Why W7 Premium 32bit?

[vince3]

In my laptop hunt many (most?) of the higher end 4GB machines are supplied with W7 Premium 32 bit. As the OEM products are only supplied in one version, why isn't the 64 bit installed as a matter of course when they cost about the same - exactly the same on OC?
This seems perverse when I understand that the 32 bit version cannot use all the 4GB, so adding RAM at some time would be a waste of time without buying a new OS and having the hassle of installing it. As I noted in another post Toshiba supply W7 Professional 32 bit on the L550-13M. That seems even weirder.
Is there a valid reason for avoiding the 64 bit version?

 

[jellybeard999]

Drivers and software compatability are the only reasons that spring to mind.

 

[CaseyChaos]

I've never noticed that, all the ones with 32bit I've seen have 3GB.

 

[theheyes]

I suspect it's bone idleness to be honest. If they can get away without testing all the crapware again with 64 bit Windows then I guess they won't, even if it means the OS choice doesn't make sense with the hardware.

 

[IAmATeaf]

If the laptops are targeted for the average consumer then that's probably the main reason.

 

[Nymins]

Laptops i bought off the Dell Outlet came with Vista 32bit even though they had 4Gb ram. Bit annoying, but yea i think its just to ensure driver compatibility.

 

[james.miller]

my sony fw11s (4gb ram) came with vista 32bit. its pretty common and im guessing, certainly in sony's case, that its down to 64bit drivers or more acurately the complete lack of

 

[Konzul]

Or maybe they are just trying to sell you an update for 64 bit later

 

[Senture]

Dell refused to supply 64 bit with my M1730 when I got it a few years back because there was no driver for the GPU

 

[lumpeh]

Drivers and software compatability are the only reasons that spring to mind.

This!
Not to mention its probably cheaper/easier to supply the 4GBs. When folks click on system information they'll see 4GBs of the stuff anyway and assume all is good. If someone needs all 4GBs to be functional they are probably in a position to get 64bit preloaded for them or the knowledge to set it up by themselves.

 

[SlugForAButt]

If someone needs all 4GBs to be functional they are probably in a position to get 64bit preloaded for them or the knowledge to set it up by themselves.

But most people are still getting scammed because they can't use the 4Gb they paid for. People shouldn't have to have an in depth knowledge of their PC to get what they paid for.
Maybe the guilty sellers should have to put "ONLY 62% OF RAM USEABLE" on their specs in big writing, see how popular this practise would be then!