Vista: Home Premium Vs Ultimate

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Ashton

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Nov 13, 2004
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I read the marketing rabbel on MS and it's jsut that, rabble. What's the real difference between the two? I have a copy of Home Premium and I plan to do gaming and grpahics design (networking is limited to a small home network of <10 devices) Do I really need ultimate?

System:
AMD Athlon 64x2 2.66 (dual-core 64-bit)
3gb 877mhz ram
100gb SATA hd
802.11g NIC (will be upgraded to 802.11n when N is finalized)
DVD-RW
 
Ultimate adds Dreamscene (who cares, really), BitLocker (should be in Business too but that's good old corporate greed for you), and that's pretty much it, realistically. There really isn't much more in it over Home Premium, those two things being the big ones that stand out. The Ultimate "Extras" are something else but, so far Microsoft has failed to create anything substantial that people give a rat's ass about (Dreamscene is considered an "Extra", btw).

Save yourself some cash you can put towards more RAM (one can never have enough RAM, really) and get Home Premium. It's more than adequate for about 98% of the people that wish to use Vista.

Home Premium is roughly 95% of what Ultimate offers at close to half the price, sooo... stick with Home Premium and be done with it.
 
If you don't need to join a domain, aren't interested in Bitlocker, and aren't worried about a couple of useless "Utimate Extras", then no you don't need Ultimate at all. The only reason I'm using it is because I got it for free.


There is one difference between the two that could affect you (but most likely won't)... Home Premium 64bit only allows up to 16GB of ram while Ultimate 64bit allows up to 128GB (I think that's right). The 32bit version of both only address up to 4GB (usually less).
 
Has to be 64-bit since I'm using an Athelon-64 (well techncially it can be 32-bit but I wont be happy without squeezing that extra 32-bits out ;)) Sounds good to me, No clue what those two programs are (though I'm guessing bitlocker is encryption, which I use PGP for, and DreamScene doesnt sound very important, sounds like some kind of theme creator or somemat)

Since this Mobo only supports 2x ram, I doubt I'll break the 16gb barrior, but if I do I'll upgrade.

Dont anticipate ever using domain services, dont have a good enough server to run them! lol
 
Just go with Home Premium x64

I run Ultimate on all my machines, but I have a need for the domain ability, plus I use the Media Center capabilities.
 
Media Center is also in Home Premium, so you don't need Ultimate for that.


The full list of what Ultimate has and Home Premium doesn't is:


Volume Shadow Copy
Bit locker
Full (rather than partial) implementation of Remote Desktop
Offline Files/Folders
IIS Web Server
Rights Management Services
Fax and Scan
Ultimate Extras


Most of those are rather irrelevent to the bulk of private users, there are adequate freebie or inexpensive programs available to cover others, the Ultimate Extras are a gimmicky wank, and if people want to fax/scan they can use their scanner software!
 
ryan_975 said:
If you don't need to join a domain, aren't interested in Bitlocker, and aren't worried about a couple of useless "Utimate Extras", then no you don't need Ultimate at all.
Click to expand...
Those are the real differences, so this post should give you the answer.
 
Anyone know what happened to that site they had specifically for Ultimate users? It's either no longer a valid address or it has changed, not that I am expecting much from it though.
 
Catweazle said:
Full (rather than partial) implementation of Remote Desktopker
Click to expand...

So, can you explain this or clarify the difference? I have a laptop with Vista Home Premium 64 and was hoping to be able to use an SSL VPN connection to get into our work network and RDP into my desktop when I'm on call. Is that not possible with Vista HP?
 
wtburnette said:
So, can you explain this or clarify the difference? I have a laptop with Vista Home Premium 64 and was hoping to be able to use an SSL VPN connection to get into our work network and RDP into my desktop when I'm on call. Is that not possible with Vista HP?
Click to expand...

You can't use windows Remote Desktop to access systems running Home versions of Vista (or XP). But you can access systems running Business or Ultimate from a system running Home Basic/Premium.

However, there are a ton of third-party solutions that let you get around this limitation. I've used UltraVNC and logmein.com without any problems.
 
Joe Average said:
Ultimate adds Dreamscene (who cares, really), BitLocker (should be in Business too but that's good old corporate greed for you), and that's pretty much it, realistically. There really isn't much more in it over Home Premium, those two things being the big ones that stand out. The Ultimate "Extras" are something else but, so far Microsoft has failed to create anything substantial that people give a rat's ass about (Dreamscene is considered an "Extra", btw).
Click to expand...

It also adds the ability to connect to it with Remote Desktop and it brings shadow copy/previous versions. Previous versions is fantastic too. People seem to forget previous versions.

