n00bish question... what's 64 bit?

[ero87]

Hi,

A few questions, as I've seen the term "64-bit" being thrown around a lot.

1. What does it mean?

2. Does my iMac G5 have it?

3. What does this all have to do with Leopard?

so... will Leopard be good to my iMac?

 

[nitynate]

so... will Leopard be good to my iMac?

Yes.


And the G5 chip IS 64 bit.

 

[DarkNetworks]

Hi,
3. What does this all have to do with Leopard?

so... will Leopard be good to my iMac?

It will install but I'm not sure if it might be "good" to your iMac.

 

[FF_productions]

64 bit addresses a lot more memory (gigs and gigs and gigs and gigs of it), and is the future pretty much. Every machine but the Mac Mini is 64 bit...right? Isn't core2duo 64 bit? Or am I completely wrong?

I really don't know the true benefits...I'm just throwing out what I know.

 

[apachie2k]

i don't think my macbook pro CD is 64 bit

 

[menthol moose]

The real benefits you'd get from 64-bits are nothing you'd be doing on an iMac G5, which by the way is 64-bit.

 

[ero87]

The real benefits you'd get from 64-bits are nothing you'd be doing on an iMac G5, which by the way is 64-bit.

.... what does that mean?

 

[cblackburn]

.... what does that mean?

On a 32-bit machine the largest value that can be represented in a register is 2^32 = 4 294 967 296. If you want to do a mathematical operation on a number larget then this you have to break it down into 32 bit numbers, perform the operation on each number and put it back together.

On a 64 bit machine the largest value that can be represented in a register is 2^64 = 1.84467441 × 10^19. So, if you are doing maths in very large numbers 64 bit is much quicker.

However, the program has to be specifically coded to utilise the 64 bit power of the processor. This is generally not backwards compatible so people avoid it because they want to support older processors.

Chris

 

[menthol moose]

.... what does that mean?

What I mean is that in order to take advantage of the 64-bitness of the processor, you'd need to do much more intensive work than an iMac G5 could possibly handle.

 

[ero87]

What I mean is that in order to take advantage of the 64-bitness of the processor, you'd need to do much more intensive work than an iMac G5 could possibly handle.

...while newer, intel machines can take advantage of 64-bitness? my iMac will not? can someone else verify this, i'm getting conflicting answers.

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

...while newer, intel machines can take advantage of 64-bitness? my iMac will not? can someone else verify this, i'm getting conflicting answers.

Bottom line is, it doesn't make a lick of different for most consumers. Professionals and developers are people who 64 bit technology applies to the most.

 

[fivetoadsloth]

just to add to what has been said and what will be when wild cowboy, r mad jew arrive download podcast 77 of the mac geek gab. THey go fairl indepth about 64 vs 32 bit. Quite interesting.

 

[baummer]

What I mean is that in order to take advantage of the 64-bitness of the processor, you'd need to do much more intensive work than an iMac G5 could possibly handle.

Wholly incorrect here. The difference comes into play with software that is capable of handling 64-bit power; such as OS X. Most software is still designed for 32-bit processing in an effort to cater to older systems.