I am getting an Alienware laptop as a gift for son and i am wondring
what is better XP pro or XP home edition. He will be useing it mostly
for gaming and some school releated work. I would like to know whats
the diffrence between them and witch will be better.

Hi there,

I would suggest that you get XP Home Edition for the following
reasons:

1) It is cheaper.
2) Things are less likely to go wrong, like locking yourself out of
the system.
3) The extras that come with Pro are aimed at networked and multi-user
environments, and aren't of much use to someone doing homework and
playing games.

If you count Google Answers as my homework, then I have the same
general needs as your son, and I have been happy with XP Home Edition.
Not once have I had a situation where I wished I had the Pro version.

XP Pro and Home editions are the same product, except that Pro has
some extra bits and pieces, like these:

Remote Desktop - for accessing your computer from a remote location.

Multi-processor support - not needed for regular home use. Aimed at
power users who have an existing multi-processor system and wish to
upgrade their Windows operating system.
 
Automated System Recovery (ASR) - the Home version already has the
roll-back feature which is very good for home use.

Fax - the Home Edition can have fax functionality but requires an
extra installation from the XP Home CD. Pro has it installed
automatically.

Encrypting File System - not needed unless the computer contains
sensitive information and more than one person is using it.

File-level access control - again, only useful if multiple people are
using the computer, and he wants to control who can do what.

...and other stuff aimed at the corporate or networked environment

For more detailed info, also see:

Windows XP Comparison Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/choosing2.asp

Windows XP Home Edition vs. Professional Edition: What's the
difference?
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

Windows XP: Go Home or Go Pro
http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/windowstips/story/0,24330,3354933,00.html


Search strategy:
"xp home" "xp pro" differences


Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga

Great.

This may not apply, but if your son is interested in developing
software especially internet client-server programs, XP-Pro is better
suited for that use. XP-Pro is better for someone that likes to muck
around with software. If the user intends to just run developed
applications, XP-Home is fine.


JF

Hi jashnimal,

I have to agree with my colleague - robertskelton.  I'm quite pleased
with the performance of XP Home.  I never once wished I had the pro
version.

Regards,

tlspiegel

I think Pro is the better choise. I have it and I'm happy. It's very
stable and has extendended configuration options. I expect that some
day your son wants to get connected to a network with his notebook.
Then XP Pro IS the best choise. Home Edition may be nice, but its
absolutely useless in a network. That's my opinion, maybe yours is
different.

Well I don't know how much help this will be to you but heres my 2
cents worth
I have both XP home edition on my computer and my partner has XP Pro
on her computer we have a home/office network setup I'am going to
college to get my cisco networking degree and the home edition serves
me just fine for most of my home work issues except for when it comes
to microsoft office needs they do have a student/teacher microsoft
office edition version but only comes with 3 of the 4 programs it dose
not come with Access but it dose come with Powerpoint/Word /Excel
though not quite the full version of the normal program
but since the reason my partner got the XP pro version is because it
came with Microsoft Office she needed the data base program for
several reasons one being that she writes softwear models for a
computer company and she needs the data base program  she paid extra
for it but it was cheaper than getting home version and then buying
the office softwear but and fortunately for me when i had access
homework i could just use hers so after all that what I tring to say
is what courses will your son be taking? is it likely that he will be
useing his computer in a possable work environment? I concure with
what other people have suggested research the pros and cons of both
and go with the that will best fit his needs for a least the next
couple of yrs but i will say from my personal experiance windows XP is
the most stable OS as well as being the most user friendly out there
very helpful to the new users but not limiting to experianced users
either
ok so maybe it wasn't just my 2 cents worth... more like a nime's
worth
have fun

BootLIST 058  
Date: 11/22/2002 4:40:59 PM Pacific Standard Time 
From: ask@bootdisk.com

XP Home Or XP Pro?

     Mike C. inquires - I am considering changing from xp home edition
     to professional. Is it worth it?

