Value of replacing XP Home with XP Pro 9

[Gyula]

We had a Dell P4 machine running XP Pro, SP-1. We upgraded this machine to a faster Dell P4 machine running XP Home, SP-2.

We do just rather ordinary small-business-type things on our computer.

We can legally load the XP Pro from the earlier machine unto the new one. Since everything seems to be running fine with the new machine, would there be any serious reason to load the Pro version over the present Home version. Or to put it another way, what do we gain up upgrading to Pro?

 

[Ali147gta]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.mspx

A list of features of XP home and professional....

 

[Madawc]

I've used both, Home at home and 'Pro' at work. If you have just the one computer and aren't doing anything fancy, then XP Home is probably the thing.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK)

 

[aquias]

Personal preference, is Pro. From the standpoint of customization and security, it has Home beat (gpedit, control user passwords2, secpol, etc...).

I would suggest moving to Pro and keeping everyone to that level. However, like Madawc said, if it's just one system and nothing to fancy home will do the job.

 

[512Stick]

I would go with the Pro version. The Home version is based on the old Windows ME kernel that was not as well regarded. The PRO version is based on an updated NT kernel that was very stable. The easier network connectivity, for me, make the choice clear.

 

[Bozz]

Can you back that up with any references 512Stick? I always thought Home was a slightly nobbled Pro, not fundamentally different as you suggest.

Ian Boys
DTE Systems Ltd

 

[dakota81]

I have never heard anyone else say Home is based on WinME. WinME was based on Win98, which was based on Win95, which still kept its ties with MS-DOS. XP Home is most certainly not built off WinME.

This site does a better job showing and explaining the differences:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

 

[aftertaf]

xp has the NT kernel, whether is it home or pro..
surely?

service packs and the such work on both...

no, both are based on NT, which is why they go on about XP being a revolution for home computing, it is the first time the NT kernel is used on home systems,
protected mode etc... makes it stable.

Aftertaf

"Resolve is never stronger than the night before it was never weaker

 

[DougP]

I like Pro, being business person. If you are in a business Pro has easier network and printer connection to network printers features.
Also the list did not mention subtle differences in the GUI itself. Example: If you click on the Start menu then look in the upper right side (if you did not switch your menu back to old style) you will see “My Recent documents” in Pro only)
Not sure why home users don’t need this but it’s not there. I use it all the time. I noticed it helping a friend set up his business and he bought all XP home systems (6)
Also if you have a workgroup with no server and you have an Access database on a XP home box you can only have 5 simultaneous users connected to it a time, XP Pro allows 10. This would be true of any shared item a limit of 5 simultaneous connections to it.
And XP Pro box will also come with a faster processor and more memory and better graphics card as a whole. Most mainstream Monster Office supply stores don’t have XP Pro on their machines they sell in stock.


DougP, MCP, A+

 

[linney]

Which Edition Is Right for You?

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp

 

[Madawc]

It would make sense for you to sell the old machine plus its legal version of the unwanted Windows XP. I've never gone in for selling, but I suspect Windows XP Pro would get a better price. With several machines and someone wants an extra, I'm sure the 'Pro' version would be better. Functions like 'roving profile' - at work, I can log onto a different machine and most of my familiar set-up is there.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK)

 

[bcastner]

Two comments:

"We upgraded this machine to a faster Dell P4 machine running XP Home, SP-2."

If this is a Dell 8400 series, it uses SATA drives and does not have a floppy drive. You will find it a modest p.i.a. to do the upgrade. You will need to temporarily mount a floppy drive (there is a connector for it), and make a floppy disk copy of the Intel SATA drivers from the driver diskette (or download the newer ones and extract them to floppy).

"We can legally load the XP Pro from the earlier machine unto the new one."

This statement is true only for a retail license. It is not true for a Dell OEM license. You have the further potential complication that any OEM license cannot be used for upgrade installations, only clean installs.

 

[dbMark]

If this is a Dell 8400 series then:

(1) A floppy drive is optional, that is, the buyer pays extra for it, so Gyula may or may not have one.

(2) Do not reformat the NTFS partion if you want to re-install Windows. We just bought several 8400 models last month and none came with the Dell Dimenion ResourceCD (drivers and utilities disk) or Dell Tools System Software (application disk). Oops, I decided to reformat one to get a clean install. Dell support said I should never reformat or delete the C:\Dell directory as that has all the drivers. (Even so, they did ship the missing CDs at no charge.)

Oh, oh, what is Dell going to do in a few years when those hard drives start dying and the users don't have all the needed drivers? I was missing video (9 online download choices), audio (2 choices) and ethernet (3 choices) drivers. The CSR at first said to get the drivers online and once I said there were too many choices she was kind enough to identify which drivers applied to my computers.

Yep, they saved maybe 20 cents, but spent a lot more on support and had to ship the CDs anyway!

 

[Gyula]

No, the Dell we upgraded to was the 4700 so we did not have the problems discussed above. Unfortunately, the necessary Resource Disk was also missing. But they were very courteous and quicly mailed us a copy.
Thank you all for your lengthy and wise replies.
I think we decided for the time being that we will keep the XP Home on the 4700. Primarily for the low-tech reason having to do with Don't Fix Something That Aint Broke.