In a nutshell:
Vista home premium edition is the Base OS with the Media Center Application.

Vista Business is the OS w/ Remote Desktop, Shadow Copy and Previous Versions.

Vista Ultimate has everything from both versions.

If you never intend to put TV tuner cards in your PC and use it as a media center then Business is the best choice IMHO. Hell, even if you decided that you wanted to do the media center thing you could do the anytime upgrade.
 
ryan_975 said:
You can't use windows Remote Desktop to access systems running Home versions of Vista (or XP). But you can access systems running Business or Ultimate from a system running Home Basic/Premium.

However, there are a ton of third-party solutions that let you get around this limitation. I've used UltraVNC and logmein.com without any problems.
Click to expand...

Ah, cool, thanks. I think I should be okay then, as I would be using RDP to connect to an XP Pro box.
 
In terms of DreamScene, you can buy its functionality in the DeskScapes software from Stardock for $20. Lots of free Dreams, and the premium "Dreams" are around 5-8 bucks.
 
griffinhart said:
It also adds the ability to connect to it with Remote Desktop and it brings shadow copy/previous versions. Previous versions is fantastic too. People seem to forget previous versions.

In a nutshell:
Vista home premium edition is the Base OS with the Media Center Application.

Vista Business is the OS w/ Remote Desktop, Shadow Copy and Previous Versions.

Vista Ultimate has everything from both versions.

If you never intend to put TV tuner cards in your PC and use it as a media center then Business is the best choice IMHO. Hell, even if you decided that you wanted to do the media center thing you could do the anytime upgrade.
Click to expand...

Or you can just use Business and if you decide later to make your PC into a Media Center, there's a few nice open source alternative to WMC. The name of one of the popular ones escapes me at the moment though.
 
used my vista homepremium disk and it asked me "which version of vista do you want to isntall" and listed all 6 versions! I chose "ultimate"

Now I'm going to dump vista for XP-64 because I have 5 critical hardware pieces that are not vista compatable - both graphics cards (one being the on-board Nvidea chipset, using the official Asus/nvidea drivers) and none of my 3 WiFi cards...

If XP-64 doesnt work, I'll head back to XP Pro 32, I only have 3gb of ram anyway, everyone seems to say >3 to see much difference...
 
Ashton said:
used my vista homepremium disk and it asked me "which version of vista do you want to isntall" and listed all 6 versions! I chose "ultimate"

Now I'm going to dump vista for XP-64 because I have 5 critical hardware pieces that are not vista compatable - both graphics cards (one being the on-board Nvidea chipset, using the official Asus/nvidea drivers) and none of my 3 WiFi cards...

If XP-64 doesnt work, I'll head back to XP Pro 32, I only have 3gb of ram anyway, everyone seems to say >3 to see much difference...
Click to expand...

There are really only two different Vista discs One for all 32bit versions and one for all 64bit versions. The key you use to install with determines what version you get to use. If you skip the key and install a version that doesn't match your key you will not be able to activate and will have to reinstall.

What Nvidia chipset is this? The only ones not compatible with Vista are Nforce 3 and earlier. Nforce 4 and up work just fine. As for graphics cards, I have a Geforce 2 MX400 that works just fine with Vista. You don't get Aero, but it worked. Wifi, you'll have to find the manufacturer and download the drivers from them.
 
it's the NVIDIA GeForce 6100. I installed using the asus instALL application (and also tried the official drivers from the Nvidia site) and vista still said the device had a problem.

Wifi cards (1) trendnet: site says vista will load driver automatically (all downlaods are W9x, XP, 2K, ME --- no vista) (2) Netgear (has one generic driver package, also doesnt work) and (3) noname Atheos-based $5 special from Tiger Direct - only has driver disk, after many days seraching the offfical website tehre is no mention of USB WiFi dongles, much less drivers.

At this point it doesnt really matter if the key is activate-able or not, since vista doesnt support my wifi cards and they're theonly way to get online --- right now my laptop is connected to the wifi and my desktop's LAN is plugged into the laptop's LAN and the laptop has ICS turned on... not a good setup for permanence...
 
Ashton said:
it's the NVIDIA GeForce 6100. I installed using the asus instALL application (and also tried the official drivers from the Nvidia site) and vista still said the device had a problem.

Wifi cards (1) trendnet: site says vista will load driver automatically (all downlaods are W9x, XP, 2K, ME --- no vista) (2) Netgear (has one generic driver package, also doesnt work) and (3) noname Atheos-based $5 special from Tiger Direct - only has driver disk, after many days seraching the offfical website tehre is no mention of USB WiFi dongles, much less drivers.

