Category: Technology Author : Steven Hodson Posted: June 30, 2009
Tags : Home Premium, microsoft, professional, versions, windows, windows 7
Just to clarify – this post is meant for all those windows users that are looking to upgrade to windows 7 when it finally hits the market. It isn’t meant for penguin lovers or apple tart fans so don’t bother with the snide comments because you are only showing how silly you are. Now – let’s move onto the point of this post.
The presales of Windows 7 have started, OEMs are gearing up new machines that will come with Vista installed but some free upgrade coupons for when Windows 7 is finally released in early fall. The question that a lot of current Windows users are going to be asking themselves is which of the three different versions should they get. I know because I’ve been asking myself the same question and thanks to Ed Bott I have a much clear idea of the route to take.
First off only a miniscule number of people are going to need the Ultimate package and chances are you aren’t in that group. I say this with some confidence knowing my own usage of Windows and the fact that 99.99999% of Windows users would be wasting their money by getting it.
This leaves picking between Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Home Premium. The decision in my opinion would have been a lot easier if Professional had been called Windows 7 Corporate because in all reality 90% of the Windows consumer market will never need the features in this version.
Which leaves us with the Home Premium version as the best choice for the consumer market, but to clarify the reasons why let’s have a look at what Professional brings to the table and why Home Premium will do just fine for you.
Memory: Professional supports up to 192GB of RAM whereas Home Premium supports up to 16GB of RAM. I would suggest that 16GB of RAM is more than enough for just about any home or small business use and that anymore is pretty well overkill.
Presentation Mode/Network Projector: This feature isn’t included in Home Premium and really I don’t think, outside of some rare cases, that general consumers would miss having the feature.
Encrypting File System: There are enough third party utility programs out there that if this is an important need it doesn’t mean that you need to spend the extra money for Professional. Three examples for this type of software are
TrueCrypt – free
SafeHouse Personal – $29.99
Windows XP Mode: There is some confusion as to what this is but really for the most part this isn’t something that the larger consumer market is going to need. If you would like some clarification about what it is I would suggest reading Ed Bott’s post on the feature. If you to think you need it just remember that chances are you already have a legitimately licensed copy of XP so all you really need is some virtualization software. Some possible virtualization software choices you have are:
Virtual Box – free
Microsoft Windows Virtual PC – free
VMWare ESXi – free
Backup to Network: When it comes to good backup software that will provide you with all kinds of alternatives of where you can backup your disk images or data, so really this isn’t something that should be a selling point to get Professional. Some software alternatives are:
Acronis TrueImage – $49.99
GRBackPro – $59.00
An online option is Carbonite – $54.95 per year
Offline Files: With native Microsoft options like Live Mesh or Live Sync this isn’t a selling point for getting Professional.
Remote Desktop Host: Again there are more than enough third party utility programs out there that cover this so it isn’t a feature that you need to consider as a buying point of Professional. A couple of examples of available software are
Crossloop – free
TeamViewer – free
That pretty well covers any of the possible features that might make you have to make a decision about whether to get Professional or Home Premium. On the whole though I would say that for the vast majority of consumers out there the Home Premium would be the most logical choice. The other two options are pretty well overkill and won’t provide you with anything you really need to justify the price you will pay.
My thanks to Ed Bott for an excellent post clarifying the differences and for the graphic breaking down the differences.
Jun 30, 2009
So instead of paying $50 more for Professional I should download a bunch of free software, pay, lets say, $30 for file encryption and $50-60 for backing up my stuff (bringing us to a total of $90). And then I still won't have presentation mode, the ability to connect to a network projector, or be able to use all the ram my 62 bit system is made to use. That makes a lot of sense.
Jun 30, 2009
If you are calling for no comments from Linux/Mac people, why do you have a graphic comparing Vista 2 to OS X?
