64-bit processor technology has been with us for quite some time. The first 64-bit processor, the MIPS R4000, came out in 1991. Back then they were expensive and relagated to server duty. Intel’s first 64-bit processor, the Itanium, came out in 2001 followed by AMD’s Opteron/AMD64 in 2003 starting the move to mainstream computing.

Now, the technology is practically everywhere, even desktops and laptops, with the Intel and AMD having multiple 64-bit processor families. And yet a lot of people still don’t know this. They have this impression that all desktops are 32-bit and only servers are 64-bit. But that’s not the case anymore.

Oh, and if  you do have a 64-bit machine, do install a 64-bit OS,  so you can harness your machine’s full potential. You wouldn’t want to have 8GB or RAM onboard only to find that your OS can’t use it.