I doubt any future version of Windows will support 32bit chipsets.
Completely missing the point. Nobody is suggesting buying 32bit hardware – I doubt you can even buy such a thing nowadays, as all mainstream processors have been 64bit for a while – not even a problem with a reasonably recent s/h machine. Simply suggesting a 32bit OS. The advantage of going for a custom build in that case is that W7 licenses cover both 32 and 64 bit versions and with a custom build you should get proper installation medium, thus allowing you to upgrade when you actually need to because you need more than 4GB. Not that I’m so convinced limiting yourself to 4GB is such a future proofing problem as the bloat explosion and camera megapixel one-upmanship has now largely stopped – if you don’t need it now, you’re unlikely to need it for a while.
I also work with 64bit server software (linux), but that’s a whole different issue (I then get into problems because I have XP on my desktop which means I can only run 32 bit versions on VMs when I want to test stuff!)
Personally given the criteria I would be looking seriously at s/h (something fairly recent being passed on by somebody with upgradeitis) – that or maybe something from Dell outlet, where you can get some real bargains.
