Which Edition of Windows 7 Should You Buy?
It ought to be a simple choice- you either make the leap & upgrade your computer to Windows 7 or continue along with your existing operating method. & yet, as is often the case, the choice is not as simple as it sounds because one time you pick to upgrade to Windows 7, you will also must pick the right edition of Windows 7 that will suit your needs.
Which Windows 7 edition is not for me?
Windows 7 comes in six different flavors- Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, & Final. Now selecting the correct edition from these six variation may appear like a daunting task but in point of fact, you'll have only Windows 7 editions to select from. Here's why:
Windows 7 Home Basic is not as limited as the starter edition but it will be only sold in developing countries like India, China, Philippines, etc with new computers. Then you have the Windows 7 Enterprise edition which is like Windows 7 Final but for businesses who go for volume licensing.
The Windows 7 Starter edition is meant for basic computing tasks (like checking e mail, web surfing, etc.) & is optimized for less powerful machines like your Atom powered netbook. You won't find Windows 7 Starter at the retail stores as it will only ship (pre-installed) with new laptop computers worldwide.
Not of the above mentioned editions of Windows 7 will be obtainable for general retail in boxed offerings. Your choice is therefore simplified to the remaining editions- Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, & Final.
Compare Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional & Final editions
To help you pick which edition of Windows 7 to buy, here's a speedy rundown of features that are obtainable in each of the Win 7 editions.
The various editions of Windows 7 are designed such that each version has all the features of the earlier editions and something additional that makes that edition distinctive. Also, you can use the Anytime Upgrade feature to buy a serial key online & upgrade your existing Windows 7 license to a more advanced edition. For example, in the event you pick to buy Windows 7 Home Premium today, you can use Anytime Upgrade & shift to Windows 7 Professional or Final edition anytime.
Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows 7 Home Premium, like XP Home & Vista Home Premium, is for home consumers worldwide with a pleasing Aero glass user interface. Home Premium edition includes Windows Media Middle to help you play a wide selection of multimedia formats (including DVD) & there is a built-in DVD maker to generate DVD movies or for burning files & disk images to CD, DVD, & Blu-ray disks directly from Explorer.
Windows 7 Home Premium also includes a backup utility that can generate full process images (so you save a replica of everything that is currently on your computer). It also includes the"Previous Version" functionality that was earlier obtainable with Vista Business edition only. This feature is useful for retrieving files that you may have deleted or changed accidentally.
Windows Virtual PC now supports all editions of Windows 7, whereas Virtual PC 2007 only supported XP Professional and Vista Business or Final editions. With Virtual PC, you can run another operating process (like Windows XP, Vista or even Linux) on top of Windows 7 in case you require to do so. Finally, Windows 7 Home Premium supports up to two physical processors with countless cores, and up to 16 gigabytes of RAM.
The "offline files" feature of Windows 7 Professional caches the network files to your local drive so you can continue working even if the network connection get dropped. The built-in Windows Backup device can backup your information to the network and you may use the encrypted file process to better protect files on the computer. Windows 7 Professional features Domain Join that lets you connect to company networks more securely and access can be managed through group policyowner from the Windows server as well.
Windows 7 Professional
Windows 7 Professional includes all the features of Windows 7 Home Premium, and then adds some advanced networking features. For example, the Location Aware Printing feature lets you pick different default printers for different networks and is useful for individuals who use the same laptop computer in multiple locations- for example, at work and at home.
Like Vista and XP Professional, Windows 7 Professional also includes remote desktop feature that allows others to connect to your Windows 7 computer across the Net from virtually any computer.
The amazing thing is that Windows Virtual PC + XP Mode lets you run XP program programs inside your native Windows 7 desktop-that means you can run legacy XP programs like any other Windows 7 compatible program.
That said, the most fascinating feature in Windows 7 Professional is XP Mode. In simple English, in case you buy Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Final, you receive a fully licensed version of Windows XP that will run inside Windows 7 through Virtual PC. The XP mode is primarily for business users who need to run legacy apps in Windows 7 that otherwise only work with Windows XP.
XP Mode for Windows 7 Home Premium
In case you are a Windows 7 Home Premium users but also own a licensed copy of XP, you can use Virtual PC to make your own XP mode. However, in case you do not already own a duplicate of XP for this purpose, you will likely come out cheaper by basically purchasing Windows 7 Professional in case you need to make use of this feature.
The enterprise-centric features include Federated Search (for searching across network drives), Direct Access (you can access corporate e-mail servers, shared folders, or intranet Web pages securely without connecting to a VPN), BranchCache (it caches local copies of content from Web & file servers to improve performance) as well as a technique that lets you run UNIX applications on Windows.
Windows 7 Final
Windows 7 Final includes all the features of Windows 7 Home Premium & Professional, and some additional enterprise & security related features. Final also lets you use multiple languages on the same PC.
With Windows 7 Final, you get the ability to boot from a virtual hard drive & the new BitLocker-to-go feature lets you encrypt files on your computer as well as removable disks like that USB flash drive.
Windows 7 Prices
While choosing an edition, cost will be as well as a deciding factor for plenty of users. Home Premium is the lowest priced retail version of Windows 7, but it will also come as a Relatives Pack allowing you to make use of the same license on up to three computers in home. In case you have multiple desktop & laptop computers to upgrade, you will notice significant savings from the Relatives Pack offer.
Windows Home Premium
- Windows 7 Home Premium Full: $199.99
- Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade: $119.99
- Windows 7 Family Pack (Home Premium): $149.99
- Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Home Premium: $79.99
Windows 7 Professional
- Windows 7 Professional Full : $299.99
- Windows 7 Professional Upgrade: $199.99
- Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional: $89.99
Windows 7 Ultimate
- Windows 7 Ultimate Full: $319.99
- Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade: $219.99
- Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate: $139.99
Buying Windows 7
The mirage of Windows 7 product editions is actually not as bad as it looked initially. Windows 7 has improved Home Premium’s feature lineup, and then added some truly unique features to Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate.
The Home Premium edition should meet the requirements of most users but if you are a mobile professional who works from both office and home, Windows 7 Professional may be a better choice.
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