I saw the XP home vs Pro, but I want to know about Media Center Vs. Pro

I am currently in the process of buying a new HP laptop, and I can't decide between getting Media Center or Pro. I don't really require the media stuff, but since it is $59 cheaper, I can't decide.

I will be using it for school(Word, Power Point), light gaming(America's Army) and mostly just internet stuff. I absolutely hate XP home, so I know I am not choosing that. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

 

What do you hate about home? Home and pro is pretty much the same atleast i cant see a big difference. So just get home.

 

media center is literrally "xp home + a few media oriented programs"

pro is simply "xp home + advanced networking features you usually dont need"

if you hate "xp home" that much - buy a mac.

 

Yeah, I know they are the same as home at the core. I guess I should have asked "What would be better for a student?" I like the network and file security with Pro, but I also like the media options of Media Center because, well, I am a kid and I like movies and music. I like the features of both, but home just feels lacking to me. That's why I dont like it. I was asking for a comparison between the extra features of Pro and Media Center. Since all three are based off home, I think that it was kind of obvious I wasnt focusing on the features that all three share. Thank you

 

The preceeding posts are wrong; XP Media Center is Pro plus media center ability minus the ability to join a domain. That's all.

"buy a mac." Are you serious?

 

k3l0 is right, MCE is just a slightly crippled version of Pro. I am unsure though if it does the file security. If you are looking to encrypt them I would not use the Windows encryption anyway, use something like TrueCrypt, it is much stronger and more robust.

 

My thoughts exactly hahaha.

Thank you both for your help

 

I hate the way XP Home doesn't give the user much control over network settings. It's very frustrating. I assume there's a way to change that, but I'm too lazy. I bought Pro for the domain ability, but also because I'm not a big fan of Home.

 

This is pretty much the only difference between Pro and MCE, although I believe a quick registry hack will allow you to join a domain. Personally I never use the media functions of MCE, I find the gui slow and irritating, also my TV Tuner is not supported by MCE; the only reason I use it is for Xbox 360 streaming which also is terrible, XBMC on my standard Xbox is much better.