Datasheet

4 Chapter 1
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Planning for the Installation of Windows 7
TABLE 1.1 Windows 7 versions and features
Feature Windows 7 Professional
Windows 7 Enterprise
and Ultimate
32-bit and 64-bit versions Yes Yes
AppLocker No Yes
Backup and Restore center Yes Yes
BitLocker Drive Encryption No Yes
BranchCache Distributed
Cache
No Yes
DirectAccess No Yes
Fast user switching Yes Yes
File and printer sharing
connections
20 20
Home Group Yes Yes
Subsystem for UNIX-based
applications
No Yes
Virtual hard disk booting No Yes
Volume licensing keys Yes Enterprise only
Windows Aero Yes Yes
Windows Media Center Yes Yes
Windows XP Mode Yes Yes
x86 vs. x64
Windows 7 comes in both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) editions. Let me state the obvious—
you must have 64-bit hardware in order to install the 64-bit edition. It is also possible to
install the 32-bit edition on 64-bit hardware.
The biggest benefit of using a 64-bit edition over a 32-bit edition is RAM (random
access memory). With a 32-bit system, you’re limited to addressing and using no more than
4 GB of RAM. But even that is limited. Because of the way that RAM is addressed and
used in Windows operating systems, only about 3.3 GB of RAM is actually available when
4 GB is installed; the rest of the RAM is unused because of how address space is reserved.
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