Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

XP Versions

Since I'm looking at a hard drive replacement, I thought I might jump on the XP bandwagon while I'm at it. To all the XP users out there, what version are you using, Home or Professional, and is there any advantage of one over the other.

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God bless America, my home sweet home...

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Luxembourg
Posts: 36

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...y/choosing2.asp

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcas...xp_home_pro.asp


I use Windows 2000 Pro, because I can't see any real advantage in XP.

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Carlo

Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 366

I have Windows XP Home and my dad has Windows XP Professional. I don't really see that much of a difference really. If you have a home network, I would get Professional, otherwise get Home.

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Did you just go near a burning hot river of lava or are you just happy to see me?

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Modesto, CA USA
Posts: 599

Running Both

I've got Home on my desktop and Pro on my laptop. Networking on the pro is a little better but the rest of it is pretty much the same and compared to both ME and 98SE, it's much more stable.

Pro does have some issues recognizing the Palm from time to time but Palm is working on it and it seems to have stabilized.

If you are going to network the house with more than 2 computers and 2 printers then I'd say go ahead and spring for the Pro version. If not, don't spend the extra $90.

But either way, buy some memory. The box states 128M minimum and I'm running 512 on the home version and 256 on the pro version and there is a noticeable speed difference but XP handles memory so much better than anything before that as long as you are running 256M, you won't complain.

I have yet to crash either machine and I've tried to overload the memory multiple times.

I think if money is a driving force, spend the xtra money it would cost you for Pro on memory and buy the home version.

Also, I've installed XP on 4 other machines (all home) and haven't found any totally oddball hardware that isn't recognized on the first pass. The XP installation does allow you to "check" your hardware and software out before completing the installation - I recommend that you print that "test" out before proceeding.

Be advised that XP handles burning CD's and that most of your CD burning software will have to be upgraded as well as many of your hardware drivers. CD Creator (Roxio) wrote the software for XP but it's lacking in depth. You'll need to spring for version 5.0 Platinum if you want similar experience to what you had before or find a good shareware program.

Installation on my home machine took about 1 hour 15 minutes, the laptop was preinstalled so be prepared to spend some time.

My home machine is a 1.3 ghz with the 512M of ram Dell unit.

All in all, I recommend XP over ME or 98. Win 2000 uses the same new Kernel file that XP uses so Carl0's option should also be considered but I have no experience with W2K.

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Moose Man
I may be from the LEFT coast but that's not the correct political view in my mind!

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 708

My Dad's DELL came preinstalled with the Home version. It has been pretty good so far. The only problems he has encountered have to do with Audio CD's. There is definately some sort of a problem between DirectCD and REAL Audio/Jukebox. He has a CD-RW and Audio CD's will not eject once REAL has been used. The whole system hangs and there is no way to recover.

He has a 1.7Ghz P4 with 256MB RAM. It is fast and stable for the most part. Had no problems at all with his old Visor Deluxe or his new CLIE.

I would definately start clean though. Remove your old hard drive and buy a brand new one for the XP install, just in case you have problems. I have thought about upgrading and that is definately what I would do.

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In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. JOHN 14:2

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 73

MS page tell differences

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...y/choosing2.asp

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TreoCentral.com
Product Page Editor

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: New York, New York
Posts: 560

I use both. Can't really say one is better than the other, so save some money and buy home.

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Felipe Garcia
Happy Treo 600 user, so far. Thanx Cingular for having an unlocked phone.

My Treo 600 is my phone, my PDA, my watch, and my MP3 player. Oh yeah, I take a picture once in a while with it. Convergence is such a great thing.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

There's really no definitive answer to which version to use. I guess I'll spring for Pro since I know Home will be lacking some feature I just gotta have.

I just wish XP wasn't so darn expensive. It would be nice to upgrade all 4 machines here at home since it appears MS may have actually done something right (or at least headed in the right direction), but $500.00 is an awful lot of money (my wife is still on the floor from my asking for XP Pro! - she actually asked me why I needed to buy a new PC just to get XP... I said "no, dear, that's $199.00 just for the OS" )

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God bless America, my home sweet home...

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: New York, New York
Posts: 560

You can save $10 buck at:

http://shop.microsoft.com/referral/...sp?siteid=10798

for additinal licences. "Woo Hoo" (Cat, the screen savers).

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Felipe Garcia
Happy Treo 600 user, so far. Thanx Cingular for having an unlocked phone.

My Treo 600 is my phone, my PDA, my watch, and my MP3 player. Oh yeah, I take a picture once in a while with it. Convergence is such a great thing.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Atlantic Rim
Posts: 570

Boiling Down

What it boils down to Mark is if you need remote access. Windows Pro provides built-in remote access without disabling Fast User Switching. PCanywhere calls its version 10.5 "XP Compatible" but it will only work if you disable Fast User Switching.

I may buy the Home-to-Pro upgrade license for my work and home machines because I miss not having remote access. The Fast User Switching feature has been a god-send at home, not to mention its stability.