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    Is Aero really the only reason to get Home Premium over Basic?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by bluepojo, Aug 20, 2008.

  1. bluepojo

    bluepojo Notebook Guru

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    I'm going to be getting a Lenovo X200, and am looking for ways to save a bit of money. Typically I use Linux, but since I live in the real world, I'll need to have Windows around for some things.

    Is there any compelling reason to get Windows Home Premium or Business over Home Basic?

    I'll have 3gb of RAM... I heard something about RAM limitations of Basic? Anyone know about that?

    Anyway, if all I miss out on is Aero, I think I'll be fine saving the $50 to get Basic.

    [edit] Some more notes: this is going to be a development environment, though most of that will be done in Linux. No need to run Crysis or PhotoShop CS7million.
     
    bluepojo, Aug 20, 2008
    #1
  2. SmoothTofu

    SmoothTofu Inspiron 1420 Owner

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    Well, here's a list I found.

    No Aero interface, including transparency in many parts of the GUI
    No Media Center
    Five included Windows games, instead of nine
    No automatic network backup
    No relationship between PC and Xbox 360
    No advanced slideshows
    No Movie Maker / DVD Maker
    Weak Tablet PC functionality
    No SideShow Support
     
    SmoothTofu, Aug 20, 2008
    #2
  3. Leon

    Leon Notebook Deity

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    Aero is amazing and so is Media Center. Games don't really matter but Movie and DVD Maker are kinda cool. I would get Home Premium.
     
    Leon, Aug 20, 2008
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  4. Alex

    Alex Super Moderator

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    The ram limitation is 4gb in 32 bit windows ,all versions.
    In 64 bit vista basic is 8gb and home premuim is 16gb.

    Alex
     
    Alex, Aug 20, 2008
    #4
  5. fred2028

    fred2028 Sexy member

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    For 32-bit, it's 4 GB minus some for sound cards, graphics cards, etc., so really, depending on your hardware, the max is anywhere from 3.5 GB to 512 MB (if you have quad-SLI 768 MB graphics).
     
    fred2028, Aug 20, 2008
    #5
  6. Mark Larson

    Mark Larson Notebook Evangelist

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    Home Premium is the most bang-for-buck one, but Home Basic also does fine.

    You'll miss out on the sidebar, flip3d, and the fancy live previews in the taskbar and alt-tab bar (the biggest thing).
     
    Mark Larson, Aug 20, 2008
    #6
  7. Primes

    Primes Notebook Deity

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    Premium had media center and is worth it.
     
    Primes, Aug 20, 2008
    #7
  8. d4nz0r

    d4nz0r Notebook Evangelist

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    What does it mean by 'relationship' between PC and Xbox 360? I used to stream movies from my 360 to PC using Orb to transcode movies on the fly. By default, the 360 could only play WMV files without transcoding software. Is there an easy way to play .divx or .mkv files on 360?
     
    d4nz0r, Aug 20, 2008
    #8
  9. v1k1ng1001

    v1k1ng1001 Notebook Deity

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    yah, my guess is that you could build a lot of that missing functionality back into vista with freeware
     
    v1k1ng1001, Aug 20, 2008
    #9