Win XP Home or Win XP Pro

[aye29]

I'm getting a new laptop and was wondering if I should get one with Windows XP Home or Pro. What are the differences and advantages/disadvantages of each?

 

[Lostman]

You want XP Pro. It is better for networking (wireless and wired) and to me is more stable. Others may disagree, but you'll find Pro more solid.

 

[kboy]

Wish I would have known that 6 months ago

 

[ekÆsine]

i disagree. i think you should go with either one, it does not really matter. even for small office/home office networking situations both are just at networkable as the other one. i would concentrate more on the notebook's hardware specs.

about the only useful thing i can think of getting the pro version rather than home is that you have to have pro to issue remote commands using "remote assistance". but the home version allows you to still accept remote assistance invitations from users with pro version. and with pro it lets you use remote desktop, which is garbage since you cannot initiate file transfers. not much of an advantage is it?

if you want another insight to what to get try going here:

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

 

[aye29]

Thanks for the help guys. I've decided to go with XP Home becuse its cheaper.

 

[mrdinkel]

The only other advantage is that you can set file permissions easier in PRO. In XP home, that is reserved for safe mode, because they lock the administrator out by default.

 

[tavilach]

Pro is so much better! Remote Desktop, baby!

 

[hardmachine]

Yeah pro is good but see what aye29 says, its expensive and needs bulk of system resources.

 

[Larry K]

I've talked with a couple of people...
DO NOT GET the HOME Edition.

Stability and Performance are WORTH the few more dollars.

If you use your PC a lot during the day, PRO is the only way to go.

FYI. I'm not a MS fan, but I will never install a "home" edition on my PC.

just my .02 -
but ask yourself "the difference in the price divided by how long you will have it"....

is it worth it?

 

[ekÆsine]

why is pro more stable than home? my cousin has the home version and it runs as stable as my pro version. thats why i advised him that there is esentailly no difference that can be seen