Upgrading to Win7: Home Premium or Pro?

[laserfan]

Given the upgrade deal available now, Home Premium for $49 and Pro for $99, I'm trying to figure-out which to get. It appears to me that the main value of Pro over Premium is the "XP Mode" which needs a Virtualization-ready CPU (I have the Q6600).

Do folks here have an opinion about the value of XP Mode? Any other good reasons to spend for the Pro version than this?

[Keiyakusha]

So far I newer saw any program that can't run on Win7 without XP Mode. Also this mode is almost the same as VirtualPC, just with some visual enhancements. And you still can't run 3D games with it. IMHO XP mode is useless.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Yeah, so far my experience with Windows 7 compatibility has been extremely positive. I've yet to find any reasonably current pieces of software that don't run correctly under Windows 7. This is particularly impressive, given that Windows 7 is still just in the RC phase.

I don't think XP mode is really necessary for 90% of people - hence the decision to make it only part of the "Professional" edition, targeted mainly at businesses. In that realm, there is indeed lots of specialized software that is infrequently updated or simply not maintained. In these cases, XP mode would be quite useful.

In short, you should be perfectly fine with Home Premium.

As a sidenote, I installed 7 on my desktop using a flash drive... it took just over 12 minutes from booting the installer to sitting on the desktop :) VERY impressive!!

~MiSfit

[laserfan]

Thanks fellas, I guess if no one here has actually found a use for XP Mode and "virtualization" in the context of our A/V hobby, then I will save myself the $50 bucks and go with Home Premium.

I think one of the few "limitations" of Home is a 16G RAM limit, but I am at "only" 8GB with no need/interest to upgrade.

[Shinigami-Sama]

As a sidenote, I installed 7 on my desktop using a flash drive... it took just over 12 minutes from booting the installer to sitting on the desktop :) VERY impressive!!

~MiSfit

it takes about a half hour or just over from a DVD
so I'm +1 for USB boot

also I've only had a couple minor hang ups with win7
FF is running like a dog but I think thats my fault and sometimes it IO locks, but all windows do that..

over all win7 = promised lands

[Dr.Khron]

I don't think XP mode is really necessary for 90% of people - hence the decision to make it only part of the "Professional" edition, targeted mainly at businesses. In that realm, there is indeed lots of specialized software that is infrequently updated or simply not maintained. In these cases, XP mode would be quite useful.

Ain't that the truth; parts of my company are like a museum of obsolete business equipment.

I wonder if I'll need XP mode to run my terminal emulators? ;)



over all win7 = promised lands

Good to hear it, I'm starting to look forward to building a Win7 PC.

[kypec]

Good to hear it, I'm starting to look forward to building a Win7 PC.
Yeah, I'm thinking the same... What is the last date for Win7 RC being available as free download?

[laserfan]

Just guessing but it would make sense to me that one could download the RC right up until the expiration date (June 2010 iirc). But they might pull it in Oct. when the final is released I suppose...

[Blue_MiSfit]

Nothing stopping you from just downloading the ISO right now, and getting a beta key from Microsoft.

You don't have to use it right away ;)

~MiSfit

[Sharktooth]

win7 final should be released to manufacturers on July 13th.