Which Vista x64 version?

[Maverick2002]

I'm going to be building a new system for myself at end of the year, and I'll be upgrading to 64bit Vista. I'm looking at the comparison chart here: http://www.microsoft.com/windo...-editions/default.aspx

It's going to be mostly for gaming, so what are really the differences between Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate?

EDIT: or is there a possibility of Windows 7 being released by the end of the year?

 

[masteryoda34]

Windows 7 should be out before the end of 2009.

Most people use Home Premium for Vista. Otherwise, Ultimate has all the features. There probably isnt much you will miss in Home Premium vs Ultimate.

 

[zerocool84]

I use Home Premium and miss nothing. I don't need or use the features in Ultimate.

 

[Jack Flash]

I'd get basic and use a registry tweak to enable Aero

 

[Griffinhart]

Home Premium is usually enough for Most home users.

a rough break down...

Home Basic. No Aero UI (can be hacked in), No Media Center App, No included Codecs, etc..
Home Premium: Aero UI, Media Center, DVD codecs.
Business: Aero UI, Domain support, Remote Desktop, Shadow Copy/Previous Versions. No Media Center app
Ultimate: everything Home Premium and Business has.

If you're not buying until the end of the year, you'll probably want to hold out for Win7 as it should be out around then.

There will two basic flavors, in spite of a number of SKU's.

Home Premium: Aero UI, Media Center, Shadow Copy/Previous Versons.
Professional: All of the Above plus Domain support and Remote Desktop.

Any other Version of Win7 is mostly irrelevant. They are either OEM only, limited availability or volume licensing.

 

[Maverick2002]

Thanks ... so looks like Pro Windows7 won't really be useful for home users much. Also, doesn't business/ultimate/enterprise also have Bitlocker? Is that really of any importance or more of a liability?

 

[reallyscrued]

...my god. You have to pay extra for features like remote desktop and video codecs? I honestly never took a close look at vista, XP Pro SP3 works fine for me. Microsoft = teh bloodsuckers.

 

[Maverick2002]

Also, as a follow-up to my previous questions, isn't Shadow Copy a good thing to have? Doesn't Shadow Copy = System Restore?

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: masteryoda34
Windows 7 should be out before the end of 2009.

Most people use Home Premium for Vista. Otherwise, Ultimate has all the features. There probably isnt much you will miss in Home Premium vs Ultimate.

The things I miss between HP and Ultimate are Complete PC Backup, previous versions and RDP.

For Windows 7, I will purchase whichever version combines those features in to HP (looks like "Pro" for me).

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
Also, as a follow-up to my previous questions, isn't Shadow Copy a good thing to have? Doesn't Shadow Copy = System Restore?

All Vista versions have shadow copy (System Restore point, as you mentioned). Not all have Complete PC Backup or previous versions as features though.

 

[Maverick2002]

What's complete PC backup? The equivalent of a ViceVersa copy between two drives?

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: reallyscrued
...my god. You have to pay extra for features like remote desktop and video codecs? I honestly never took a close look at vista, XP Pro SP3 works fine for me. Microsoft = teh bloodsuckers.

Umm you do know that you paid more for the extra features in Pro as well right???

 

[Maverick2002]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2

Originally posted by: masteryoda34
Windows 7 should be out before the end of 2009.

Most people use Home Premium for Vista. Otherwise, Ultimate has all the features. There probably isnt much you will miss in Home Premium vs Ultimate.

The things I miss between HP and Ultimate are Complete PC Backup, previous versions and RDP.

For Windows 7, I will purchase whichever version combines those features in to HP (looks like "Pro" for me).

So, for Windows7, how important do you rank these:

1) Complete PC Backup (any different from a ViceVersa copy between 2 drives on another machine?)
2) Remote Desktop (can be replaced with Radmin, RealVNC, etc)
3) Previous Versions (what is this?)
4) Bitlocker encryption? (what's the point of this really?)

 

[Griffinhart]

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
3) Previous Versions (what is this?)

Whenever you make a change to a folder or file, Previous Versions allows you to restore to a previous version. You right click the file and click "restore previous version..." and you are presented a list of revisions you can revert the file or folder back to.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: Maverick2002

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2

Originally posted by: masteryoda34
Windows 7 should be out before the end of 2009.

Most people use Home Premium for Vista. Otherwise, Ultimate has all the features. There probably isnt much you will miss in Home Premium vs Ultimate.

The things I miss between HP and Ultimate are Complete PC Backup, previous versions and RDP.

For Windows 7, I will purchase whichever version combines those features in to HP (looks like "Pro" for me).

So, for Windows7, how important do you rank these:

1) Complete PC Backup (any different from a ViceVersa copy between 2 drives on another machine?)
2) Remote Desktop (can be replaced with Radmin, RealVNC, etc)
3) Previous Versions (what is this?)
4) Bitlocker encryption? (what's the point of this really?)

For me,

1. Complete PC Backup
2. Remote Desktop
3. Previous Versions
x. Bitlocker (I won't use this at all).

It's not that I'm unwilling to use other software, as I currently use Acronis TrueImage and VNC with Vista Home Premium. However, if I'm going to upgrade the OS anyway, I might as well go for the version with the features I know I'll use. Besides, IMO, RDP beats the pants off VNC any day.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
Also, as a follow-up to my previous questions, isn't Shadow Copy a good thing to have? Doesn't Shadow Copy = System Restore?

System restore uses shadow copy. You can get the shadow copy function for free on VHP by installing Shadow Explorer. Other than image based backups, (which ironically is present now in all versions of Windows 7.) there is not really much most home users would miss out on in Ultimate.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
Also, as a follow-up to my previous questions, isn't Shadow Copy a good thing to have? Doesn't Shadow Copy = System Restore?

All Vista versions have shadow copy (System Restore point, as you mentioned). Not all have Complete PC Backup or previous versions as features though.

Shadow Explorer and DriveImage XML will take care of the image based backups and restoring old files from Shadow Copy. There really is no need to extra pay for these things.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: soonerproud

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
Also, as a follow-up to my previous questions, isn't Shadow Copy a good thing to have? Doesn't Shadow Copy = System Restore?

All Vista versions have shadow copy (System Restore point, as you mentioned). Not all have Complete PC Backup or previous versions as features though.

Shadow Explorer and DriveImage XML will take care of the image based backups and restoring old files from Shadow Copy. There really is no need to extra pay for these things.

Last time I tried DriveImage XML, there were issues with both Vista x64 and UAC...have those been resolved?

 

[dawks]

Originally posted by: Griffinhart

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
3) Previous Versions (what is this?)

Whenever you make a change to a folder or file, Previous Versions allows you to restore to a previous version. You right click the file and click "restore previous version..." and you are presented a list of revisions you can revert the file or folder back to.

Previous versions is Shadow Copy. As said, the idea would be, you might be working on a Word Document over a period of time, and perhaps decide you like to go back to a 'previous version' that you may have saved over. This allows you to do that. It also allows you to restore deleted or corrupted files. This data is stored on the drive, in the MFT (I think) so its not a full backup solution.