Should i install Lubuntu 32 bit or 64 bit?

One time, one of my friend asked me about her laptop, should i get a 32 bit or 64 bit lubuntu for my laptop? does my laptop support for 64 bit lubuntu or it only works with 32 bit lubuntu?

That's a good questions, if you have newer laptop/pc definitely your laptop/pc support for 64 bit operating system including lubuntu 64 bit, but if you have older laptop, i mean like before 2008, well i'm not so sure.

For older computer/laptop, there are few ways to find out whether or not your cpu support for 64 bit operating system, if you know what kind cpu/processors you have, you can just google it and see if it 64 bit ready or not.

The other way is to run live CD/DVD or live USB of lubuntu/ubuntu 64 bit, if it works and you actually see the desktop, then i could say that your computer support for 64 bit.

And to make sure, while you are still on the desktop of the live CD/DVD or live USB, you can open the lubuntu terminal/command line/console and run this command:

lscpu

kernelpanic@kernelpanic-laptop:~$ lscpu
Architecture:          i686
CPU op-mode(s):        32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                2
On-line CPU(s) list:   0,1
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    2
Socket(s):             1
Vendor ID:             GenuineIntel
CPU family:            6
Model:                 15
Model name:            Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     T5800  @ 2.00GHz
Stepping:              13
CPU MHz:               1200.000
CPU max MHz:           2000.0000
CPU min MHz:           1200.0000
BogoMIPS:              3990.26
L1d cache:             32K
L1i cache:             32K
L2 cache:              2048K

Look at the 'CPU op-mode(s)' if it says, 32 bit, 64 bit, then must be your computer support for 64 bit operating system. If you install lubuntu 64 bit it will works, i can guarantee that.

As you can see from snippet above, i have intel core 2 duo CPU that support both 32 bit and 64 bit operating system, so i can install 64 bit lubuntu on it.

In fact, as far as i know, all core 2 duo CPU is capable of running 64 bit operating system (x64 ready), and of course it also support x86 architecture as well (32 bit).

Some people also say that you need at least 4 GB of RAM if you want optimal performance with 64 bit operating system, otherwise you should use 32 bit instead, i don't know if this true or not.

My laptop, acer aspire 4935 originally only have 2 GB of RAM, but upgraded to 4 GB of RAM, so technically my laptop is ready for 64 bit lubuntu.