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Apad121
Asked: 2013-04-26 07:46:22 +0800 CST

what does it mean by if If you have a PC with the Windows 8 logo or UEFI firmware, choose the 64-bit download

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I have dual booted my Acer aspire one d257 which has an Intel atom n570 1gb of ram net book with windows 8 and Ubuntu 13.04. Which operating system shall I upgrade my PC to the 32 bit or 64bit, my laptop came with 32 bit but what confuses me is that it is on the download page If you have a PC with the Windows 8 logo or UEFI firmware, choose the 64-bit download. The thing is that my PC is 64 bit capable. Which operating system should I choose. Please list your answer with reasons why. my laptop came with 32-bit and has 32 bit windows 8. luckily, my laptop processor is 64bit based.

installation

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    UEFI firmware is a more modern alternative to the BIOS used in older computers. Windows 8 computers require UEFI because it uses something called secure boot. This means that only programs signed by Microsoft can run during boot up.

    This adds special requirements needed to install another OS on the machine. Ubuntu streamlines this in the x64 iso of Ubuntu since every UEFI computer happens to have a 64-bit processor in it.

    If your processor supports 64 bit, your computer will run more efficiently using 64bit code. You should choose Ubuntu64

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  2. It is written on the Ubuntu download page, because either windows 8 logo or the UEFI capability indicates, that the certain computer is a 64-bit hardware architecture (amd64). Every newer system, built in the last few years are 64-bit, and gaining advantages of the 64-bit hardware (over a 32-bit hardware) is only possible with a 64-bit operating system. You can still use the 32-bit version of Ubuntu, but it doesn't have any advantages on 64-bit hardware, it's maintained for older, 32-bit (x86) computers and special cases. Use the 64-bit release, unless you have any particular reason to do otherwise.

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  3. Currently, the Ubuntu download page proposes the 32bit image by default. However, the 32bit image is not compatible with UEFI computers. The 64bit image is. Windows8 computers are all UEFI computers.

    If your computer (indeed processor) is 64bit, then you should use the 64bit image of Ubuntu.

    More information at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

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