XP pro multi processor support ???

Ok I failed to research this detail other than some simple comparison charts on the Dell site and what they said on the phone - and they really tried to sell me Pro....But they left out this detail and I just discovered it after already ordering "home" for my new laptop.

The Dell 9100 I ordered has the HT P4 3.2G

This is my only computer I will have and I am the only user so I opted for XP Home.

Can someone please tell me what Pro gives you in this matter (Hyper Threading) and how it will affect me to only have Home in a laptop that has HT in the processor???

Does this mean I cant run multiple programs as well or what? I dont understand what it means in the topic I just found here regarding this detail.

Thanks
Dave

 

Pro is software, hyper threading is hardware. You do not need Pro, don't let them confuse you.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

Brian,
Well let me show you...
I pulled the following info from your thread here about this issue. The second thing pasted here is from the link you supplied in that thread. Sorry if I could color the text I could, I hope this makes sense. This is from the post you made in the "software" folder about XP pro vs home

FROM A RESPONSE TO YOUR POST:

"2. Multi-Processor Support
Centrino and Athlon laptop users are fine with XP Home, but bear in mind that P4 HT owners who buy Home are gypped - Home only supports a single CPU, meaning you can't use Hyperthreading (since HT simulates a second virtual CPU).

So, I'd recommend Home for most laptop users, and Pro for owners of P4 HT laptops, and people with security needs."




FROM THE LINK YOU PROVIDED TO MICROSOFT, IT SAID THIS IS IN PRO BUT NOT HOME:

"Scalable processor support – up to two-way multi-processor support."


So given that my ordered Dell 9100 has a P4 w/HT, what does the above mean???

thanks

dave

 

Crap, I could be wrong on this, so let me look around a bit more, but I'm fairly certain that Home supports HT. Why even offer the OS if it can't handle the upgraded processor.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

when in doubt go straight to the source, Microsoft, who says YES XP Home does support Hyper Threading. Hyper Threading processor hardware is indeed treated by XP as dual processors, but the second processor is considered a Virtual Processor and can therefore utilized by the XP Home OS, here's the KB article from Microsoft regarding this exact issue.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B810231

Note: Windows XP Home can use a maximum of one (1) physical processor. However, because Hyper-Threading is supported, the operating system takes advantage of the second (virtual) processor.

 

Home and Pro can both be benefited from HT. HT is some sort of "advanced" machine instructions (program) in the CPU that run multiple processes (think of runing MS Word and MS Excel at the same time) more efficiently.

A "vitrual CPU" is nothing but a concept where a single CPU performs like having multiple CPUs on your machine. Say if you have two real CPUs on your desktop machine running XP Pro, a program may be able to run faster. It is because while one CPU is excuting the spell checking feature in your Word program, the other CPU is caluclating some formula on your Excel spreadsheet.

HT, to the most part, is using this cocept to run your program faster. However, it is still different from having the 2nd real CPU in your system.

Keep in mind that a CPU can only execute an instruction (a line of code) one at a time. In modern operating system, such as MS Windows, the OS schedules the CPU to spend a fraction of time doing this, and a fraction of time doing something else. And this schedule will switch back and forth until all the tasks are completed. Since the CPU processes these different tasks so fast that it gives an illusion that the tasks (programs) are being run concurrently, i.e. multi-programming (or a more fancy description "Virtual CPU".

Conclusion, for laptop that has only one CPU (I don't know of any laptop has more than one CPU in it), running home or pro doesn't make too much of a different. But I do notice that Pro supports networking better than Home.

Hope it help clearing some confusion, and not to add more confusion to your question.

 

I dug into this more as promised and can confirm ciocc's statement. Hyperthreading support and actual SMP support are different. HT is supported under home, where SMP (Symmetric Multiple Processors)is only supported with Pro. Again though, there are few if any dual processor notebooks on the commercial market. As for networking, Pro is only a benefit if you're on a big network. I've used both and for 90% of the users out there, Home is fine.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

Well its been a relief logging on and seeing these answers that tell me I got the right thing. Thanks a lot to all who contributed.

I cannot wait to get this laptop. Its nice to see that I jumped on a laptop that seems as days go by to be a good choice.

As far as the networking, this is my only computer and Im the only one using it so Im fine with Home for its other differences from Pro.

Dave