7 pro or 7 ultimate?

S

supernova73

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
Messages
121
I'm getting ready to upgrade my os to win 7 it will be a 64 bit version. I'm not sure what the differences are between ultimate and pro other than the price, could you guys enlighten me a little?
 
ya no need to change the language but the extra network stuff from pro over home is the reason i am not realy looking at the home atm, but not realy sure i need the extra stuff either lol
 
At home and the office we use Pro, no need for Ultimate. However you probably don't need Pro either...
 
I have Pro for the extra networking features, over Home.

Ultimate is extreme waste for W7. Unless they changed it, the only difference between Pro and Ultimate is 2 things. Ultimate has the extra Language pacts, and Bitlocker.
 
Microsoft Mainstream Support / Extended Support/ServicePack End-Date

Windows 7 Professional 1/13/2015 | 1/14/2020 | Pending
Windows 7 Ultimate -- 1/13/2015 | Not-applicable | Pending
Windows 7 Home Premium -- 1/13/2015 | Not-applicable | Pending
 
Last edited:
supernova73 said:
ya no need to change the language but the extra network stuff from pro over home is the reason i am not realy looking at the home atm, but not realy sure i need the extra stuff either lol
Click to expand...
The 'extra network stuff' means you can join a domain if you have Windows Server set up. If you don't, then you don't need Pro. It's essentially the only difference.
 
Be nice if all they sold was Windows 7. $75 Upgrade and $150 Full Version.
 
I use both home and ultimate (MS launch event) but since I do not do anything that requires a whole network in my house home premium is OK with me.
 
Zepher said:
Be nice if all they sold was Windows 7. $75 Upgrade and $150 Full Version.
Click to expand...

but then they can't get the fullest penetration possible :rolleyes: lol cause after all it would be easier just to have to support one full featured os than 4+ variants lol (starter, basic, home, pro, ultimate)

yeah I know common sense need not apply lol
 
Zepher said:
Be nice if all they sold was Windows 7. $75 Upgrade and $150 Full Version.
Click to expand...

boo to that, product variation is a good thing. Why pay for the professional features if you are not going to use them? I am not going to be on a domain at my house nor am I going to need xp mode. While at my work we are on a domain, and xp mode is great because we have some lame applications that only run on xp. But that's another thread.

but then they can't get the fullest penetration possible lol cause after all it would be easier just to have to support one full featured os than 4+ variants lol (starter, basic, home, pro, ultimate)

yeah I know common sense need not apply lol
Click to expand...

The different versions are not different enough to make any kind of problem for MS to support. It comes down to paying more for more features. Common sense would say that if you are going to give more in your product then you can charge more. Or you can remove features that some may not want so that they will buy it at a cheaper price.

Win ultimate is a waste though go for the pro if you need the features if not go with home premium. If you are a student you can get win 7 pro from ms for $35 (this is where I got mine).
 
supernova73 said:
I'm getting ready to upgrade my os to win 7 it will be a 64 bit version. I'm not sure what the differences are between ultimate and pro other than the price, could you guys enlighten me a little?
Click to expand...


With the 1 year anniversary of Windows 7 coming up, it might be a good idea to wait a bit to save some $$ on special offers. :D Who know the $30 Win7 Home Premium and the $35 Win7 Professional (for students that still have an *.edu address) might come back. In fact, as part of the anniversary, it's already been announced that the Win7 Home Premium Family Pack (1 product key for three computers) will be back: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/...ows-7-family-pack-makes-a-comeback-today.aspx :cool:
 
If you have a LGA1366 system then getting home premium will mean you can't max it out on ram.

does anyone know if the file permissions system is still crippled in win 7 home premium like it was in XP home?
 
plugwash said:
If you have a LGA1366 system then getting home premium will mean you can't max it out on ram.

does anyone know if the file permissions system is still crippled in win 7 home premium like it was in XP home?
Click to expand...

Are you sure? I had an i7 920 with all 8gb of RAM

I think you're mistakening the home version for the 32bit, where you can only use a MAX of 4gb RAM.
 
ThumperSD said:
Are you sure? I had an i7 920 with all 8gb of RAM

I think you're mistakening the home version for the 32bit, where you can only use a MAX of 4gb RAM.
Click to expand...

Home premium 64bit is limited to like 16gb of ram or something like that while professional 64bit is 192gb of ram.

Link.
 
ThumperSD said:
Are you sure? I had an i7 920 with all 8gb of RAM
Click to expand...
maxing out a single socket LGA1366 system is 24GB (assuming the max module size supported is 4GB which it is for all LGA1366 desktop stuff afaict). According to microsoft windows 7 home premium only supports up to 16GB.
 
Why would you need more than 16 GB? Home Premium is enough. Save your money.
 
For the same reason we need more than 640K.
Most systems now have at LEAST 6 GB, and even that's not enough for many people.

In a couple of years, that 16 GB limit is going to start to get very annoying, when we start seeing games that will perform poorly on 8 GB systems, and will NEED 12 GB systems to get good performance (which means 12 GB will be the minimum...)
 
bigdogchris said:
The 'extra network stuff' means you can join a domain if you have Windows Server set up. If you don't, then you don't need Pro. It's essentially the only difference.
Click to expand...

RDP hosting and dynamic disks, too.
 
The ram limit is the main reason I went pro as well. IMHO there should be some version that is not up to pro, but has more than a 16GB limit.....

Right now you can snag a G34 board for $225, an 8 core procs for $275 and 2 8GB ram sticks for $500 or so. You've now outgrown home premium. Pretty pathetic IMHO.
 
Robstar said:
The ram limit is the main reason I went pro as well. IMHO there should be some version that is not up to pro, but has more than a 16GB limit.....

