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How much of a difference is there between Vista Home Premium and Ultimate?

C

CurseTheSky

Diamond Member
My hardware is in my signature. I'll eventually upgrade to quad core / 4GB of RAM.

Basically, I'm going to be looking into Vista in the near future. Most likely a retail copy, as I change hardware frequently, and I don't want to deal with the "install only on one computer" issue. Even though there may still be bugs to iron out, I'll probably going for a 64 bit version.

I love having extra features, but, like everyone else, I don't like to spend tons extra. My two choices are Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate. For a home user / gamer, what would be my better choice? Does Ultimate have anything that REALLY makes it worth the extra $200, or is it just a bunch of extra junk? Does Home Premium come in 64 bit, or will I be stuck with Ultimate? Any recommendations or personal experiences?

Thanks.
 
Home Premium does come in 64-bit, but you'll need to buy the media from MS for about $10. there should be a certificate in the box to order it.

Ultimate has everything that Home Premium does, plus everything Business has. These features include:

-Remote Desktop
-The ability to connect to a domain
-Previous Versions and Shadow copy.

There are also a few "extras" like dreamscene, which are kinda cool, but not must haves. They only come under Ultimate.

IHMO, if you don't plan on ever playing with Media Center, Window's built in DVR stuff, or Extenders go with Business. Previous Versions is a feature which you would absolutely love.

Home Premium is still good and you used XP Home or never ran an Active Directory/Domain network at home with XP Pro, you wouldn't have any fewer features than you had under XP.

I went with Ultimate myself, but I also got a couple copies of Home Premium for Family members. But I also used the original "family upgrade" option MS had for a while, so two additional copies of home premium were only $50 each for me.
 
Thanks for the information because I am also planning to have a hardware change and Vista. Hardware listing in the first post also help me to take some decisions.
 
Ultimate also has image-based backup, so you can image your system to DVDs or another medium for comprehensive recovery after, say, a HDD failure. Business and Ultimate can also use Software Restriction Policy, which may be into power-user territory a bit, but provides another proactive layer of security.

Another benefit of Ultimate over Home Premium: retail-boxed Ultimate includes the 64-bit DVD in the box. You don't have to send away for it.
 
If you buy Home Premium or Business in OEM version from NewEgg or such, you can buy the 64-bit media directly, though, and won't have to have the 64-bit shipped (which can usually take a few weeks).
 
Originally posted by: KingTech
Thanks for the information because I am also planning to have a hardware change and Vista. Hardware listing in the first post also help me to take some decisions.
Click to expand...

The hardware listed in your Sig isn't going to have any problems with Vista at all. I'm running it on 4 systems atm.

This PC is an AMD 64 X2 4400+ w/ 2GB, X-FI Extreme Gamer and an eVGA Geforce 8800GTX. I'm extremely happy with the set up at the moment and technically it's slower than your rig.

My Media Center is running Vista 64 and is an x2 3800 w/ 2GB of RAM and a GF 6200 and works amazingly well. Even when recording and streaming TV from 3 tuners at once.

My Dad's PC is an AMD 64 3000+ w/ 1GB of RAM and a GF6600 GT, and it is running perfectly.

Finally, my Laptop is a Dell insperon 6000 running a Pentium M 1.6 ghz processor and 2 GB of RAM. It is working great here too. it performs every bit as well as the original XP install.

 
Back-up images would be REALLY nice... I've only run into minor problems here and there, but having the possibility is awesome. I'm confused though: when you buy Home Premium, do you get BOTH 32 and 64 bit versions? For example, would I get the 32-bit DVD in the box, and have the option to send away for the 64-bit DVD? Is Ultimate the same way, with the exception of the extra 64-bit DVD in the box to begin with?

Still considering both, but if you really do get both versions, I'm definately leaning towards Ultimate.

Thanks for the information.
 
Originally posted by: CurseTheSky
Is Ultimate the same way, with the exception of the extra 64-bit DVD in the box to begin with?[/b]
Click to expand...

Exactly correct. The retail-boxed Ultimate includes both 32-bit and 64-bit DVDs in the box, whereas the retail-boxed Home Premium only comes with the 32-bit DVD in the box. You can only use one or the other at any one time, of course; I would use 64-bit.

 
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Originally posted by: CurseTheSky
Is Ultimate the same way, with the exception of the extra 64-bit DVD in the box to begin with?[/b]
Click to expand...

Exactly correct. The retail-boxed Ultimate includes both 32-bit and 64-bit DVDs in the box, whereas the retail-boxed Home Premium only comes with the 32-bit DVD in the box. You can only use one or the other at any one time, of course; I would use 64-bit.
Click to expand...

Definately. For whatever reason, I pictured Microsoft selling 32 and 64 bit versions seperately for all editions. Giving both in one package is definately nice.
 
I'm in the same boat here...


It's Vista Home Premium or Ultimate for me as well....so basically everyone is suggesting Home Premium and then just get Acronis True Image 11 for backups?


I must admit that since I'm going to want/use the 64-bit, the idea of having to wait weeks is sick.....


And if you're going to use it on two computers you "have" to buy two retail/OEM copies, right?
 
Speaking of media center, its great!!! I'd think that alone would sell vista prem to xp users.

And now theres all kinda of media center plugins. Not bad...
 
Lots of subjective opinions here. Why not use the comparative matrix>

Vista

There is probably a sweet spot for every person depending on usage, etc. I have all the versions, and just because of that, I use Ultimate. My baseline would be business.
 
I'd also vote for Business. Media Center really isn't useful on a PC (rather it's best for a HTPC connected to a TV), meanwhile Business has the better backup abilities and Remote Desktop Connection, both of which I've ended up using.
 
Originally posted by: randym431
Speaking of media center, its great!!! I'd think that alone would sell vista prem to xp users.

And now theres all kinda of media center plugins. Not bad...
Click to expand...

Media center is a very mature product. I've been using it since 2005. There are definately tons of plug ins. I use it with 360s to stream live and recorded TV to several rooms in the house. I love it.
 
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