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Is It Worth It?

A

AntiMullet

Junior Member
My laptop came with Windows XP Home.
My school provides copies of XP Pro for $2.15.

It is worth my time to upgrade? Will I notice a difference?
Obviously it worth it financially. What advantages does XP Pro offer over Home?
If I decide to install XP Pro on my computer will it just install as an add on to Home or will it install a totally new O/S along with XP Home?

Sorry for the newbie questions. I am new to XP and I have been suffering with 95 and 98 throughout my computing life.

Thanks
 
IMO if you're going to be the only one using the pc & don't need much in the way of networking options then home edition will do just as well as pro!
 
stay with home....

you dont need professional because you are a home user. Thats who its for.
(not you) but people seem to not want to be classified as home users, its beneth them. After all, they use email and connect 56k to aol. Shouldnt they demand the best of the best with all the features? no...they shouldnt.

Get professional if you have a network domain. Thats about it
 
It depends. Pro has encryption, support for multiple processors (no worry to laptop users), etc. If you notice a specific feature that you want then upgrade. I used XP Home on my laptop for quite a while though with no problems (I've since switched it over to Gentoo Linux. no problems there either).
 
I would get the XP pro, but not install it, just keep it for "later" use if needed when the opportunity to buy it might not be so attractive. I mean, $2 is kind of a no brainer for $200 software.
 
I guess what I am really getting at is the stability of Pro Vs. Home. I know there were big differences in the home versions of 98 and the NT version as far as stability and memory management. Its also my understanding that XP is the combination of NT and Home. I was just wondering if Pro has any of the reliability advantages of NT.

This not to say that I have had trouble with XP Home. It is leaps and bounds better than the previous incarnations.

Does this change anyone's opinion?
 
I guess what I am really getting at is the stability of Pro Vs. Home.
Click to expand...

They are the same OS, with just a few configuration and feature additions for the Pro version.

I know there were big differences in the home versions of 98 and the NT version as far as stability and memory management. Its also my understanding that XP is the combination of NT and Home.
Click to expand...

No you are a bit confused there. 🙂 There are two family sides to MS Operating Systems:

The Windows 3.x legacy = Windows 95, 98, and ME

The Windows NT legacy = Windows 2000, XP, and 2003.

Windows XP combined the popular user features of Windows 9x operating system with the
basic stucture and stability of the Windows NT/2000 based OSes.


I was just wondering if Pro has any of the reliability advantages of NT.
Click to expand...

XP (Pro and Home) are both based on Windows 2000, which was an improvement on Windows NT.


And what mikeford said, even if there is no compelling reason for switching now, there might be
some time in the future when you want to use that laptop in a more "Professional" capacity.
Being able to upgrade for the cost of a happy meal is a pretty good deal to me.


 
Originally posted by: CQuinn

Being able to upgrade for the cost of a happy meal is a pretty good deal to me.
Click to expand...

Where can you get a happy meal for $2.15?

As a student, it is nice to be able to log into your computer from one in the labs. It saves you the step of e-mailing your work 😉

Is your laptop new, and are the drivers availible? If the answer is yes, I'd spend the couple of hours and install XP pro. If you've had it for a little while, it's probably not worth starting over.
 
Originally posted by: bsobel
Get professional if you have a network domain. Thats about it
Click to expand...

IMHO, Remote Desktop is definately work $2.15 😉
Bill
Click to expand...

very well may be one day
id take it for 2 bucks anyway, never one, may want to learn something else about windows one day, or get into a small lan at school or something
 
What are the specs of your machine? You also need to determine if your machine will be able to 'withstand' a heavy OS. By heavy I mean more features, which possibly consume more system resources
 
Originally posted by: civad
What are the specs of your machine? You also need to determine if your machine will be able to 'withstand' a heavy OS. By heavy I mean more features, which possibly consume more system resources
Click to expand...

Any machine running home will be fine for Pro...
Bill
 
Originally posted by: mikeford
I would get the XP pro, but not install it, just keep it for "later" use if needed when the opportunity to buy it might not be so attractive. I mean, $2 is kind of a no brainer for $200 software.
Click to expand...

Agreed, whenever your OS gets so hosed you have to reinstall (usually about a week), install w Pro but no reason to blow up a perfectly good install now.
 
Originally posted by: mikeford
I would get the XP pro, but not install it, just keep it for "later" use if needed when the opportunity to buy it might not be so attractive. I mean, $2 is kind of a no brainer for $200 software.
Click to expand...

Agreed, whenever your OS gets so hosed you have to reinstall (usually about a week), install w Pro but no reason to blow up a perfectly good install now.
 
Originally posted by: civad
What are the specs of your machine? You also need to determine if your machine will be able to 'withstand' a heavy OS. By heavy I mean more features, which possibly consume more system resources
Click to expand...

My computer should be able to handle it. Its a 1.3Ghz Pentium M, 384mb ram which I will be upgrading very soon. I guess maybe I will wait until things really start screwing up with XP Home, if that ever happens.

Though maybe Pro would do better with navigating the web. Sometimes websites just will not load. I have no idea why. Or if they do load they will only load text and no pictures. But if I try the same site on my desktop it works fine.

 
Originally posted by: xSauronx
Originally posted by: bsobel
Get professional if you have a network domain. Thats about it
Click to expand...

IMHO, Remote Desktop is definately work $2.15 😉
Bill
Click to expand...

very well may be one day
id take it for 2 bucks anyway, never one, may want to learn something else about windows one day, or get into a small lan at school or something
Click to expand...

Yep, remote desktop is great.
 
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