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The Adobe CS5.5 Master Collection contains both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Adobe Photoshop. Is there any reason why I might want to install both of them, or should I just install the 64-bit version?

This is on a variety of machines running Windows 7 SP1 x64. Some machines only have 2GB RAM, some have 4GB+.

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The biggest single issue is going to be the availability of plugins. Since they're code that need loaded into the same process as the host application, they have to have the same architecture as the host. If the plugins you need aren't available in 64-bit, you'll need the 32-bit Photoshop in order to use them.

Beyond that, I'm not sure that there's much of a point to the 32-bit version.

Also, as @MikeFitzpatrick pointed out, TWAIN divers are another major issue if the scanner vendor doesn't have a 64-bit driver available. As a practical matter, this really only applies to older hardware -- 64-bit drivers are a requirement for Vista's WHQL certification. That said, I know that high-end scanners can be kept in service for a very long time, partially (or even primarily) because they're dreadfully expensive.

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+1, and to match 32/64-bit TWAIN scanner drivers. – Mike Fitzpatrick Dec 8 '11 at 5:00
Yes. IMO Mike's mention of drivers can be a big gotcha. – surfasb Dec 8 '11 at 5:15
Thanks. Scanner drivers aren't an issue here, as none of the machines in question have scanners attached. I'll ask about the plugins, but I think we only use the ones that ship with the product. – Harry Johnston Dec 9 '11 at 0:58
I'm pretty sure that almost all the out of the box drivers are available in both 32 & 64 bit. On my CS5 installation the 32-bit version has an extra FirewireExport plugin. I don't know about the additional plugins -- I imagine that there's a few that are deprecated and haven't been built for 64-bit. – afrazier Dec 9 '11 at 1:40
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