The article explains a lot of technical details but the truth is…
For an overwhelming % of users, it’s STILL the extra RAM that will make any noticeable difference.
That being said consider this.
- Superfetch makes your computer’s “data-access” speed much faster the more RAM you have (comparatively the 64-bit “processing” speed advantage is negligible for most apps other than making a Boeing 797 etc.).
- Since many workers like to have 20 windows open and not shut down to save time in the morning (even Monday morning), they can now leave 40 windows (or more) open.
- For the above, the more RAM they have, the more stuff can be SuperFetched and Auto Disk Defragmenter and whatever can run more efficiently in the background when AFK too.
- For the above scenario, workers will probably turn off Vista with the S3 sleep more because they can boot up in 5 seconds anyway…translating to a huge savings on energy consumption while still having their applications running and pre-cached as a bonus.
All these are big bonuses from having a large amount of RAM (which is dirt cheap these days as well as cheaper going forward). I think any costs associated with driver/equipment upgrade for 64-bit compatibility will be more than made up for in productivity savings by having more RAM regardless of how many seconds are saved per day on common business applications.