XP Media Center vs. Home

I just purchased a Dell for my dad. Long story short, they offered an "upgrade" from XP Home to Media Center for no extra cost. I figured what the heck, why not, so I went ahead and ordered the Media Center version.

Now, I'm almost wishing I didn't. I still have time to cancel the order if I want to.

My concern here is twofold: 1--my dad has been until his prior computer bit the dust, quite happy to run ME on his computer. XP Media Center will not be any more complex to get to the desktop, open up Firefox or a word processor, or find programs, than XP Home, will it? 2--will the extra Media Center capability slow down the bootup time at all?

Some computers at our school run XP Pro, others run XP Home. I honestly can't tell teh difference unless I see the startup screen as I boot up. Is this pretty much the case with Media Center, as well?

 

Apart from the slightly different colour theme, I’m sure you won’t notice any difference to the other versions of XP. You don’t have to start the media center bit if you have no need for it.

 

psaulm119,

I am somewhat familiar with Dell & the XP Media Center installed on it, and like any other MS product it can be tailored to however you want to utilize these features. No it will not slow down the bootup time.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks, all of you. Its just that I automatically acted under the "more is better" philosophy, and then started having 2nd thoughts. I just wanted to make sure.