windows 7 discount for students???

[Iron Sights]

It seems that my university participates in MSDN academic alliance scheme, which AFAIK should bag you a free or discounted copy of Win 7. Btw is this offer still ongoing?

Cos I was following the link
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/academic/dd861350.aspx

-typed in my uni etc

-then it lead me to a list of software that I was assuming I am eligible for:

-when I came across windows 7 there were 2 versions:

windows 7 professional (x64) DVD (this is what I would have probabily chosen)

windows 7 professional (x86) DVD (not sure about this)

As you can see I dont claim to know much about OS in general so

Which one should I attempt to go for, and what are the differences?

Many thanks


EDIT: I should note that I'm currently using XP

So far so good for now its says its FREE to download. But its strange it didnt ask for any further details except for my uni name? I will investigate!

[TAKTAK]

You want the 64bit version (x64)

32bit will allow a max addressable memory of 4GB (but that is for everything, BIOS, RAM, vRAM, absoloutly everything)

64bit has a huge cap which you'll never even get close to at this moment in time (in the TB unless it is limited by the OS, which in this case it is limited by windows)

Basically 64bit is *better* nowadays

[Iron Sights]

You want the 64bit version (x64)

Exactly, but out of curiosity what is the other one?

[TAKTAK]

32bit the x86 instruction set, while 64bit is x86-64 but it's less confusing to just write x64

[Iron Sights]

32bit

wow I fail how could I miss that

edit: oh i see

[TAKTAK]

This wiki page gives an in-depth overview of what i'm getting at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86



But x64, is basically an extension of the x86 instruction set, which is why it is also known as x86-64, which allows for extra instructions to be sent to a 64bit CPU, compared to a 32bit CPU

more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64

But the wiki pages can be a bit heavy going as they're not really geared towards teaching what things are, merely stating what they are.

[digit]

You should have a landing page similar to this: http://msdn60.e-academy.com/elms/Sto...=msdnaa_mh8500

You details should be the same as your uni login details and then you can get all manner of microsoft software for free including project and visio . Link is to my uni's particular MSDN:AA page. If in doubt have a quick chat to your uni IT department

[neonplanet40]

I used both versions from msdn alliance. 32 biut for laptop and 64 bit for desktop And yes its free

[Syllopsium]

It is worth pointing out that not all processors support 64 bit.. Specifically if you're running some Atom based processors (used in netbooks), most (but not all) Pentium 4s, anything prior to a Pentium 4, or (pretty much) any AMD chip before the Athlon 64 it doesn't support 64 bit.

Also worth remembering is that Windows x64 does use more memory. If you've got 4GB or more, I would definitely recommend 64 bit. For 2GB it's a bit more marginal.

I'm a definite fan of 64 bit computing myself; given the choice I'd go for it.