Vista Home Premium (64-Bit) vs Ultimate

What is the main difference between these two?

I'll be a college student in the fall, using my computer for movies alot, So what would be better?

I'm getting the HP HDX 16t and would like to get the full 1080p screen. But i won't get it if I need to get ultimate too.

Thanks for all input!

 

Ultimate just gives you a lot of crap that you do not need, trust me, get a faster CPU and don't waste a 100 on ultimate, premium is more then enough.

 

If you're going to spend money on an operating system in college, it should be Vista Business or XP professional.

 

Yep, check with your school's IT department, my college let us get away with getting Vista Home Basic or up and XP home or up, but other colleges I considered were pretty much dead set on you having to order Vista Business which is what I have now.

Ultimate in general isn't a good buy if you won't use any of the business stuff or if you'll use the business features but will never use the multimedia stuff (Windows Media Center, Movie Maker in HD (Vista Business's Movie Maker can only do standard def.) Windows DVD Maker), etc. In fact, for Windows 7, Microsoft plans to downplay Windows 7's existence so much compared to Windows Vista Ultimate that sales are expected to only be in the single percentage range.

 

I have used Windows 7 Ultimate Beta and used none of the "Ultimate extras" advertised. I'm sure the same applies to Windows Vista.

 

Just a small clarification ^

In general, Windows Vista Ultimate is not worth it. Here's a feature comparison chart. Do note that although Business and Enterprise supposedly lack "Premium Games," you can easily enable it in the "Turn Windows Features On and Off" section of the Control Panel, so Home Premium/Ultimate do not have an advantage there. They just have Windows Media Center.

 

In Windows 7, Ultimate Extras were scrapped.

 

LMAO @ Myself Glad you caught that! That's what I get for typing so fast

 

The only thing I find that looks useful in Ultimate that I don't have in Premium is full system back up. Of course, it's likely cheaper and better to get Acronis Disk Director, but I have yet to use either.

 

I have the Windows file-backup feature scheduled on my system weekly, and for the most part find it very handy. It's a tad slow in performing the backup, but I do have 400 GB of data (non-OS/app files). It compresses the backup quite well, usually needing about 200 GB to store the backup on my external drive.

The full system backup also works like a charm and has saved my bacon twice now, and is useful in moving your system from one setup to another.