Upgrading, now Deciding between Home and Pro and Hardware Considerations

We have discussed the subtle differences between Home and Pro, but many of the comments are scattered in different threads. I ran across this windowsxpcentral page and thought the writer(s?) did a good job of organizing the information for a person who wasn't sure which version of XP was best for them. Comparing Home and Pro is not a "Fords or Chevys" argument. A person planning to upgrade, and trying to decide which OS to buy, must evaluate what exactly they plan to use their computer for. As a general rule, if you are networking or need tight security, Pro is a better choice. If you are surfing, reading email and photo editing, Home is sufficient. Neither is "better" than the other. The two editions were designed for two kinds of users.

Many people are, at last, dumping their obsolete Win 95 & 98 OSes. They are finding out that their once "top of the line" system has limited hardware, and cannot utilize XP's full potential. The official minimums arePro and Home, but you won't get the full benefits of XP with that. When I built this computer with my mentor, in Jan 02, XP had just come out. A 20G hard drive was big, now it is a partition. Processors are twice as fast, and internet connections are more typically fast cable or dsl than dial up. My point is- at last, she gets there!-
is that if you are considering moving up to XP, you may want to build or buy a new system so that you can take full advantage of XP's capabilities. I think people are disappointed when they try to use yesterday's machines with XP. You have to give XP the hardware to fly, and if you support XP with the right hardware, you will notice a dramatic improvement in your computer experience. Oh, and XP looks lovely in Luna Blue... Y'all were waiting for that, right?

Here are MS reasons to upgrade, for anyone still on the fence:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/whyupgrade/sidebyside/default.asp

Johanna

btw, are you waiting for Longhorn, WelshJim?

 

Why wait?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/downloads/upgrade.asp

 

Exactly my point, Reboot- you need the hardware that will support the next level. My comp isn't ready for 64 bit... maybe one day...

Johanna

 

Johanna - other than the cost of the OS (pro being more) and folks using older/minimal hardware (pro needs more), I can't really think of a single good reason for anyone to buy XP-home.

The differences in the two boil down to a list of things that Pro can do that Home cannot. But if you run pro, you don't have to do them; you simply have the option if your situation changes.

In all the discussions on here since XP was released, I can't remember a single user moaning that she/he wishes she/he had bought XP-home rather than XP-pro.

 

Johanna wrote:

• "A person planning to upgrade, and trying to decide which OS to buy, must evaluate what exactly they plan to use their computer for. "

To be brutally honest, Luna Lass, I don't think anyone (other than in an office environment, perhaps) knows exactly what he/she is going to do with his/her computer.

When I got my first computer in 1987, all I knew for certain was that I was going to connect to my airline's mainframe (via 2400kbs modem, super fast at the time) for crew scheduling purposes ... I had absolutely NO idea of the other ways in which I might use my computer.

Even now, almost 17 years later, I'm still discovering new uses for the modern version of Pandora's box, and I have to agree with Newt ... other than the price difference, I can't think of a single reason to buy XP Home (personally, I think that M$ goofed in releasing it at all). Why? Because you never know what you're gonna wanna do tomorrow, and you'll curse yourself a hundred times over for going the less expensive route!

 

you'll curse yourself a hundred times over for going the less expensive route!

Especially since the only way I know of to upgrade from XP-home to XP-pro is to buy a full XP-Pro install CD so you will have paid for both operating systems.