Jun 30, 2009
Alan has a point. I feel like you are the type of person that will be all over the negativity train when a new Apple OS comes out but when Microsoft comes out with something no one must speak a traitorous word against your beloved Microsoft. I have both Mac and PC and honestly, while your graph is semi-bias (read: completely and totally one sided), anyone with half of a brain could pull all of the things that OSX does that Vista and Win7 couldn't dream of. Good day.
Jun 30, 2009
^^^^^iBoi's still couldn't resist themselves. /faceplam
I'm just gonna end up getting a new PC in the next couple of months during the Windows 7 launch period and will run the RC on my current laptop till I can get rid of it.
Jun 30, 2009
because if you read the post you would have noticed the image credit for Ed Bott who used it in his post which I read and sparked me to write this one. Ed in his post explains why he had the graphic made that way.
Jun 30, 2009
$50 more? I think you had better check your pricing – http://www.inquisitr.com/27372/are-operating-sy… – Whether upgrade package or full install you are looking at a price difference of closer to $100 (or more in Canada). As for the replacement software there are multitudes of free options that are equal or better than some commercial ones. I just provided those as *examples* not iron-clad solutions. I also clarified it as being an option for the *average* consumer – not power users or users with more specialized needs so give me a break, and yes it still makes a lot of sense.
Jun 30, 2009
Oh give it a rest will ya. You don't know me and therefor any assumptions you make about me are probably well off the mark. So quit sounding so self righteous and realize I wasn't making a single comment in the post about Apple or OS X. As far as I am concerned I wish that OS X wasn't a proprietary locked down OS because I would probably be the first to use it if I could without having to pay the price for Apple hardware.
Jun 30, 2009
The price difference might be true down the line, but if you grab it now, the difference is $50, assuming you can get in on the pre-sales deals for the upgrade version (which can be installed as a clean full version). So here I must agree with the first commenter. Might as well spend the $50 and not be bothered with the third-party enhancements (with exception to the free ones, like TrueCrypt)
Also, the home version can't join a domain (just as with XP home vs Pro).
Jul 1, 2009
If you buy the upgrade now its only $100 per copy of windows 7 professional.
Jul 1, 2009
for people with credit cards maybe – for the rest of the real world we'll have to wait until there is actually something to deliver or download. Pre-ordering is nice but not everyone has that option so my price differences still stand.
Jul 4, 2009
“for people with credit cards maybe”
You do realise that almost all financial institutions now offer Debit cards, that free to low-cost alternative to credit card??
Jul 4, 2009
here we go down this road again. Number One – Yes I know they even have them up here in the Great White North and by golly I even have two of them in my wallet. Number Two – Show me anywhere online that will let you buy goods with a non-US debit card.
Jul 4, 2009
And really how many average consumers are even going to need to join a domain?
Jul 4, 2009
Um, as one who regularly shops on line (not from the US, but here in Brisbane), I'd be more inclined to ask what sites [i]aren't[/i] accepting a non-US debit card?? Considering all your debit cards are either endorsed by Visa or Mastercard, it really shouldn't matter where your hailing in from.
The only difficulties I have when shopping in States (or the UK) is finding those merchants who actually ship their wares over here, but that's another story.
Jul 4, 2009
“And really how many average consumers are even going to need to join a domain?”
A lot of them. A number of the telcos here are realising that, and BigPond (that over-priced Internet service provided by Telstra) have a whole advertising campaign built around that fact. Add to that the fact that wireless routers are a healthy seller, and you start to realise that the notion of the “home network” has solid backing.
My constant frustration with “home” versions of Windows has been the inability to store those domain passwords, even in the case of mapped network drives. Sure, you can create a script to load at start-up, but that's beyond the average user. Now in Win7, the “Homegroup” feature has made linking mine and the wife's notebooks easy enough that even my wife has been able to use it right off the ball. That in itself means I will buying on of “pro” builds for both machines, and looking at the small cost difference btwn Pro and Ultimate, will likely go the latter and be done with it… am running x64 on both, so easilly have the headroom
Jul 9, 2009
Thanks for the Windows 7 version analysis. The whinging and carping responses belie your helpful article.