Windows xp Home only supports one processor?

[nerdsrope]

Sorry for asking a bit of a nooby question but i was considering buying windows xp home for my new system and not spending the extra £50 for windows proffesional since vista is out in a few months and ill probably upgrade few months after it has been released.

But i was just reading up on the net about the different between both OS and i came along this page.

QUOTE: Multi-processor support - Windows XP Pro supports up to two microprocessors, while Home Edition supports only one.

Heres the url:

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

if thats the case then wouldnt windows xp pro make the most of an intel core 2 duo system while home version wouldnt be as effective? since its only supports single processor..

or am i getting confused in what im reading and its all the same. sorry im just not exactly sure what the page meant be only supporting the single processor in the Home xp version.

This is the system ive ordered the specs for it :


Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6600 Dual Core Processor(2.40GHz,4MB Cache,1066MHz)
Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition
Aluminium ATX Midi Tower + 550W PSU - Black
ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe PCIe Mainboard - Pentium® D/Core™ 2 Duo - ATX
2048MB DDR2 900MHz Memory -( 2x 1024MB Kit)
300GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
16x DVD-ROM Drive (40x CD-ROM)
LightScribe Super Format SONY 16x Dual Layer DVD Writer +R/-R/RW/RAM
2x 256MB nVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT - nVIDIA SLI™ Configuration
19" SONY SDM-HS95PR TFT LCD Flat Panel Display -DVI-D (8ms)
DVI connector Cable
7.1 Channel Surround Sound Audio (on-board)
Creative Labs Inspire T7900 - 7.1 Surround with Subwoofer
Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Rechargeable Cordless Mouse
Free Microsoft® Works® 8.5 + 60 Days Microsoft Office Trial
Free Cyberlink Video Editing Suite - 7 titles (oem)
10x USB 2.0 Ports (onboard)
2x IEEE1394 Firewire (onboard)
1x Gigabit LAN (onboard)
Belkin Wireless G USB Network Adapter - External (F5D7050UK)
External 36-in-1 USB Card Reader
Premiere Warranty - 3 Years On-site-Parts & Labour-T&C

Total price for system £ 1464.70

 

[CrazeD]

There's a difference between dual PROCESSOR, and dual CORE.

Dual processors is when you have two complete processors running at once.

Dual-core is when you have two cores in one processor.

 

[nerdsrope]

im still a bit confused but im just wondering so have windows xp home with dual 2 core is perfectly fine, in the sence it makes the most of the system right?

do u really need the dual processors then?

 

[SHAWN]

helpful info:

http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles.php?id=23

 

[The General]

There's a difference between dual PROCESSOR, and dual CORE.

Dual processors is when you have two complete processors running at once.

Dual-core is when you have two cores in one processor.

No there isn't. The operating system sees a dual-core processor as two processors. Just as it would if you have a dual socket motherboard with two processors. I don't know where you heard they were different ... but yeah, they are the same.




To answer the topic starter, XP home BEFORE service pack 1 didn't support symetric multi-processor systems. This was before dual-core processors had become as main stream as they are now. Back then, anyone with a dual-processor workstation, or server, used Linux or Windows XP Pro, or Server 2003, (or OS X if you have a dual or quad G5 ).

Since then, dual-core processors are being put it most computers, therefore XP Home needed to have support for dual-core processors, which act the same way as dual processor systems, so now XP Home supports 2 processors, and XP Pro supports something like 32 I think.

 

[nerdsrope]

Thanks a lot General for clearing that up 4 me. Helped me out a lot. given me a peace of mind. Thanks again.