standard home user does not need 32 bit as most application he uses are 32bit. However if you do thing like video editing i would go for 64bit as the extra memory you can utilize will help you in multitasking.

and beware of windows 7 as not every hardware vendor has drivers for it. for example Logitech still did not release mouse and keyboard software.

Key difference with 64 bit is memory adressing. A 32 bit os can only adress 4gb of memory. That's alll of the memory on your pc Inc video card memory


This is why if you have 4 gb memory your pc shows between 3 and 3,5 gb usuable.

For a desktop where you probably now have 4 gb or more memory I would get 64