Bob, sometimes I think you could talk the bark off a tree. And I really do mean that in a complimentary way. I've been wondering for a long time why Adobe has not chosen to make PrEl in a 64 bit version. Budget aside, it's easy to believe that much of what you say could easily be true. I think it's a shame that much of the processing power of the newer machines can't be put to good use for PrEl.
Having just tried V9, I can say that it's definitely slower acting than V7 (almost sluggish), and my machine specs would indicate that it's not a hardware issue. I can't help but wonder what this program would act like in a 64 bit version. If you're correct, we may never get to find out.