XP Home to XP Pro Upgrade

[DaCurryman]

Hello All,

I'm sure this is a question that's been answered many times, but I searched and couldnt find the type of answer I was looking for.

I have a Dell 4550 from the deal with the free LCD last October and it came pre-loaded with XP Home. I've been thinking of installing XP Pro. I was wondering if I should go with the XP Pro install (like what main benefits would I get). Also how I should go about the install if I decide to do it. I have my 60gb HD in 3 partitions. Should I just save my files and programs to another partition, reformat my "C" partition and clean install it from there? Or should I just install it over the Home install.

Also what do you guys think about all the Dell utilities & software like MusicMatch that come pre-installed. Anyways, thanx in advance for your help.

 

[DaCurryman]

late night bump for help.

 

[Lord Evermore]

A clean install would be the best way to go about it, just to make sure there aren't any conflicts. Unless you are looking to use specific features that Home doesn't have though, there's not much reason to invest more money into it and go through the hassle (if you can't tell what benefits you'd get from it, you probably don't need it). But since they're both pretty much the same OS with some features disabled, it probably won't matter if you "upgrade" the install (though if you've bought a full version of Pro you might have to fiddle to make it do an upgrade rather than a full install).

The applications that came pre-installed you're pretty well screwed on. I assume Dell only provided a re-imaging recovery CD rather than anything you can install applications from. I think that's pretty well asinine, since your license is for the application coming with that machine, not just for it to only be installable along with everything else on the disc and you should be able to reinstall and modify the install anytime you want.

 

[BoomAM]

Why do you want to spend money on something that works fine?
There is practically no difference`s between home and pro, and the differences that their are, are mainly for people who do alot of networking.

 

[DaCurryman]

Well, I have a copy from another computer that I had. So I wouldnt have to spend the money for it. In that situation, would you all think it's worth the time/effort to upgrade?

 

[bozo1]

Originally posted by: DaCurryman
Well, I have a copy from another computer that I had. So I wouldnt have to spend the money for it. In that situation, would you all think it's worth the time/effort to upgrade?

Not unless Pro will give you some features that Home lacks which is unlikely.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: DaCurryman
Well, I have a copy from another computer that I had. So I wouldnt have to spend the money for it. In that situation, would you all think it's worth the time/effort to upgrade?

IMHO the only feature a home user is likely to want from pro is the Remote Desktop feature (ability to remotely connect and control the machine). This is also needed for the new 'Smart Displays' (carry around wireless displays).

If you don't need remote desktop and don't care about Smart Displays, don't worry about upgrading.

Bill

 

[Lord Evermore]

Given that you can get other tools to allow the same functions as Remote Desktop, I wouldn't even consider that a reason to go through the hassle, unless it was needed for the wireless display.