At this point it doesnt really matter if the key is activate-able or not, since vista doesnt support my wifi cards and they're theonly way to get online --- right now my laptop is connected to the wifi and my desktop's LAN is plugged into the laptop's LAN and the laptop has ICS turned on... not a good setup for permanence...
Click to expand...


Geforce 6100 driver for Vista
32-bit http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_winvista32_15.01.html
64-bit http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_winvista64_15.01.html

For the Wifi devices, do you have specific model numbers?
 
Biggest difference for me is that Ultimate has Complete System Backup.

You can backup your whole install at anytime so you can swap harddrives if you want without reinstalling everything or have a hard disc failure.

I've tried it now a couple times. It restores your os, apps, updates, files, everything exactly like your system was at the time of the backup. It's pretty simple and easy.
 
Stupac said:
Biggest difference for me is that Ultimate has Complete System Backup.
Click to expand...

That's precisely the reason I chose Home Premium over Ultimate. That'n was really the only 'extra feature' of Ultimate which would have impact on the computer usage I have, and the simple fact is that there are perfectly adequate freeware or inexpensive commercial software programs which do the same job, with more flexibility of control.

The 'numbers' didn't add up, because getting the feature in Ultimate rather than getting Home Premium + Imaging Software was more expense for less functionality.
 
I was wondering this as well. From a software development tool would Home Premium be lacking? I know as far as XP was concerned I needed to use my copy of Pro to setup all the things i needed to write, test and debug the software I was writing. I assume I would need Business or Ultimate but would save the money if I could.
 
Vista Home Premium is equated with XP Home, believe it or not, more accurately XP Media Center Edition. Vista Business is the closest thing to XP Pro in the Vista lineup.

Vista Home Premium will handle all the stuff you want to do without issues just as Business of Ultimate would. As mentioned already in this thread, if you see something mentioned and you need it, just get Ultimate or perhaps Business.

Of all the Vista editions, if I ever do end up dumping XP Pro x64 (fat chance) I'd choose Vista Business above the rest.
 
Tom128 said:
I know as far as XP was concerned I needed to use my copy of Pro to setup all the things i needed to write, test and debug the software I was writing. I assume I would need Business or Ultimate but would save the money if I could.
Click to expand...

What sort of things? Home versions of Windows do sometimes like to hide OS settings from you; I don't have experience with Vista Home Premium, but XP Home didn't like to let you see NTFS file permissions or change Group Policy, even though the underlying features are still there, which was one of the main reasons I got XP Pro. Sure, take away enterprise features, but don't take away settings that apply to existing features. (There are generally ways to get around these, but they're a pain.)
 
Just to add another thing in information-wise, if you get Ultimate you get two discs the x86 and x64 versions. Home Premium only gives you the x86 disc and I believe you have to order the x64 media seperately for more money. This of course is retail, I assume with OEM you only get the one disc period.
 
well, I managed to get everything EXCEPT my wireless card working. If anoyne has 64-bit drivers for a TRendndet TEW-423PI PCI card (disk also says TEW-423PC, but I think that's for a PCMCIA card) Please let me know. I'm going to have to order a new card if I cant get this one working... *sigh*
 
Ashton said:
well, I managed to get everything EXCEPT my wireless card working. If anoyne has 64-bit drivers for a TRendndet TEW-423PI PCI card (disk also says TEW-423PC, but I think that's for a PCMCIA card) Please let me know. I'm going to have to order a new card if I cant get this one working... *sigh*
Click to expand...

Try here. If I googled correctly your card has the RealTek RTL8185L chipset.

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...ypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8185L

If that's not it, try searching for drivers for the chip itself on the card. For example, my linksys wireless card just detects as a broadcom in Vista. I don't need linksys drivers for it to work it just goes straight for the chip itself.

EDIT: Or it could be a Marvell chip, what revision do you have?

http://bensbargains.net/deal/36676/
 
griffinhart said:
.. and it brings shadow copy/previous versions. Previous versions is fantastic too. People seem to forget previous versions.
Click to expand...

Should've mentioned it earlier, but Shadow Copy/Previous versions isn't something people should necessarily pay the extra cost of Vista Ultimate to get.


Shadow Copy exists in ALL Vista versions. All that Vista Home Premium and Vista Basic lacks is the ability to access the previous file versions which exist unless System Protection has been disabled on the machine.

But that can easy enough be added with a third party tool:

http://www.shadowexplorer.com/

So, Home Premium + freebie utility = Previous versions.
 
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