Atom N280 does not support 64 bit instructions, but there is no need for it either. Since the processor core is intended for netbooks, where space and other restrictions apply to maximum amount of memory available, it doesn’t make much sense to use a 64 bit processor to work 2GB of RAM.
If you know what you’re doing and you absolutely need to have the exact performance as an N280 Atom, you can buy a netbook with N450 processor. Both CPUs have 1.66GHz clock speed, the same computing Bonnell core and L2 cache. The only difference between the two processors is obviously a price, but apart from that it’s the additional GPU integrated into N450.
The integration of a GMA3150 into the processor resulted in a 40% lower power consumption across the whole system, therefore N450 is in every way better pick than an N280, regardless of enabled or disabled 64 bit instruction set.
64 bit processors knock the old memory barrier down by enabling longer addresses for memory parts, therefore the old limit of 4 gigabyte system memory is 16 million terabytes in newer systems. Some applications may benefit from 6GB or 8GB setups, but software most users run on their netbooks are fine with 2GB or even 1GB of DDR2.
When more than one piece of software is involved benefits of more system memory may become even more apparent. Consider that netbooks suffer from several bottlenecks other than the amount of physical memory. Sheer power of the processor is often restricts what runs well on these small systems.
The integrated graphics card is also a low throughput device therefore games are almost always out of question, and the few that works well are not limited by either 1 or 2GB of ram.
Choosing a 64 bit processor in desktop systems may be more important than in netbooks. On desktop computers 64 bit operating systems are more often used, but Atom motherboards rarely support more than one stick of RAM, or more than 2GB.
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