W2K to XP?

[JimmyG]

OK, I know I'm a little behind times, but now that W2K support is waning, I'm considering upgrading to XP ---don't bother trying to convince me to go to Vista, I'm not willing to be M$ test bed.

Here is my question? Are there any significant differences between XP pro and XP home?

 

[PWatterson]

I am no expert, and I know very little about the differences, but I switched from Home to Pro and did not see much difference at all. A few more network options I think, but other than that, not too much.

 

[meionm]

No real difference in performance. Might few options out of home edition.

 

[myarrowsaim]

google is your friend

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

 

[johnz]

Unless you're having problems, why switch at all? Vista is the future, like it or not. If it we're me I'd stay with 2k as long as possible, then go to Vista when you have to switch. 2Kpro is still a valid O/S(XP light mostly), the problems(mainly game installers)have worked with an easy hack to get them on 2kPro

But to answer your question...Most people will do fine with Home, or maybe Media Center if you need those functions. Pro has some features that are mainly for a business environment, (ability to join a domain comes to mind immediately). I used to use Home, and if I needed another XP box I'd get Home on that also.

 

[myarrowsaim]

smp support is a huge reason to go to pro. With everything coming out dual coare, even a hyperthreaded chip shows up as 2 processors you don't want to only be able to use one.

 

[johnz]

smp support is a huge reason to go to pro. With everything coming out dual coare, even a hyperthreaded chip shows up as 2 processors you don't want to only be able to use one.

I thought all O/Ss since 2kpro were smp aware Link please if that's not the case

Edit: in Task Manager with XP Home both my old Hyperthreaded P4, and my E6600 showed up as separate cores.

 

[SuperDave1685]

Among the obvious (the GUI and new looks of XP) there really isn't much of a difference. However, certain programs don't play nice with 2K..certain .NET based applications come to mind.. I can't remember the name of the application, but it was .NET related. 2K is SMP aware. They did have dual processor boards when 2K was being developed, so yes, it is SMP capable. 2K uses less RAM than XP for sure and you have to manually place a msconfig.exe in the /system32 folder if you want to run the msconfig tool and the paint application in XP can save to .jpeg files, unlike paint in 2K...But other than that, theres no real reason to change unless you absolutely feel like it..