Windows XP Professional x64 Edition from a Hardware Perspective - GUI and Underneath
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GUI
Visually, there is little difference between the 32 and 64 bit versions.
One of the biggest differences is that there are 2 “program files” folders. Microsoft decided to segregate the 32-bit and 64-bit applications from one another. The 64-bit applications go in the “program files’, while the 32-bit go in the folder called “program files (x86)”. I will show you where this becomes a problem later.
The overall speed is notably quicker. Even just moving around from email to the internet to an office program like Word or Excel, you do experience less of a lag. It feels like Microsoft has moved back to the business side of the bar with the 64-bit version, which is derived from the 64-bit version of Windows 2003 Server.
Underneath
XP x64 is a tweaked version of Server 2003 64-bit. The server version doesn’t have the consumer stuff like Direct X and other “gaming” stuff that 64-bit has. This new release adds a friendlier GUI (the XP one to be exact) and "gaming" features like direct X.
When Longhorn rolls around next year, don’t expect this to be a consumerized version of a server operating system. Longhorn is planned to be produced in many different flavors. Expect the 64 and 32 bit Operating Systems to be more or less the exact same.
Next: 64 vs 32 >>
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