32-bit or 64-bit Office

[jnjroach]

looks like a mixed bag here. so there's no inherent speed difference between the two versions on a surface with 4 gigs of ram then?

The biggest difference between a 64bit and a 32bit app is how much data can be processed per CPU Cycle, so a 64bit Application in theory (properly coded) should be able to compute double the data per cycle. In practice you'll only notice in a couple of Applications - Excel and Access (and maybe with very large and complex Word Documents or PowerPoint Presentations) if you are working with large data sets, some of my report pivots that connect to a back-in Data Warehouse has data sets that number in the high six digits....and 32bit Office is unable to create some of the views.

 

[ArnoldC]

I use PowerPivot 64-bit add-on when I'm in serious mode

 

[leeshor]

I had read about some of the shortcomings of the 32 vs 64 bit versions of Office and because of that I don't sell it to my customers unless requested. This is just one of the articles I had read.
Beware of Office 2010's 64-bit Shortcomings | PCWorld

Of course, UMMV

 

[zhenya]

Yes, be careful if you are a reasonably heavy user of Office; the 64-bit version has serious compatibility issues and almost nobody really uses it. How many people actually need to edit spreadsheets larger than 2GB?

 

[jnjroach]

OH!!!! OH!!!!! OH!!!!! Choose Me!!!! Choose Me!!!!!!:nerd: And it isn't just 2 GB Spreadsheets that the 64bit version works well with, it is also those of us who are using Excel for Business Intelligence, building dashboards and reports from Data Warehouses using Power Pivot or even normal Pivot Tables.

 

[J515OP]

looks like a mixed bag here. so there's no inherent speed difference between the two versions on a surface with 4 gigs of ram then?

No there is not. Even on a machine with more than 4GB of RAM you are not going to notice a speed difference necessarily. You would really only be talking about specific use cases with large data sets some have mentioned to see a difference.

Rows & Columns Available for Office 2007 & 2010: 1,048,576 max rows and 16,384 max columns.
Excel ? a history of rows and columns - Office Watch

With all that being said unless you need 32 bit for compatibility just go for 64 bit.

 

[ArnoldC]

Yes, be careful if you are a reasonably heavy user of Office; the 64-bit version has serious compatibility issues and almost nobody really uses it. How many people actually need to edit spreadsheets larger than 2GB?

Heavy user and you don't need over 2GB?

Where I am we work with terabytes of data that is not possible with 32GB. That is our definition of heavy usage.
Sent from my Windows Phone 8S by HTC using Board Express

 

[Uncensored2008]

Office 2010 automatically detected the Pro as a 64 bit machine and installed the 64 bit version.

 

[zhenya]

Heavy user and you don't need over 2GB?

Where I am we work with terabytes of data that is not possible with 32GB. That is our definition of heavy usage.
Sent from my Windows Phone 8S by HTC using Board Express

Are you talking individual spreadsheets of greater than 32GB in size, or RAM in excess of 32GB? Big, big difference.

 

[J515OP]

Are you talking individual spreadsheets of greater than 32GB in size, or RAM in excess of 32GB? Big, big difference.

I think that may have been a typo or auto correct. I believe Arnold mean not possible on 32bit Office.

 

[Arizona Willie]

When I read the article about the shortcomings of Office 64 bit, I noticed that the very worst complaint they had was that you had to dig down and launch it from the 64 bit directories!!

And, they were talking about Office 10 and Office 13 is here so I would think that many / most of the author's " complaints " have been dealt with.

I figure that if i have a 64bit OS, then I want to run as many 64 bit apps /programs as I can.

I installed the 64 bit version of Office 365 ( Office 13 ... dunno why they have to have two names ) and have no complaints.
But I'm not a heavy user either. Just want to have the best performance I can get out of everything on my computer.

Too bad they don't make games 64 bit.

Or do they?

 

[Ruffles]

64 bit has been around for a while now. The only possible case you could make for 32 bit would be for compatibility with some old plugin but really, if they have upgraded it, they suck. Install the 64 bit and don't look back.