[Holymoly]

I know this isn't strictly hardware but I thought I'd hang it out and listen to what you have to say on the subject

Is it worth the extra to get Win 7 Pro so that you get the XP emulation?

Reason I'm asking is that I have heard stories that Win 7 won't run older versions of Photoshop, Office and AutoCAD. Will the emulation help things or may I just as well buy the Basic 64 version?

[rabb1t]

You don't want Basic, that's a stripped down version that's meant for like netbooks and other mobile type devices that don't need full functionality.

I'd say go with Home Premium. Unless you are running something like a dot matrix printer that hasn't been updated in the last 10 years you will probably not need the Pro compatibility stuff. And if you are running "legacy" devices like that, you probably want to upgrade.

I would be sad if I lost access to Photoshop and stuff. I'm on version 6 and I use GoLive for web stuff (both of which are years before their CS whatever packs.)

[Amsra]

You might look around for problems for any apps you are worried about, check the app forums and Microsoft technet forums for potential problems. You may need to go with Pro for the XP compatibilty unless you want to upgrade your apps as well.

[Hatto]

I'd also suggest Home Premium. Unless you are connected to any sort of File Server or NAS, then you may want to go Pro as its quite anoying to not be able to store network credentials.

Regarding XP Compatibility, isn't that the builtin virtualization function you're talking about Amsra? I did not read Home Premium is limited by normal means. Can always go with VMWare if there's a real need for virtualizing anything, which is probably safer and faster aswell.

[Holymoly]

Originally Posted by rabb1t

You don't want Basic, that's a stripped down version that's meant for like netbooks and other mobile type devices that don't need full functionality.

I'd say go with Home Premium. Unless you are running something like a dot matrix printer that hasn't been updated in the last 10 years you will probably not need the Pro compatibility stuff. And if you are running "legacy" devices like that, you probably want to upgrade.

I would be sad if I lost access to Photoshop and stuff. I'm on version 6 and I use GoLive for web stuff (both of which are years before their CS whatever packs.)

Yeah sorry, I meant Home not Basic. Just interested to know if anyone has had software compatibility issues that have been sorted out by upgrading to Pro?

[Hatto]

Just looked it up as I was unsure, read the following information from Microsoft. It clearly states that

Windows XP Mode also requires virtualization software such as Windows Virtual PC

This feature is completly and utterly useless for about 99% of non-buisness uses of an operating system. This feature is designed to enable companies to virtualize a Windows XP PC (as in VMWare virtualize probably with some quirks that threaten your computers security for more comfort :P) if they have really old buisness software that doesn't run with Windows 7. Which probably implies it didn't run with XP SP3 either.

Calling it compatibility mode is basically a scam.

[Amsra]

I've been running Win7 since beta released and upgraaded to the RC and have had virtually no problems with apps. They've improved compatibility mode some more but I really haven't had to use it but on a few very old apps and it worked great on those.

[EQ Companion]

That virtualization XP compatibility mode also requires certain type of CPU. In Intel chips it is called something like 'Virtualization Technology' and it has been available in higher-end Core 2 Duo CPU's but not all of them. I think there are very few Pentium CPU's that have it.

I think AMD chips have had this technology for a bit longer.

I found this link from Tom's Hardware that discusses this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/win...ntel,7709.html

[Slide]

My wife needs to use it for her VPN into work and the green screen app she uses there, other than that had no problems.

I prefer Pro because it lets me Remote Desktop in.

I'm using Ultimate as it's free for me. Benefits of being the IT Manager.