     Bruce C. answers:
     It depends entirely upon what you do with your computer, and
     which features of either OS meet _your_ needs. Decide for
     yourself:

     Windows XP Comparison Guide

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

     Which Edition Is Right for You

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

 Windows XP Home Edition vs. Professional Edition

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


Mossberg’s Maibox  December 13, 2001-Wall Street Journal

Ever since reading that Windows XP Home edition was just a
"dumbed-down" version of Windows 2000, I have determined that I will
get the Professional edition of XP the next time I upgrade. However, I
have found myself wondering if we consumers lose anything by
purchasing the Professional edition of XP instead of the Home edition.
A: It's not true that Windows XP Home edition is merely a
"dumbed-down" version of Windows 2000. While it is built on the same
architecture as Windows 2000, Windows XP has a number of improvements,
including much greater compatibility with consumer software and
hardware and much better handling of wireless networks. It also has a
richer user interface.
These features, and others, are shared by the Home and Professional
editions. The Home edition has nothing the Professional version lacks.
The added features in the Professional version, which costs $100 more,
are very few, and mainly apply to people on corporate networks.
http://ptech.wsj.com/ptech.html

October 17, 2002 
Guide to PC Buying: You Can Find Bargains, but Watch USB

The Windows XP Home edition is more than enough for most people,
though some people trying to connect to certain kinds of corporate
networks will want the costlier Professional version.





   

 
  
  Home  All Topics  Operating Systems  Windows XP  Viewing a Question
 
 
Title: Whats better Xp home or Xp Pro 
 
From: Blind5-0
Date: 01/18/2003 07:33AM PST

I'm will be buying a new comp in the next month and was wondering
whats the difference between Xp home and Xp pro. How much more
expensive is pro? What more do you get with pro, is pro that much
better than home, etc... My computer will be used mostly for gaming.

Question History 
Comment from CrazyOne  01/18/2003 07:34AM PST  
Windows XP Home Edition vs. Professional Edition: What's the
difference

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



The Crazy One  
Comment from CrazyOne  01/18/2003 07:36AM PST  
>>>How much more expensive is pro?

Depends where you buy it but generally it costs $90+ more  

Comment from CrazyOne  01/18/2003 07:37AM PST  
>>>is pro that much better than home

In my opinion yes but if you are just going to use it for gaming and
not much else then Home should suffice. Home lacks a lot of the
built-in security found in Pro. If you are sure that you don't need
this security then go with Home.
 
Comment from CrazyOne  01/18/2003 07:39AM PST  
But if you can afford it go with Pro. You may find down the line that
you may want or need the other features that are in Pro.
  
Comment from CrazyOne  01/18/2003 07:42AM PST  
Basically what it says in that link what Pro has that Home doesn't

Power user 
Remote Desktop - All versions of Windows XP--including Home
Edition--support Remote Assistance, which is an assisted support
technology that allows a help desk or system administrator to remotely
connect to a client desktop for troubleshooting purposes. But Only Pro
supports the new Remote Desktop feature, which is a single-session
version of Terminal Services with two obvious uses: Mobile
professionals who need to remotely access their corporate desktop, and
remote administration of clients on a network. You can access a
Windows XP Remote Desktop from any OS that supports a Terminal
Services client (such as Windows 98 and, interestingly XP Home). XP
Home can act as the client in a Remote Desktop session; only Pro can
be the server.
Multi-processor support - Windows XP Pro supports up to two
microprocessors, while Home Edition supports only one.
Automated System Recovery (ASR) - In a somewhat controversial move,
Microsoft has removed the Backup utility from the default Windows XP
Home Edition, though it is available as an optional installation if
you can find it on the CD-ROM (hint: it's in the /valueadd folder).
The reason for this the integration of Microsoft's new Automated
System Recovery (ASR) tool into Backup. In Pro, ASR will help recover
a system from a catastrophic error, such as one that renders the
system unbootable. ASR-enabled backups are triggerable from XP Setup,
allowing you to return your system to its previous state, even if the
hard drive dies and has to be replaced. Unlike consumer-oriented
features such as System Restore, ASR is not automatic: It must
manually be enabled from within the Backup utility in Windows XP Pro.
In any event, while there is a Backup utility available for Home
Edition, you cannot use ASR, even though mentions of this feature
still exist in the UI. Confusing? Yes. But it's better than no Backup
at all, which was the original plan.
Dynamic Disk Support - Windows XP Professional (like its Windows 2000
equivalent) supports dynamic disks, but Home Edition does not
(instead, HE supports only the standard Simple Disk type). Dynamic
disks are not usable with any OS other than Windows 2000 or Windows XP
Pro, and they cannot be used on portable computers. Likewise, Home
Edition does not include the Logical Disk Manager.
Fax - Home Edition has no integrated fax functionality out of the box,
though it is an option you can install from the XP Home CD.
Internet Information Services/Personal Web Server - Home Edition does
not include the IIS Web server 5.1 software found in Pro.

