I have a laptop with a Core 2 Duo processor, and I'm going to install Linux. What advantages (speed or others) are there in using the 64-bit version of my favorite distro, vs using the 32-bit version ?
Some specifics:
This answer states that "Programs may run a bit faster." How much faster ?
I have 4GB of ram (or less), so the 4gb memory limit of 32-bit is not a problem.
This is a Core 2 Duo, which is somewhat old, but would a newer processor be different ?
I'm asking because I'm deciding between having compatibility with my even older 32bit systems (using compiled binaries, swapping hard drives, and such), and possible speed or other advantages.
How much faster?
There's no general answer for this. It depends on how much memory access, pointer usage, 64-bit math, arbitrary precision math, register usage... of the program