Windows Media Center

I am looking to buy a new laptop. I have not ever used Windows MCE, so I decided to do a bit of research on it. On the Windows website, it states that MCE cannot connect to the Internet wirelessly. However I have not seen a reference to this anywhere else. Could someone please tell me whether or not it can connect to the internet wirelessly? Also, I don't plan on watching TV (although DVDs), and won't be doing much complicated networking, so what benefits would I get from using MCE?
Thanks!

 

MS recommends a "wired" network because of media. Meaning they think it won't stream movies/music as well as a wired network. But you can still do it:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mce/expert/bowman_extenders.mspx

Per this Wiki entry, it sounds like you only need the "extenders" if you want to stream media:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Center_Extender

MCE can still connect wirelessly, you just may not have a great experience with streaming media. Otherwise, it wouldn't be offered on so many NBs.

 

Not much. MCE is designed to work with your hardware tuner card to integrate TV into your PC. Also you can do a lot of video and media work on it.

 

So is it better just to stick with Windows Home Edition if you don't plan to do a lot of video stuff or watch tv on it?

The computer I am planning to order has a free upgrade to Windows Media Edition, but now I don't know if I should take it or just stick to Home Edition...

 

get media center edition if you think you would want its features, don't ask what they are here, look at the windows website, it connects to the internet wirelessly just like xp home etc. and any decent wireless connection is perfectly fine to stream online media.

it isn't better if you are doing video and media "work" it just includes media center and an easier way to record TV.

 

A Windows XP MCE equipped laptop is an excellent system, even if you never use Media Center itself. It's basically XP Pro. It even has Microsoft's IIS server which you can install, and you can run ASP.NET web applications on it (great for experimenting and local development of ASP.NET enabled websites). This particularly nice to have now that Visual Studio 2005 Express editions are available free forever. The only thing MCE can't do that Pro can is connect to a network domain - but you probably don't need to do that anyway. It's an excellent value. Wireless works as good as it does with any other computer. And XP in all editions at this stage is rock-stable.

 

I would take MCE if I were you. You can connect to the Internet wirelessly with no problems. And as starling said, it's more akin to XP Professional than it is XP Home, so you're getting a pretty good upgrade for free.

 

MCE is like a hybrid of XP Home and XP Pro, with more Pro than Home.

And, if you get MCE, you get the free upgrade to Vista Premium if you want to do the upgrade. Which is the high-end home user version, just below "ultimate".

 

I hate to contradict everyone else, but I will never promote Media Center Edition. The extra features are pretty pointless, and I have never used any of them.
I use my computer to watch and record TV/XBOX, and MCE refuses to recognize most Capture Cards. Every other Windows OS has drivers, but not MCE. I hate it, and can't find a way around the problem.

 

Just by-pass "Media Center" and use "Media Player" as your default setting.

Personally I find "media Center" not very intuitive, or work as smoothly as other media players individually. Perhaps it's just that I've used others for so many years, and subconciously resist change

 

I have 2 MCE pc's running flawlessly as my dvr's. One desktop and 1 new Toshiba M115 laptop that I bought to replace 1 other desktop. I have been a fan of MCE since it came out. I bought a second Toshiba M115 with MCE on it (for vista premium upgrade) and use that one to surf the net with. As stated above, MCE can be upgraded to Vista Premium, so that in itself is a bonus.

Note:usb tuner and souncard required in my setup.

 

I have MCE runnin fine on my laptop; I figured I'd spend the extra 15-20$ to get a makeshift xp pro upgrade...

It's funny, they shipped me a MCE 2005 disk, but the laptop came preinstalled with MCE 2002 ( for those of you who don't know, MCE 2002 is exactly like pro, only with the added features; the ability to join a domain wasn't removed until the 2005 version.

 

Sounds like it's worth going for MCE then! The only reason that I can see for not going for it, would be if I had a non-compatible TV card, which I don't. And if I don't want to use the media program that there is so much hype about, then I just ignore it. Does it still come with the standard Windows Media Player?

 

yeah, it does.

 

XP MCE and Windows Media Player aren't related, except they're both from MS. You can use any version of Media Player you like.

Other than doing a quick tour of the Media Center when I got XP MCE, I've never used it and don't know it's there. However, with MS's push to converge the TV/PC worlds (and Apple's iTV is another great idea), you may decide you want to use it in the futur.

 

OK, sounds good! MCE it is then! Thanks!!!

 

You should go with MCE even if you never use the Media Center at all. It's XP Pro in every respect except the ability to join a domain, which most people don't need anyway.