32-bit vs. 64-bit Apps

J

jcan

Registered
Hello,

Is there a way to find out whether an app running in our Mac is 32- or 64-bit? OK, I know that big-name apps such Office 2008 or Adobe Acrobat are 64-bit, but what about, say, aMule or Vuze? How can I tell whether such apps that reside in my disk are 32- or 64-bit?

And by the way, does running a 32-bit app in Snow Leopard produce any slowdown or instability in the overall system, or it is just the 32-bit app itself which might behave in a more inferior way but without affecting anything else beside itself?

Thanks in advance for the replies!
 
No, Office 2008 and Acrobat are not 64-bit applications. Photoshop CS5 is predicted to be the first 64-bit Mac app from Adobe.

You can open Activity Monitor to see what open applications are running in 64-bit mode. You can also get info on any application; if there's a Run in 32-bit Mode checkbox, then the app is natively 64-bit.
 
Thanks a lot for the reply, Ben. So, I was completely wrong then: I thought that there are several 64-bit apps out there (especially the well-known ones, such as Office), but I now realized that there are few (if any) existing ones yet...

Therefore, since most apps running in my Mac ARE 32-bit anyway, I guess there is no problem with the system speed and/or stability, right?
 
Most of the applications that came with Snow Leopard, including the popular ones like Mail and Safari, are 64-bit applications. Are you experiencing system stability problems?
 
An app operating in 32-bit mode is not somehow 'inferior' to the same app running in 64-bit mode. You may need to run an app in 32-bit mode, for example, if you have a plug-in that is not 64-bit. That example, for you, would mean that 64-bit is the inferior mode, because of the lack of a plug-in that you want to use.
 
No, no, I have no stability problems at all... Actually, I have only recently switched to Mac after many years of working with Windows, and I am really greatful I did this move: The performance of my MacBook Pro (a Core Duo) is outstanding, and it is much faster and much more stable than my (Core Duo Quad) PC I had before...

So, I do not have any complaints about my Mac; the opposite. I was simply thinking that since it has a 64-bit OS, maybe installing 32-bit apps might compromise its stability or performance (I had heard such issues with 64-bit Windows 7 running 32-bit apps). However, it seems I was completely mistaken on this, and I thank you for helping me find out!
 
On your MacBook, Mac OS X runs by default in 32-bit mode yet is compatible with 64-bit apps, which may run more stably than their 32-bit counterparts. To date, 64-bit apps likely are also compiled to run in 32-bit mode if necessary. There's no need to be concerned about stability.

If you were running exclusively 64-bit applications, you could choose to also run Mac OS X in 64-bit mode by holding 6 and 4 at startup.
 
Thanks a lot to both of you for clarifying all these issues to me... I am new to this forum, but I already have found it of great help.
 
jcan said:
No, no, I have no stability problems at all... Actually, I have only recently switched to Mac after many years of working with Windows, and I am really greatful I did this move:
Click to expand...

Welcome into the light. . . .

--J.D.
 
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