I've been using 12.04 for a few months now, but today I began thinking about re-installing Ubuntu, and now I'm a bit confused.
What should I Choose?
I want to get maximum output from the resources available on my laptop:
My main priority is speed! Using an LTS isn't too important, as I usually change my OS every few months.
Since you have an Intel i3 CPU and 4GB RAM I recommend going with a 64bit version of Ubuntu in order to use that RAM well(I haven't been impressed by 32bit PAE on my system running 4gb of RAM).
As for the version of Ubuntu you should use, I recommend 12.04. It has a longer support window and is far more stable. Only get 12.10 if you really want the latest features and don't care about a far shorter support window. Also 13.04 will be out next month so you might as well wait if you want the latest version of Ubuntu.
I would still go for 12.04 as it uses less resourses if the main thing is speed. If the latest and greatest is important for you then go for 12.10 which does use more resources from 12.04.
depends on what you need to do with your computer. if you wanna speed, they are both fast, i beleive 12.04 is little faster. than if you wanna use it as windows (for fun and that kind of stuffs) use 12.10, but if you want it for training, working with codes, with system tweaking in generaly use 12.04. than, 32 or 64bit, it depends on your computer, i beleive you need 64 as specification tells me that is not old computer, and that new usually have 64bit complability.
x64 isn't strictly necessary if you don't have more than 4GB of memory. There are still decent reasons not to use it (legacy compatibility, memory usage).
I don't find 12.10 to be much more stable or full-featured than 12.04. 13.04 is a bit better in that department; I'd wait for that and then just keep on the upgrade pipeline from there. 12.04 LTS is a very good release if you care at all about LTS, though.
as you mentioned, you have good resources in your hardware so you can install x64. but about 12.04 or 12.10, you can find out the deference between 12.04.xx and 12.10 here i suggest to install 12.04 because of it's LTS. but if you decide to install 12.10, it is better to wait some days for coming 13.04.
I think you're a little bit like me, always want to try the newest software. I understand you quite well. But which version you should choose depends on your purpose. If you are a serious Linux user for working or programming purpose, I think 12.04 LTS is better. Its features are definitely enough for learning and working, and it's LTS. But if you merely use it for fun and entertainment, then I would suggest you follow your heart, install 12.10 and 13.04 about one month later.
As with 32bit or 64bit issue, I think it's similar to LTS vs newest. Your memory is no more than 4GB, so 32bit doesn't put a significant contrain on it. Generally speaking, the most important reason people should choose 64bit is the memory is over 4GB. 64bit is not faster on everything, it's task-specific. In fact, many programmes running on a 64bit computer is infact 32bit, such as Firefox. In windows 7, both 32bit and 64 bit IE are provided by Microsoft, but what's in the taskbar as the default one is the 32bit version. Considering the possible compatiblity issue, 32bit is more robust and sometimes maybe preferred for serious work. But again, I think 64bit may be better for you.