Right now you can snag a G34 board for $225, an 8 core procs for $275 and 2 8GB ram sticks for $500 or so. You've now outgrown home premium. Pretty pathetic IMHO.
Click to expand...

Home is designed for the average home user. Most of them just buy OEM dells or HPs. How many of them do you know that have or need more than 16GB of ram? People who buy/build the comp you spec'd out aren't average home users and should get pro. So it gives the basic computer user an even cheaper option than pro, which sounds perfectly fine to me.
 
This is why I love this site, I don't post a lot but it is always nice to see all the helpful people! I forgot to mention that the OS will be bought along with some upgrades(pretty much whole new computer) at the beginning of next year.
 
ultimate should only be a consideration if you want to use bitlocker drive encryption, and even then you would probably be better off with a lesser version + truecrypt
 
grss1982cvg said:
With the 1 year anniversary of Windows 7 coming up, it might be a good idea to wait a bit to save some $$ on special offers. :D Who know the $30 Win7 Home Premium and the $35 Win7 Professional (for students that still have an *.edu address) might come back. In fact, as part of the anniversary, it's already been announced that the Win7 Home Premium Family Pack (1 product key for three computers) will be back: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/...ows-7-family-pack-makes-a-comeback-today.aspx :cool:
Click to expand...

when you used the student discount was it 64 bit?
 
The big reason I go with Ultimate (even though I am a home user) is so I can provide Remote Assistance to other family members (via Remote Desktop Connection). A secondary reason is Windows Virtual PC (while VirtualBox provides a lot of the same support that WPC does, including XPMode support, where WPC trumps VB is OS/2-eComStation support, and I still kick eCS around in a VM) - while Professional also supports XPMode and WPC, it does not support RDC as well as Ultimate; hence Ultimate wins for me.

Also, plugwash's comment is spot-on, and a bit scary If you are going to run multiple VMs on a multi-core PC (such are shipping today), you will almost *certainly* run into that 16 GB wall (the base Phenom II x6 or Core i7 system shipping today is halfway there with an 8 GB floor). Also, note that neither AMD *or* Intel recommend 7 Home Premium (or even Professional) with any CPU with more than three cores - both rivals recommend 7 Ultimate.
 
Muffin Man said:
when you used the student discount was it 64 bit?
Click to expand...

The Ultimate Steal (and student discount) was bitness-neutral (the Family Pack still is).

With the exception of Starter and Home Basic, *all* licensing of Windows 7, like that of Windows Vista, is bitness-neutral. (The only reason it isn't true of Starter and Home Basic is that neither is available in x64.)
 
Muffin Man said:
when you used the student discount was it 64 bit?
Click to expand...

I got the $35 windows 7 pro, the key can be used for both 64 bit and 32 bit windows, but I believe I was only offered the 64bit iso to download, didn't look to hard for the 32 bit because I wouldn't use it anyway.
 
PGHammer said:
The big reason I go with Ultimate (even though I am a home user) is so I can provide Remote Assistance to other family members (via Remote Desktop Connection). A secondary reason is Windows Virtual PC (while VirtualBox provides a lot of the same support that WPC does, including XPMode support, where WPC trumps VB is OS/2-eComStation support, and I still kick eCS around in a VM) - while Professional also supports XPMode and WPC, it does not support RDC as well as Ultimate; hence Ultimate wins for me.

Also, plugwash's comment is spot-on, and a bit scary If you are going to run multiple VMs on a multi-core PC (such are shipping today), you will almost *certainly* run into that 16 GB wall (the base Phenom II x6 or Core i7 system shipping today is halfway there with an 8 GB floor). Also, note that neither AMD *or* Intel recommend 7 Home Premium (or even Professional) with any CPU with more than three cores - both rivals recommend 7 Ultimate.
Click to expand...

How is ult better than pro with RDC? I use pro at work and RDC to administer our hosted servers all the time. Like the previous poster said, I'm pretty sure the only difference between pro and ult is bitlocker and changeable language.
 
sap said:
At one point, 640k was enough, too...
Click to expand...

How many years ago was that? 20 maybe? Well in 20 years I'm sure 16GB won't be enough either, but for now there are no home users that need 16GB. Plus at the time that 640k of ram was probably more expensive than 16GB is now. Also, I can't think of many systems that aren't servers for virtual machines that have 16GB+ of ram, and none of them are home comps.
 
Falkentyne said:
For the same reason we need more than 640K.
Most systems now have at LEAST 6 GB, and even that's not enough for many people.

In a couple of years, that 16 GB limit is going to start to get very annoying, when we start seeing games that will perform poorly on 8 GB systems, and will NEED 12 GB systems to get good performance (which means 12 GB will be the minimum...)
Click to expand...

It's very unlikely that most systems have 6B of RAM. As previously stated, the majority of PC's are OEM Desktops and Laptops/Netbooks from Dell, HP, Acer, Toshiba, and company and the extent of their use consists of web-surfing, email, chat, word processing, pictures, music, videos, and playing simple flash games. That being said, most people have between 2 and 4GB.

The only users who need more than that are gamers(and even they can get by with 4GB) and people who do high-end production/content creation.

Anyway, Home Premium will suit 95% of users out there. Even power users(gamers, etc), don't need more than 8GB. I have Ultimate because I was able to get it for free, but even if not I would have chosen Pro, but that's because I like to run on my main PC what I work with most often in the field.
 
When the average user starts to need more than 16GB of ram, we'll prolly be up to windows 9 or something
Just go with Home, unless you know you will need ram like that, if you did you probably wouldn't be asking this question anyway
 
Unless you need bitlocker and a few other small things, Ultimate is simply not worth it for home and most buisness use. If you use your PC for work, or in a domain setting, pro is a must.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top