Security 
Encrypting File System - Windows XP Professional supports the
Encrypting File System (EFS), which allows you encrypt individual
files or folders for local security (EFS is not enabled over a
network). EFS-protected files and folders allows users to protect
sensitive documents from other users.
File-level access control - Any user with Administrator privileges can
limit access to certain network resources, such as servers,
directories, and files, using access control lists. Only Windows XP
Professional supports file-level access control, mostly because this
feature is typically implemented through Group Policy Objects, which
are also not available in Home Edition.
"C2" certification - Microsoft will attempt to have Windows XP
Professional certified with the "C2" security designation, a largely
irrelevant status, but one which will not be afforded to Home Edition.

Management 
Domain membership - Home Edition cannot be used to logon to an Active
Directory domain. For obvious reasons, the Domain Wizard is also
missing in Home Edition.
Group Policy - Since Home Edition cannot be used to logon to an Active
Directory domain, Group Policy--whereby applications, network
resources, and operating systems are administered for domain users--is
not supported either.
IntelliMirror - Microsoft lumps a wide range of semi-related change
and configuration management technologies under the IntelliMirror
umbrella, and none of these features are supported in the consumer
oriented Home Edition. IntelliMirror capabilities include user data
management; centrally-managed software installation, repair, updating,
and removal; user settings management; and Remote Installation
Services (RIS), which allows administrators to remotely install the OS
on client systems.
Roaming profiles - This feature allows users to logon to any computer
in an Active Directory network and automatically receive their
customized settings. It is not available in Home Edition, which cannot
logon to an Active Directory domain.

Corporate deployment 
Multi-language support - Only Windows XP Professional will ship in a
Multi-Language version or support multiple languages in a single
install.
Sysprep support - Windows XP Pro will support the System Preparation
(Sysprep) utility, while Home Edition will not.
RIS support - See the IntelliMirror heading in the previous section;
Home Edition does not support RIS deployments.
64-bit Edition 

Networking features 
The following networking features are not included in Home Edition: 
The user interface for IPSecurity (IPSec) 
SNMP 
Simple TCP/IP services 
SAP Agent 
Client Service for NetWare 
Network Monitor 
Multiple Roaming feature 

User interface features
Windows XP Home Edition has some different default settings that
affect the user interface. For example, Guest logon is on by default
in Home, but off in Pro. The Address bar in Explorer windows is on in
Pro by default, but off in Home. During the beta period, Microsoft had
intended to use a business-oriented shell theme ("Professional") by
default in Pro and the "Luna" consumer theme in Home Edition. But
feedback from corporate users suggested that everyone liked the
consumer-oriented Luna theme better, and development of the
Professional theme was cancelled. Other user interface features that
are present in Pro but not Home include:
Client-side caching 
Administrative Tools option on the Start menu (a subset of the Admin
tools are still present in Home, however).
  
Comment from dankungen  01/18/2003 07:47AM PST  
There is nothing to discuss
If you are so advanced so you can find and post to this  forum...
thats more than most of the comuter users...then you will feel limited
in Home edition
its like a demo pro when you want to do the fun stuff you are locked
its for computer newbees :)

Regards // Daniel  


Comment from MDoorackers  01/18/2003 09:58AM PST  
It all depends on security. With the pro version you all the options
for professional security settings. Not really necessary if you use it
only for games, internet and such. However i you want to get the most
out of your os or use it in a network, go for the pro version.

Comment from jmiller47  01/18/2003 12:08PM PST  
Please listen to crazyone on this one. He really does know what he is
talking about. The differences are listed very openly above. Windows
XP Home has plenty of security and other features. Pro just  has a few
more features. Look over the features listed in Crazyone's post and
see if you need any of them. If you do, and it is worth it, get Pro.
If not, get Home. It's as simple as that. One large feature of Pro is
the Remote Desktop. You will not have that feature in Home Edition.
That usually cliches the deal for most people.



 
Comment from anonobomber  01/18/2003 12:22PM PST  
if you are going to primarily use it to play games, and you dont need
to logon to a domain server, and you have only one processor in your
system then go with windows xp home edition.