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I am looking at purchasing a notebook computer. However as I research, I am finding that most only have XP Home on them, few with Pro, but you really have to dig. I want the notebook to have Pro on it. Would you recommend purchasing the notebook with Home and then upgrading to Pro? What are the pros/cons of buying in this manner?
Also, can you perform the upgrade with a non-upgrade version of XP Pro (full version)? Or do you have to do so with upgrade version?
Thanks,
Jody Wood
You can always to an upgrade with a full version, but not the other way around.
Where have you been looking for the laptop however? Most any of the major suppliers will be happy to build it with Pro instead of Home so long as you let them know your preferences. They may charge a slight upgrade fee as Pro is much more capable than home, but usually it's a very low price compared to buying the OS outright...
You can perform a clean install or an upgrade install with either the Full or the Upgrade version. The only difference between the two is that the upgrade version requires there to be a previous qualifying version of Windows either on the hard drive or on CD.
Buying a Windows CD will at least give you the proper CD instead of these "Restore discs" that cause so many problems when people need to do a simple repair. OTOH it's going to cost more of course.
I have been looking at retail stores mostly, such as Best Buy and Circuit City. Most notebooks are pre-configured with XP Home. I have not inquired if it is possible to change to Pro. In general, I don't believe they do that, but I could be wrong.
Thanks,
Jody Wood
Jody,
Also remember that if you buy a laptop with XP home, your warranty may not be any good if you update to XP Pro before the warranty is over. By this, try to buy it with XP Pro installed. That way you have the warranty to cover that OS.
They are out there and most companies will install XP Pro before you get it if you ask.
cheers, mac :D