I have a laptop with XP Home preinstalled, and can get the XP Pro upgrade
quite cheaply through my university, however are there any benefits to this
bearing in mind that:
a) It is a 'desktop replacement' laptop that will not [ever] be used on
battery life
b) I am the only user account
c) I don't need to connect to any unusual servers e.g. Novell, and XP Home
has no problems connecting to my wireless broadband router

"Mr_Cynical" <MrCynical@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E99A7996-CFA4-4BDC-A1BF-400394AEA19B@microsoft.com
> I have a laptop with XP Home preinstalled, and can get the XP Pro
> upgrade quite cheaply through my university, however are there any
> benefits to this bearing in mind that:
> a) It is a 'desktop replacement' laptop that will not [ever] be used
> on battery life
> b) I am the only user account
> c) I don't need to connect to any unusual servers e.g. Novell, and XP
> Home has no problems connecting to my wireless broadband router

If you don't need to connect to a domain server, then really, that is the
only advantage og pro over Home. Otherwise, with the exception of some
security and networking functions, the two are exactly the same. Do you not
need to connect to a domain server at your University?

"Mr_Cynical" <MrCynical@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E99A7996-CFA4-4BDC-A1BF-400394AEA19B@microsoft.com
> I have a laptop with XP Home preinstalled, and can get the XP Pro
> upgrade quite cheaply through my university, however are there any
> benefits to this bearing in mind that:
> a) It is a 'desktop replacement' laptop that will not [ever] be used
> on battery life
> b) I am the only user account
> c) I don't need to connect to any unusual servers e.g. Novell, and XP
> Home has no problems connecting to my wireless broadband router

IMHO WinXP Pro does not have any added benefit for you, but see XP Home vs.
Professional:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/sec...t/default.aspx
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/

Mr_Cynical wrote:
> I have a laptop with XP Home preinstalled, and can get the XP Pro upgrade
> quite cheaply through my university, however are there any benefits to this
> bearing in mind that:
> a) It is a 'desktop replacement' laptop that will not [ever] be used on
> battery life
> b) I am the only user account
> c) I don't need to connect to any unusual servers e.g. Novell, and XP Home
> has no problems connecting to my wireless broadband router

If you plan to share files on your hard disk with other PCs on your
wireless network, then it might be worth it.

Otherwise XP home is fine (I use it on two machines fine)

As a security precaution, I would make sure your Guest account and
Administrator account has a password (goto start > run and type "control
userpasswords2" (without quotes) to set these.

--
Marc
Visit http://www.iMarc.co.uk/ for contact information..

You can share files with Home also. However, you are only limited to 5
connections.


"Marc" <see@signature.url> wrote in message
news:1130234702.98949.0@doris.uk.clara.net...
> Mr_Cynical wrote:
>> I have a laptop with XP Home preinstalled, and can get the XP Pro upgrade
>> quite cheaply through my university, however are there any benefits to
>> this bearing in mind that:
>> a) It is a 'desktop replacement' laptop that will not [ever] be used on
>> battery life
>> b) I am the only user account
>> c) I don't need to connect to any unusual servers e.g. Novell, and XP
>> Home has no problems connecting to my wireless broadband router
>
> If you plan to share files on your hard disk with other PCs on your
> wireless network, then it might be worth it.
>
> Otherwise XP home is fine (I use it on two machines fine)
>
> As a security precaution, I would make sure your Guest account and
> Administrator account has a password (goto start > run and type "control
> userpasswords2" (without quotes) to set these.
>
> --
> Marc
> Visit http://www.iMarc.co.uk/ for contact information..

What type of courses are you taking? If you are taking any type os "web
design" course, you may want Internet Information Services (IIS??), which
seems to only come on thr Pro disk.



"Mr_Cynical" <MrCynical@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E99A7996-CFA4-4BDC-A1BF-400394AEA19B@microsoft.com...
>I have a laptop with XP Home preinstalled, and can get the XP Pro upgrade
> quite cheaply through my university, however are there any benefits to
> this
> bearing in mind that:
> a) It is a 'desktop replacement' laptop that will not [ever] be used on
> battery life
> b) I am the only user account
> c) I don't need to connect to any unusual servers e.g. Novell, and XP Home
> has no problems connecting to my wireless broadband router

Yves Leclerc <yleclercNOSPAM@sympatico.ca> wrote:
> You can share files with Home also. However, you are only limited to 5
> connections.

But only w/ Simple File Sharing, which is pretty wide-open, so be careful.

Mr_Cynical wrote:

> I have a laptop with XP Home preinstalled, and can get the XP Pro
> upgrade quite cheaply through my university, however are there any
> benefits to this bearing in mind that:
> a) It is a 'desktop replacement' laptop that will not [ever] be used
> on battery life
> b) I am the only user account
> c) I don't need to connect to any unusual servers e.g. Novell, and XP
> Home has no problems connecting to my wireless broadband router


Probably not.
XP Professional and XP Home are exactly the same in all respects, except
that Professional has a few features (mostly related to networking and
security) missing from Home. For most (but not all) home users, even those
with a home network, these features aren't needed, would never be used, and
buying Professional instead of Home is a waste of money.



For details go to



http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...p_home_pro.asp



http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp



http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/h.../choosing2.asp


--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

Also note that Professional allows ten concurrent network connections, and
Home only five.

"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
news:%23Sox3Va2FHA.744@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Mr_Cynical wrote:
>
>> I have a laptop with XP Home preinstalled, and can get the XP Pro
>> upgrade quite cheaply through my university, however are there any
>> benefits to this bearing in mind that:
>> a) It is a 'desktop replacement' laptop that will not [ever] be used
>> on battery life
>> b) I am the only user account
>> c) I don't need to connect to any unusual servers e.g. Novell, and XP
>> Home has no problems connecting to my wireless broadband router
>
>
> Probably not.
> XP Professional and XP Home are exactly the same in all respects, except
> that Professional has a few features (mostly related to networking and
> security) missing from Home. For most (but not all) home users, even those
> with a home network, these features aren't needed, would never be used,
> and buying Professional instead of Home is a waste of money.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I, however opine that the sale
of
XP Home should be banned. XP Home is a _SECURITY BOMB_ period.
I could go on and on but it would be to no avail. Similar to spitting into
the wind.