32 Or 64 Bit?

I'm interested in openSuSE 10.3, and I was wondering how much different the 64 bit version is compared to 32 bit. I won't be surfing the web much at all, so flash is not an issue. Is there anything I should watch out for? Is there a significant performance advantage?

I'm interested in openSuSE 10.3, and I was wondering how much different the 64 bit version is compared to 32 bit. I won't be surfing the web much at all, so flash is not an issue. Is there anything I should watch out for? Is there a significant performance advantage?
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The performance gain is around 20% for general tasks, and 20-40% for CPU-intensive tasks.

The major negative side of 64 bit is the proprietary software, which are sometimes supplied as 32 bit rpm files. But the most important software like graphics drivers come in bot bit lengths.

Sometimes you wont find 64bit rpms, but because most linux soft goes open source you could always compile it yourself

I've found that a lot of the stuff I missed out on in my 64-bit Kubuntu Feisty Fawn, like Flash, I now have in 10.3 64-bit. At least Youtube works. So far, there have been o down sides to sticking with 64-bit for me, having switched from Kubuntu to OpenSuse.

I have been usinf 64bit from SuSE 10.1, though with 10.2 i got a lot better and with 10.3 it is even better.

Unlike with 10.2, where firefox was installed as 32bit for plugins compatibilty, with 10.3 64bit is default and all seems to work, including Flash, except Java plugin. You can always switch back to 32bit and install all available 32bit plugins.

Regarding applications, much are now available as 64bit and remember that you can always install 32bit apps on 64bit, it will simply require few more packages/dependencies installed with it.

Go for 64bit and give it a try

Awesome I think I'll definitely use the 64 bit version.

Thanks for all the replies!