What do you mean by 16-bit, 32-bit and 62-bit computer?

Around 2008, 64-bit processors became mainstream and personal computers starting including 64-bit CPUs. Therefore, popular operating systems, such as Windows and Mac OS X began shipping in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions, which allowed them to run on either 32 or 64-bit hardware.

While a 32-bit processor can access 2³² memory addresses, a 64-bit processor can access 2⁶⁴ memory addresses. This is not twice as much as a 32-bit processor, but rather 2³² (4,294,967,296) times more. This means a 64-bit machine could theoretically access 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 memory addresses or more than 18 billion GB of RAM. However, as of 2013, there are few computers that can physically support more than 64 GB of RAM.

While many 32-bit programs can run on a 64-bit operating system (OS), 64-bit programs are not compatible with 32-bit operating systems. Additionally, many 32-bit drivers and system utilities are incompatible with 64-bit systems. Therefore, when purchasing or downloading new software, it is important to know if a 32-bit or 64-bit OS is installed on your computer.

16-bit is a computer hardware device or software program capable of transferring 16 bits of data at a time. For example, early computer processors (e.g., 8088 and 80286) were 16-bit processors, meaning they were capable of working with 16-bit binary numbers (decimal number up to 65,535). Anything larger and the computer would need to break the number into smaller pieces.

Today, 16-bit hardware and software has been replaced by 32-bit and 64-bit alternatives, which give the computer more memory to work with, increasing overall performance.

• answered 6 years ago
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