Many of you may already have pre-ordered your copy of Windows 7 to avail of the discounted price. But if you missed out on this opportunity or are waiting till the 22nd October, you may still be undecided about the different editions and what the different features in each version of Windows 7 actually mean? For example you may have read that the Ultimate version of Windows 7 has App locker and Bit locker Drive Encryption where as the Windows 7Home Premium Version doesn’t, but what does this actually mean for you? Is it something you will ever use or may want? I hope to clear some of these things up in this post.
Windows 7 Starter
Microsoft made the Windows 7 starter edition mainly for the Netbook market and older, less powerful machines. It only has some very basic features and as a result it is low in price as well. However you don’t have to worry aboutWindows Starter because it won’t be available for retail and will only come pre-installed from the manufacturer. Just be on the look out for it if your buying a new netbook or machine.
Here is an overview of it:
- 32-bit only support: - So you can’t run a 64-bit OS, if you don’t know the difference it probably won’t affect you but you can find out more about 32-bit and 64-bit here
- Home Group join only: - One of the new and improved features for networking in Windows 7 is the Home group feature. In Windows 7 Starter you can’t create or manage home groups, you can only join them. Find out more about Home groups here
- Windows Internet Explorer 8: - Microsoft’s standard web browser
- Windows Media Player 12: - Microsoft’s standard music/video player
- 3 running application limit: – This means you can only run a maximum of 3 programs at once, while some programs such as antivirus are exempt from this, it is a real nuisance. Thankfully Microsoft dropped this restriction
So, basically Windows 7 Starter is restrictive and lacks in features such as the Aero Effects, DVD Playback, Personalization features and more. I would recommend staying away from it. It’s designed for really just web browsing and email.
Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows 7 Home Premium will probably be enough to suit most users but you may spot something in the other editions that you want, Home Premium will retail at $119.99. Here is an overview of it:
- 32-bit and 64-bit compatibility: - You can choose to install Home Premium in a 32-bit or 64-bit edition, find out more about 32-bit and 64-bit here
- Internet Explorer 8: - Microsoft’s web browser
- Full Windows Aero features: - Aside from making Windows 7 look great, the new Windows Aero features really help increase productivity, find out more about them here
- Windows Mobility Center: - This center is used for managing screen brightness, audio, presentations , battery and more on mobile devices like laptops
- Create and Join Home group: - The Windows 7 Home group really improves networking and allows you to easily share files and printers between computers, find more about it here
- Multi-touch: - Windows 7 supports multi-touch for all you users with touch screen computers, more information here
- Premium Games: - Need I say more? See a list of them here
- Windows Media Center: - The Windows Media Center manages all of your music, video and pictures. It allows you to watch and record Live TV as well as other features
Windows 7 Professional
Windows 7 Professional has all the features that Home Premium has and the below extra features. It will retail for $199.99. Microsoft have aimed this edition more towards businesses and professionals:
- Windows Server Domain support: – This allows you to connect more easily to company networks that are using a Windows Server
- Remote Desktop Server Support: – Remote desktop allows you to connect and access all files and programs on another computer
- Location aware printing: – If you are using printers at home and at work, you don’t have to change which printer you’re using. Windows 7 will automatically change the printer depending on your location.
- Encrypting the file system: – This allows you to encrypt files on your PC which can only be accessed with the correct key/password
- Presentation mode: – If you are giving presentations, activating presentation mode will change your background for you and disable your screen saver for you
- XP Mode: – One of the most attracting thing for businesses upgrading to Windows 7 is the XP Mode. Some companies may only have software that works with Windows XP. XP Mode supplies the user with a copy of XP and runs it in a virtual box, so you can run Windows 7 and XP at the same time
Windows 7 Ultimate / Windows 7 Enterprise
Windows 7 Ultimate is the complete package of everything mention above and also has the below extras. It will be sold for $219.99. Windows 7 Enterprise is essentially the same as Windows 7 Ultimate but it’s only for big corportions:
- AppLocker: – This allows Administrators to specify which programs can run on the machine, again more for a large business environment
- BitLocker Drive Encryption: – This allows you to easily encrypt hard drives and USB devices
- DirectAccess: – This is more used in a corporate environment and is a better method of accessing file and internal company websites from home
- BranchCache Distributed Cache: – This is related to DirectAccess, it basically allows information to load faster on the network
- Multilingual User Interface Pack: – This allows the user to change the language of the computer and it would also change all the languages a program uses, meaning you wouldnt have to install different versions of the program for different users
- Virtual Hard Disk Booting: – This gives you the option to boot your computer with an OS installed on a virtual hard disk
Windows 7 Family Pack
And finally we have the Windows 7 Family Pack. The family pack gives you 3 licenses for Windows 7 Home Premium and will be available in the US, Canada ,UK , Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, and the Netherlands and Sweden. The Windows 7 Family Pack will be sold for $150 in the US and $200 in Canada. It would cost $360 to buy the equivalent number of licenses individually. That’s a saving of $210
So now it’s up to you to decide, which one will you go for? Have you already placed a pre-order?
