You’re going to be hearing a heck of a lot about 64-bit computing in the coming months and years. What’s the big deal? Well, besides being able to crunch numbers faster, 64-bit processors aren’t subject to the same limitations in the amount of RAM they can use as 32-bit processors, and at least in theory, use up to 18 billion gigabytes of memory. Anyway, Julio Ojeda-Zapata has written an excellent overview of 64-bit computing for the Pioneer Press, and ExtremeTech compares one of the first laptops using Athlon’s new 64-but chip to one using Intel’s new 3.2GHz Pentium 4 processor.
