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I am currently running 32-bit Windows 7 on an Acer Aspire D270 netbook (Atom CPU, 1GB RAM).

I want to install Ubuntu 12.04. Should I install the 32-bit or 64-bit version?

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  • Do you have a 64bit system? If, the 32 bit windows version was installed on your netbook, I would also install 32 bit Ubuntu (because it is most likely a 32 bit PC).
    – don.joey
    Aug 19, 2013 at 10:21
  • I agree with the answers below: Use the 32bit version. May I make a suggestion? For netbooks I'd go for a "light" Ubuntu flavor. I'd have a look at Xubuntu (or Lubuntu, but there's no LTS version of Lubuntu yet).
    – soulsource
    Aug 19, 2013 at 11:18

4 Answers 4

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It depends on with Atom CPU you have. Some are 64 bit capable and some not. If your CPU number starts by Z then it's a 32 bits CPU, if it starts with N,D,S or a number then it's a 64 bits one.

Anyway, the safe option here is to install the 32 bit version. You only have 1 Gb of memory, so you are not really gaining a lot installing a 64 bit OS.

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Better install 32 bit version of Linux. Your configuration may support 64 bit but you have less than 2GB RAM and not so powerful processor, so you shouldn't lose performance. By the way Unity desktop in Ubuntu 12.04 use a lot of system resources, better install Ubuntu 13.04 or the old style gnome desktop:

1) Open a terminal
2) Type: sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback
3) Type your password
4) Type Y when prompt
5) Reboot and select desktop environment before logging in
6) Login and enjoy gnome :)

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To be safe, you should install 32-bit, as you don't have much performance specs.

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Doesn't really matter in your case. If in doubt, just use 32 bit. As others pointed out, the benefits of using a 64 bit OS are not really of any relevance for your system. :) Also you might want to use the latest version of Ubuntu instead (13.04 at the time of writing) because of a lot of performance improvements to Ubuntu in later releases.

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