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LAN Party Forums => Support Group => Started by: {ShadowWX} on April 07, 2011, 08:15:15 AM
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Now that the gubberment gave me back all the money it borrowed without interest, I was looking at upgrading my PC and Jamie's PC to windows 7. My question is, other than price and windows tech support, what's the difference between Retail and OEM? Right now I have Ubuntu running or her PC and she hates the fact that she can't play any games outside of Facebook. So to reiterate whats the difference and what's the better choice, Retail or OEM?
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I believe with OEM you may have issues re-activating it if/when you upgrade the mobo/proc. But I also think you could just call MS for an over the phone activation to get that to work. With retail, you can activate on any hardware as long as it is not activated on another set of hardware at the same time. I haven't changed anything that drastically on my rigs to warrant a re-activation, so I don't know this from experience mind you.
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Here's my attempt at contributing. First link on google search of "windows 7 retail vs oem."
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/how-exactly-does-windows-7-retail-vs-oem/fae7b2ab-c530-45e6-aeb3-cc55cf7b9231 (http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/how-exactly-does-windows-7-retail-vs-oem/fae7b2ab-c530-45e6-aeb3-cc55cf7b9231)
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Thanks for the info guys. I'm thinking retail then. Now the other question is Home, Pro, or Ultimate. After talking with dave I'm thinking Pro but I'd like to get other peoples opinions too before I go ordering something.
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It depends on what you plan on doing with the computers. I know that with my systems the Home series doesn't always work well since with my home server I can't remote into those systems. With Ultimate you get all the features.
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Pro at the least.
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Not so fast! :)
Go with Home Premium. The only major thing missing from the Home Premium (by default ;) is the ability for remote access via Remote Desktop, however......
I have found a way to enable Remote Desktop support on Home Premium. Ok, so I didn't develop the method, but I did find it with some searching of the Googles.
http://www.missingremote.com/guide/how-enable-concurrent-sessions-windows-7-service-pack-1-rtm (http://www.missingremote.com/guide/how-enable-concurrent-sessions-windows-7-service-pack-1-rtm)
There was previously a version of the above for Windows 7 without SP1, but I'm sure you'll be installed SP1 anyway, so use the above. I recommend against enabling the blank password logon (for security reasons), but otherwise this is all you need to enable Remote Desktop access to Win7 Home Premium.
Other than that, you're not really missing anything from Pro or Ultimate that you might need or miss. Remote Desktop might not even be something you're concerned with, I just wanted to share that for others' knowledge.
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I have found a way to enable Remote Desktop support on Home Premium. Ok, so I didn't develop the method, but I did find it with some searching of the Googles.
[url]http://www.missingremote.com/guide/how-enable-concurrent-sessions-windows-7-service-pack-1-rtm[/url] ([url]http://www.missingremote.com/guide/how-enable-concurrent-sessions-windows-7-service-pack-1-rtm[/url])
Not having RDP almost made me thing about updgrading from Home Premium to Pro a few months back when I needed it. Words can not express how happy I am that u found that link!
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Alright guys thanks a-lot. I will go with home premium. And am i correct that both 32 and 64 bit are on the same disk?
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Not sure about 32 and 64 on the same disc, but I'd go with 64. There's plenty of support for 64-bit now that there's nothing really holding you back. Even on systems with less than 4GB of RAM, 64-bit systems just run much better. For example, when I tried to print out the FITES banner on a few 32-bit systems, they all chugged and chugged before finally choking. So I setup a 64-bit system and it spooled the file and sent it to the plotter in seconds.
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Not on the same disk, but definitely in the same box (especially if you get it retail). Oem copy will be licensed for either 32bit or 64bit but the disk you get with only be one of the other... the cdkey you get however will work with both.
As a home computer, home premium is 100% fine. However, personally for me, i prefer at least Pro for Windows. Other than the obvious, i thought they removed lots of advanced stuff like many of the MMC snapins, among other things from home premium?
From the winsuper site:
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Windows 7 Professional
The leap from Windows 7 Home Premium to Professional is quite a bit less profound, though of course certain people will simply have to get this version because it includes key business-oriented features like support for Active Directory-based domains. Windows 7 Professional users also gain access to Windows XP Mode, a fully-licensed version of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 that runs in a virtual machine under Windows Virtual PC and lets you solve any lingering compatibility issues caused by the big upgrade to Windows 7.
Additionally, Windows 7 Professional supports more RAM than does Windows 7 Home Premium, at least in 64-bit guise: 192 GB vs. just 16 GB for its lower-end cousin. It provides automated network backup capabilities to Windows Backup (arguably a key differentiator for individuals) as well as support for the Encrypting File System (EFS). It adds Remote Desktop host functionality, so that you can remotely control the PC from another PC, and Offline Files support, so you can access network-based documents while disconnected from that network. And Windows Mobility Center provides a unique presentation mode feature that isn't present in Windows 7 Home Premium.
Windows 7 Professional isn't as much of a slam-dunk as Windows 7 Home Premium, but then you either need it or you don't. Some of the discretionary advantages--I'm particularly fond of automated network backup functionality, for instance--could be a deciding factor. But for those who don't need domain support, Windows 7 Professional is overkill that doesn't really justify the price hike.
>>
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Yeah I don't really need all of that extra stuff, and 192GB of RAM? Really???? That's nuts.
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Well, there's something to be said about future-proofing yourself for Crysis 3.....
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Yeah I don't really need all of that extra stuff, and 192GB of RAM? Really???? That's nuts.
I think you looking at the wrong side of the scale. If you want 4+ gigs of ram get 64bit.
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I know someone is going to bring up PAE. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension)
But I refuse to believe in that voodoo! Go 64bit!
Also:
Microsoft Windows ([url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows[/url]) implements PAE if booted with the appropriate option, but current 32-bit desktop editions enforce the physical address space within 4GB even in PAE mode. According to Geoff Chappell, Microsoft limits 32-bit versions of Windows to 4GB due to a licensing restriction,[2] and Microsoft Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich says that some drivers were found to be unstable when encountering physical addresses above 4GB.[3] Unofficial kernel patches for Windows Vista ([url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista[/url]) and Windows 7 ([url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7[/url]) 32-bit are available[4] that break this enforced limitation, though the stability is not guaranteed.