The Age Old Question: Windows XP Pro or Home

Well, since search is down, and I can't seem to find a thread about this topic; I thought i'd ask a quick question.

I used to run XP pro and I loved it. I've also run XP home and liked it as well. Now i'm in the market for the full version of one of those OS's (I only ran the updates before...pain in the ass). But there's a huge price difference between the two (on newegg anyway). I know Pro has more advanced options as far as networking goes. But what are some more differences between the two? Which one would you guys go with.

I loved pro, but I don't see paying 140 for it, when I could pay 90 for Home. I need some pro's and con's. Thanks

the simplest advice from the last thread i remember on this topic is if you don't know the difference between the two already, get home

i vote for pro

Did you use the extra features Pro had over Home when you had Pro installed? If not then you probably won't ever use them. Same reason I have Home right now.

Ditto what FiZ said.

Also, before you lay out any money for an OEM disc, try doing a fresh reformat of your disc, install your 9x OS and then install the XP upgrade. Running the upgrade this way is actually very stable and is much less painful than upgrading over an old install of 9x.




BHD

Also, before you lay out any money for an OEM disc, try doing a fresh reformat of your disc, install your 9x OS and then install the XP upgrade. Running the upgrade this way is actually very stable and is much less painful than upgrading over an old install of 9x.

Can't you just format and immediately put in the XP disc? If I remember right it just asks you for the 98 disc then proceeds to install XP. The upgrade disc is identical to the full version, it just has like one extra line of code so you cant install it without a previous OS disc.

I've heard you can and you can't. It would be worth a try. Since I haven't done it myself I didn't want to recommend it.

Originally posted by FiZ
Can't you just format and immediately put in the XP disc? If I remember right it just asks you for the 98 disc then proceeds to install XP. The upgrade disc is identical to the full version, it just has like one extra line of code so you cant install it without a previous OS disc.

i haven't dealt with an upgrade version of xp (had experience with either 98 or me upgrade) but you should just be able to boot from an xp upgrade cd and format as if it were full edition. then after it restarts in the gui-fied goodness, it asks you to insert a disk of a previous version of windows to prove that you didn't just buy the upgrade to save money (although, i don't suppose there's anything limiting you from using the same old windows cd on numerous legitimate upgrade copies of xp, i don't suppose that's exactly kosher).

Can't you just format and immediately put in the XP disc? If I remember right it just asks you for the 98 disc then proceeds to install XP. The upgrade disc is identical to the full version, it just has like one extra line of code so you cant install it without a previous OS disc.

Do it this way. The upgrade and the full version are the same.

I use pro just cuz I set up an elaborate home network

I use pro due to duallies... It should install just fine w/o a previous installation. Most products will just ask you for the disk w/ the old version on it. I haven't really messed with an XP upgrade. It's funny, the OEM full version from newegg I bought w/ my current hardware was about the same price as an edu-discounted upgrade.
Funny thing is my 2K upgrade disk doesn't check for previous versions. It'll install on a totally clean system w/ a brand new HDD. It's an academic upgrade though (I work for a school, so I get all the edu discounts), and I thought I heard somewhere the academic ones are different.

The big differences between the two (might be more but this is what I can think of)
1. Dual cpu support only in pro (this is huge for me...)
2. Security settings actually work in Pro.
3. Pro lets you join a domain.
4. As far as I can tell every user is an admin in Home.