Best version Windows 7 for lion MBA

[brich1ng]

I'll be getting my MBA 13" i5 256gb next week and thinking about installing a windows 7 on bootcamp. I'm going to use it for gaming. I wonder which windows 7 will be the best interms of performance? home? professional? Ultimate? 32bit or 64 bit?

 

[technopimp]

I'll be getting my MBA 13" i5 256gb next week and thinking about installing a windows 7 on bootcamp. I'm going to use it for gaming. I wonder which windows 7 will be the best interms of performance? home? professional? Ultimate? 32bit or 64 bit?

The versions (Home/Pro/etc.) will have nothing to do with performance. Each version is a superset of the previous ones, so it comes down to do you need the extra features (join to a domain, disk encryption, etc.). As for 32/64 bit, since you're going to run on an Air the MOST RAM you could use would be 4GB (and as I'm not a Bootcamp user I'm not 100% sure that there isn't still some underlying process running, but I may be mistaken). So you could do 32-bit but you might as well go 64 unless you have a specific reason not to (e.g. you have an application that won't run under x64). The x64 install footprint is also a little larger (I *THINK* it's 20GB vs 16GB but it's been a long time since I installed Windows 7) so I guess if you wanted to save a bit of space that could be another reason.

 

[Xgm541]

i have the 2010 11inch 1.4ghz/4gb/64gb model and to save space i used the 32bit version. Games dont typically take advantage of the 64bit architecture, well, games that you'll be running on the air anyway. The only thing about 32bit is that it doesnt allow for you to be able to use 4gb ram. But again, for gaming purposes of the air, i dont think youll be running anything that requires 4gb anyway.

 

[zerind]

This is really a generic computing question and not specific to the Mac but if you are installing Windows on 64-bit hardware there is absolutely no reason not to install the x64 version of the OS. I'm a total Windows guy as required by my job and there are some pretty significant performance differences between 32 and 64. Not to mention, ALL 64-bit Windows drivers are digitally signed and are inherently more stable than the 32-bit versions. Bottom line, don't even consider 32-bit.

As for the performance, the version of windows has nothing to do with how it performs. See which feature set fits you the best and install accordingly.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/compare

I'll be getting my MBA 13" i5 256gb next week and thinking about installing a windows 7 on bootcamp. I'm going to use it for gaming. I wonder which windows 7 will be the best interms of performance? home? professional? Ultimate? 32bit or 64 bit?

 

[turbotoes]

There's very little software that doesn't run one way or another on windows 7 64, and most games are quite happy to run under it. If you do decide to install the 32 bit, then you only lose access to 500mb of ram (<>) so it's no biggy.
Can you get one version cheaper than the other?

 

[brich1ng]

Awesome thank you very much for the tips. Ive learned a lot.

 

[balamw]

Just to add to this. I do not recommend 32 bit on any machine with 4 GB of RAM unless you have a clear reason for it. (i.e. you have 2GB of RAM and no intention of ever upgrading it).

On my 2010 work MBP running W7 Pro the 32 bit version can only access 2.18GB of the 4GB in the machine which significantly cramps my workflow.

B

 

[vistadude]

You may want to consider getting a pc to play games. Macbook airs have a really poor performance graphics card.

 

[brich1ng]

ok so id probably get the 64 bit. I prefer that air because i primarily need it for work i need to carry a computing device almost everywhere i go. Gaming is secondary, just wanted to make it worth my money.