Windows 7 Versions and gaming

ToejaM · 1 Aug 2011 at 19:07

Friend of mine wants to upgrade from XP to Windows 7 and asked me what I use, I use Win7 ultimate and when he asked why I use that over the home premium I was like.. uhm.. I dont actually know.

Are there any features in the professional/ultimate that are useful to a gamer/household user that arent in home premium?

I think from what I can see.. remote desktop is in professional and thats probably the only thing I'd use but there are other programs that you can use that are free anyway.

The microsoft compare website isnt really that detailed and another forum I found after a quick skim through I didnt see anything worthwhile/fancy from ultimate that I'd use.

Any hidden gems in ultimate for gamers or is home premium all thats needed?

hohum · 1 Aug 2011 at 19:16

The short answer is no - Home Premium is all he needs.

RJC · 1 Aug 2011 at 19:17

Just for Gaming Home premium will be fine.

BinnsY · 1 Aug 2011 at 19:23

Windows XP mode is about the biggest thing your ever likely to notice in a home environment.

ToejaM · 1 Aug 2011 at 19:26

Anything worth considering the other versions for?

Freakbro · 1 Aug 2011 at 19:53

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/compare

This lists the different features of the versions

Main thing I have come across is Premium cant do a backup to a network drive

bhavv · 1 Aug 2011 at 20:14

Professional is good for XP mode, but it doesnt have direct draw support so cant be used to run games, however I have managed to use it to install several old games from CD that wouldnt install on Windows 7, and then run them in XP compatability on Win 7.

Ultimate isnt needed for anything though, I still have loads of old games on CD so the XP virtual machine on professional has been very useful for getting them installed.

ToejaM · 1 Aug 2011 at 22:13

When you say "backup to a network drive" - how does that work because if you have a hdd plugged into a routers usb slot, would that count? Much like having a shared folder on a seperate computer?

platypus · 2 Aug 2011 at 14:49

I have Home Premium and can use Remote Desktop (and do frequently..)?

theheyes · 2 Aug 2011 at 16:01

ToejaMz0r said:
When you say "backup to a network drive" - how does that work because if you have a hdd plugged into a routers usb slot, would that count? Much like having a shared folder on a seperate computer?

Basically it won't back up to a mapped drive. That's not to say third party backup tools won't, just not Windows backup. It's a bit annoying but you can see why they've done it to distinguish it from business versions.

ToejaM · 2 Aug 2011 at 21:12

Hmm but you can still drag drop stuff there I guess?

theheyes · 3 Aug 2011 at 00:28

Oh yeah, that works fine.

jellybeard999 · 3 Aug 2011 at 01:15

platypus said:
I have Home Premium and can use Remote Desktop (and do frequently..)?

Home premium doesn't have the RDP server though. ie, you can connect from it, but not to it, if that makes sense.

stoofa · 3 Aug 2011 at 09:15

ToejaMz0r said:
Friend of mine wants to upgrade from XP to Windows 7 and asked me what I use, I use Win7 ultimate and when he asked why I use that over the home premium I was like.. uhm.. I dont actually know.

Are there any features in the professional/ultimate that are useful to a gamer/household user that arent in home premium?

I think from what I can see.. remote desktop is in professional and thats probably the only thing I'd use but there are other programs that you can use that are free anyway.

The microsoft compare website isnt really that detailed and another forum I found after a quick skim through I didnt see anything worthwhile/fancy from ultimate that I'd use.

Any hidden gems in ultimate for gamers or is home premium all thats needed?

It kind of begs the question why you paid almost double for a copy of Ultimate over Home Premium if you don't even know the differences?

ToejaM · 3 Aug 2011 at 16:52

Stupidity is the correct answer there mate - was given a copy of vista ultimate (I actually dont remember why I was given that now either, I want to say it was an order that resulted in an extra copy being sent) and just went with the flow for win7 ultimate, had more income back then though so wasn't on a bargain hunt like I am these days.

Now though I analyse everything and bargain hunt everything, making sure I get "bang for buck" as it were, with the prime example being 150 for an 2500k vs 200+ for the i7 2600k which gives me little to no benefit over what I want it for

I think with that I'm at a happy medium, unless someone hands me a coupon or I hear of a way of getting something cheaper.. I'll just go for the cheapest price I can find in a set time. Unlike the extreme coupon clippers that I saw in america, one of their shopping savings was 600% or something compared to what they pay, a whole basement of stock from all the savings they had!

Hagar · 4 Aug 2011 at 10:41

I also bought ultimate because it was only +£20 or so above professional and I like the networkability of either.

Then I got a netbook with win7 starter and managed to buy an ultimate key for £35 (from the forest), so now have two licences one OEM and one retail.

I use encryption on the netbook in case it is lost.