XP Home VS XP profesional

[ioriamd]

i got xp home and xp profesional..

but just don t know what the diffrent between this.

can sombody xplain?

[atomizer]

there's another thread that covers this very well. you might find it if you search.

to my knowledge, the differences are negligible -- pro has the group policy editor (gpedit.msc) and a few other tools and i think there's some networking differences as well.

Edited September 8, 2005 by atomizer

[Redcloud]

XP Professional is better suited for computers with network connections since these computers provide network jacks. Also, XP Professional computers usually have available extra usb drives such as SD cards, flash disks, etc. The disadvantage with XP Professional is that some programs such as image viewing are lost and replaced with basic viewer. Otherwise, either is O.K.

[InTheWayBoy]

I don't know what that guy above me is talking about...here Pro can do everything home can do and then some:

1. Join A Domain

2. Dual CPU Support

3. Remote Desktop Support

4. More Advanced Configuration Of Certain Parts (File Sharing)

You really only need Pro when you are needing one of the first two...I seem to recall that Home has some kinda limited Dual CPU Support now, maybe because of HyperThreading. There may be more differences but those are the biggies...for most tasks you can get by on just Home and save a few $$$.

[MHz]

XP Home has not got dynamic disk support!

XP Home will not see simple, spanned, striped, mirrored, and RAID-5 volumes. This means it will not see the volumes on HDDs created with XP Professional. This is no negligible difference. There are some other items that Home does not have, including the items not installed by Professional by default.

If you have a basic system, with basic needs, then XP Home maybe enough. But I know I want Professional because of the major differences between them.

[Redcloud]

Actually, XP Professional is not suited for 25 yr. old techies. Science has proven immature brain syndrone. Better stick with XP home for video games.

Edited September 8, 2005 by Redcloud

[dman]

Pro also includes Web Server (IIS). Important if you are doing web development for MS Server.

[FatalSaviour]

Good post InTheWayBoy. I don't know what 2 of the people on this thread are talking about....but I think you've summed up the main features that most people miss. Just to be clear about Remote Desktop, you can use XP Home to remotely connect to an XP Pro PC, but not vice versa. Personally, I find XPHome a bit claustraphobic and frustrating, but I agree that for most people, it's perfectly adequate.

Just another small point, you can only get an x64 version of Professional, there are no plans to release a Home version AFAIK?

[InTheWayBoy]

Right...on Home it's called Remote Assistance. I guess the other things are the security features...like NTFS File Permissions and better user configuration. Add that to the GPO, Dynamic Disks, and IIS that have already been mentioned and you get a lot of stuff...that you really never use. At least on a single user computer...Oh, and Encrypted File System, which I have never attempted to use. Seems like they are all just extra things to break sometimes

[InTheWayBoy]

Actually, XP Professional is not suited for 25 yr. old techies.  Science has proven immature brain syndrone.  Better stick with XP home for video games. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Didn't even see that before...what the hell does that mean? So since I'm 25 I can't comprehend the things you old bastards know? If that's the case then what does this mean:

XP Professional is better suited for computers with network connections since these computers provide network jacks. Also, XP Professional computers usually have available extra usb drives such as SD cards, flash disks, etc. The disadvantage with XP Professional is that some programs such as image viewing are lost and replaced with basic viewer. Otherwise, either is O.K.

See to me, and most people, that makes it sound like you are the id***.

First off that whole first sentence makes absolutely no sense what so ever. It's better suited for network connections since these computers provide network jacks...come on man, that's like saying the apple is red because it's red.

Two, you don't need Pro to run simple peer-to-peer networks, so your lack of clarity makes you look ignorant. As I mentioned, if you are connecting to a domain then you have to use Pro...but for many that is not a concern.

Three, you again make it sound like the only way to get computers with advanced features such as extra USB ports and memory card readers is with XP Pro...again, a stupid idea. All of those parts are OS independent, and most manufactures offer Home first, and then Pro as an upgrade. So you could in fact get those features on a computer that doesn't have Pro. And every new computer I've seen from HP for the past two years has had extra USB ports and multiple memory stick readers on them...and all run Home. And you know when I order my Dells with Pro, they don't magically come with all these extra features...I still have to pay extra for them regardless of if it's Home or Pro.

And finally, the image viewer is still in pro...and as far as I can tell it's the same one as in Home. I will admit, I might be wrong on this one...must be because I haven't developed those awesome adult brain cells that you so obviously have.

Oh, and you spell "syndrone" with an "m"

[Thauzar]

Both home and pro are very similar. Except from the functions already mentioned, I heard that the main difference is the core achitecture. I didn't check, hope you correct me if this is wrong but home is built on a 2k frame while pro would be following the architecture of a ntworkstation or something more server oriented.

I really don't give a **** since the only reason I'm installing pro is because I can't use nLite on the home version. Oh and the blue loading bar is soooo much cooler B)

[InTheWayBoy]

Actually, since SP2 both Home and Pro have the cool blue loading bar...and they don't distinguish between the two while loading either. Both just say "Windows XP".

XP in general is built off 2000, so they both share the same guts to an extent. It's kinda like Intel, where they used to (Still do?) take a chip that could be a P4, but then 'break' it to make it a Celeron. They both start out the same, just somewhere along the line things change.

[Thauzar]

Sorry but the original install from XP home got a green loading bar... and it's written Windows XP HOME.. or Professionnal, I think it changes only if you install SP2, which is something people don't always do (and I don't really understand why but that's off topic).

[InTheWayBoy]

Actually, since SP2 both Home and Pro have the cool blue loading bar...and they don't distinguish between the two while loading either. Both just say "Windows XP".

Which is what I said

[Redcloud]

Actually, what I didn't know what I was talking about is that I have an XP Pro computer. This includes card slots USB flash drives, cruizer, transflash, SD, memory sticks, and wifi cards reader/writer. Included is network slot in addition to the USB slots. Translation - i can figure who has the immature brain syndrones.