XP Home or Pro?

Hello everyone! I'm soon to order a Dell Inspiron 9300 with alot of nice stuff on it (1.73 Ghz, the Nvidia GeForce 256 MB, Tru brite, etc.) and I will be a student at the University. Now, the university is mostly Wi-Fi, so I'll mostly be wirelessly connecting to the internet. Nevertheless, with my new laptop, I'm not sure which OS to get. I've been trying to get the best for my money, and I really dont want to spend anymore than I have to (I'm up to $1650 right now). Is Pro really worth the extra $100?
Could someone please explain the major differences between XP Home or XP Pro? I have Home on my Desktop, and that seems suffice... any help would be very much appreciated...

 

You may want to consult with your school. Some do require XP Pro because you have to log into a NT Domain controller to get network access which XP Home cannot do. For most users, XP Home will suffice. You may want to look at this:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/choosing2.mspx

 

what zazonz said...

talk to a school rep and find out what they recommend. if they say you need xp pro, ask them specifically why? schools sometimes required you to log into their domain for access to printers, online storage and email. however, most students have a printer, don't need online storage and usually are able to configure their pop client to retrieve .edu mail.

before you drop the $ for PRO find out if and WHY the school requires PRO. make sure you really need the resources available via PRO since "yes, you need PRO" is usually a stock answer given to anybody who asks.

 

Yea, I looked online, and did some research at the University of Florida website ( www.ufl.edu). I didn't see much of anything, except that some colleges within the school *require* Pro, but after looking at the College of Liberal Arts and Scieces, I don't think that they require it. I imagine that if they accept Windows 2000, I should be set with XP Home. Thanks

 

Windows 2k can log into NT Domain controller, XP home cannot.

 

oh.....ok............. *gulp* They just say you need "XP" They don't specify from there on out.

 

XP Pro is a better OS then Home.

If its not to much of a hardship I would just get the Pro version.

 

I'm just really trying to keep this laptop cost efficient... the main problem I have is that I *really* don't want to spend any more money than I already have, and I'm not sure how great the perks are for XP Pro.

 

Well I have found Pro to be a more stable and forgiving OS then Home. I know it costs a little more but if you can afford its worth it. For networking and just over all quality PRO is better but many people get by with Home. So in the end its a matter of quality or price.

 

Wil919,

Just go with XP Pro. It'll probably cost you a lot less in the long run. Imagine if the school requires you to login to a Domain, XP Home can't do that, so you'll be stuck. You have a choice of not connecting to their network or having to spend more money and buy XP Pro. Why not just get XP Pro and be covered. It's cheaper going this route than paying for XP home and then XP Pro.

-Vb-