GB RAM, so I guess that would be a pro, but is 4GB RAM enough to make 64-bit better and wouldn't there be any problems with it?
I've read that the 64-bit systems require a lot more RAM and processer.

Debian has a ready-made bigmem kernel, for 32 bit systems with 4 GB RAM or over.

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Okay, so what would be the best, the bigmem kernel, which supports 4GB RAM or the 64-bit?

32 bit kernels that include support for a feature called "PAE" can support up to 16GB fairly well and up to 64GB with extra kludges.

It isn't nearly small enough to be in the range where ram size makes 32 bit better nor nearly big enough to be in the range where ram size makes 64 bit better. It is in the middle range where other factors (that you probably can't estimate) make either 32 bit or 64 bit better. Probably you'll need to guess which will be better and probably the better choice won't be much better.

Certain programs run significantly faster in 64 bit. But I haven't seen any results of controlled experiments to tell you which ones. In theory, activities such as re-sampling video (to change the format or compression level) should have a big win from running in 64 bit mode. But I don't know of any experiments proving that theory.

Lots of programs run a little faster in 32 bit mode. But again I don't know any good data proving which or how much.

Not accurate.

Another reason to choose 64 bit is to avoid switching from 32 bit to 64 bit later. The mixed benefits of 32 bit vs. 64 bit are in part due to the fact that most open source programs were developed for 32 bit and merely ported to 64 bit. So they get only those benefits of 64 bit that can be achieved just by recompiling with the x86_64 architecture. Other benefits of 64 bit would require source code changes. As more development is done of 64 bit systems, I expect developers will start taking more advantage of the possibilities. So the relative end user benefits of 64 bit should increase over time.

I really can't say. I'm running 64 bit Slackware, and Debian "lenny" 32 bit with the bigmem kernel, on my desktop which has 4 GB RAM. But I haven't run any sort of benchmarks to compare the two.

64-bit programs take a little more memory. But 64-bit mode has extra registers for you to take advantage of.

One of the more important things to keep in mind is that some apps are not written for the 64 bit OS. True one can make them work but not without jumping through several hoops. And I personally think you will not see the difference in performance.

In my opinion, stick to a 32 bit OS. A 32 bit Debian OS can read and use UP to 4 Gb of ram. Not more. But you don't have more than 4 do you? And will never have need for it in Linux. Well, maybe years down the road. But not now. So stick to the 32 bit OS for the time being.

False. No build options for Linux let you use 4GB of ram and not more.

32 bit without PAE lets you use 4GB of physical address space. But that only lets you use 3 and a fraction GB of ram. To use a full 4GB of ram, you need more than 4GB of physical address space.

32 bit with PAE lets you use 64GB of physical address space. How much ram you can actually use in that 64GB of address space is a complicated question. But the practical limit is certainly higher than 8GB.

Each process in a 32 bit system is limited to 3GB of virtual address space (with or without PAE). But that doesn't mean you can't use more than 3GB of physical ram. Multiple processes might add up to well over 3GB of physical ram (if the kernel has PAE support). File caching may also use a significant amount of ram that helps a process run faster even though it is beyond that process's 3GB limit.

For the moment the problem with 64 bit OS distro linux is the lack of some closed source application as flash player.
Yes there is a beta version from the last release (10) but for example on my computer never work, so i had install the 32 bit version with nspluginwrapper.

But using nspluginwrapper something go well and something go wrong.

If it weren't for these problems on computers that have at least 2 GB of RAM, I always recommend the 64-bit.

Yes they require some more ram but with some applications your performance could improve from 20-30 % and you use completely your Cpu.

Note:
The two linux system that i have tried at 64 bit was Sabayon and OpenSuse.

Kind sir, I doth think thou are picking fly specks out of the pepper.

Bottom line, a plain standard 32 bit kernel can read up to 4 GBs of ram. It should be more that enough for 99% for the world. Now if your talking about Gamers, Well, hells bells, nothing satisfy them!

For the OP who started this post, I would still suggest the 32 bit kernel. I have 3 GBs of Ram and an AMD 64 dual core processor on my system. The 32 bit kernel works and does everything I need and speedily. And I don't have to bother with a special Flash or Java or the other apps either!

Oh, I've tried it; The 64 bit. Can't tell the difference in performance. Not at all. Will I be able to see a difference with an extra Gb of Ram and the 64 bit OS on my PC? I don't think so. But maybe you will. Hell, give it a shot. What's to lose? If nothing else, you can always reinstall.

And one more tip for you. I've compared two systems from live-cd (it was ubuntu 64 and ubuntu 32). I have 2GB Ram. So, when 64-bit version was booted -- about 600 mb of ram have been used. With 32-bit it was about 300. And it's really easy to explain -- memory pointers in 64 bit mode are twice longer.
So, as conclusion -- if you have 4 GB of Ram or more -- just use 64 bit. But if you have less -- you would not like to waste your memory, right?