I'm using an Asus K43E laptop with: - Intel Core i3 Sandy Bridge 2.1GHz - 2GB DDR3 - Onboard graphics On the Ubuntu download page, the 32bit version is marked as "recommended", but the community documentation page suggests otherwise: Unless you have specific reasons to choose 32-bit, we recommend 64-bit to utilise the full capacity of your hardware. I use my laptop mostly for Eclipse, apart from regular office applications, then does it make any difference when choosing between 32bit and 64bit?