Leopard, 64-bit, Macbook CD?

[DaLurker]

So I've heard that Leopard is going to be native 64-bit OS and currently Tiger isn't. I've also heard that the Core Duo Macbook isn't 64-bit but the Core 2 Duo is 64-bit.

Soo... when Leopard comes out, will there be a significant advantage to running a Core 2 Duo laptop versus a Core Duo? (64-bit Vs. 32-Bit) Also how are applications going to work since they need to be coded for 64-bit or 32-bit?

Thanks.

 

[Sun Baked]

Don't worry about it for a year or two, only some pro apps that come out with a 10.5+ requirement will be set up to fully take advantage of Leopard and 64-bit.

Most of the benefit will be from what Leopard itself offers...

Anyhow, the people that will fully take advantage of the expanded memory space would need a Mac Pro anyhow -- otherwise it'll be a speed bump from the extra registers in the C2D.

 

[phoenix78]

It should all be backwards compatible so 32bit will run on 64 bit OS/Hardware with no issues (touch wood). So as a consumer you shouldnt have to worry about the change... just always go for the best and latest and you should be right.

64 bits should make things a little faster and more efficient in processing large numbers and storing larger files since the maximum nuber that can be used for memory adressing and arithmetic is not limited to 2^32 so with 64 bit you have a maximum number of 2^64 which eliminates the inefficiency caused when tryng to do things with numbers larger than 2^32.

As far as programming these applications it should not be too much different than with the 32 bit applications but the compiler used to build the apps will need to be able to build 64 bit binaries... it depends on the compiler being used as to wether there are any major differences.

i know its pretty basic info i have given.... perhaps try wikipedia for a more indepth coverage

cheers,
rob