How to compare an item property to a string value - powershell

Question

I am relatively new to PowerShell and cannot understand why my original attempts failed. I am attempting to validate the bit version of MS Office and perform actions off that. For whatever reason the strings were not comparing properly until I found a solution in the actual question here. Help understanding the difference between the two examples below would be much appreciated.
First attempt:
$getMSBitVersion= Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration" | Select-Object -Property Platform
if( $getMSBitVersion -eq "x64" ){
Write-Host "true"
} else {
Write-Host "false"
}
Working solution:
$getMSBitVersion= (Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration" -Name Platform).Platform
if( $getMSBitVersion -eq "x64" ){
Write-Host "true"
} else {
Write-Host "false"
}
My assumption is the first is outputting an object instead of string and thus the comparison cannot be done. If this is the case, is the working solution the only way/best way to do this?

Answer 1

Thank you Mathias and Abraham.
From what I gather, the following are confirmed methods on how to make the desired comparison.
1: This will scope into the object property of "Platform" by using dot notation and return the string value instead of the whole object.
$getMSBitVersion= (Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration" -Name Platform).Platform
if( $getMSBitVersion -eq "x64" ){
Write-Host "true"
} else {
Write-Host "false"
}
2: This will take all the properties of the Path and pass through to Select-Object. Select-Object will take and expand the "Property" object and return it as a string.
$getMSBitVersion= Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Platform
if( $getMSBitVersion -eq "x64" ){
Write-Host "true"
} else {
Write-Host "false"
}
I was unable to get this solution to function correctly, but should, in theory, work.
3: This, in theory, should work, but the two objects are recognized differently and do not compare as intended.
$getMSBitVersion= Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration" | Select-Object -Property Platform
$test= #{Platform="x64"}
if( Compare-Object $getMSBitVersion $test ){
Write-Host "true"
} else {
Write-Host "false"
}