What's the difference between windows xp home and pro? at DVinfo.net

Nate Schmidt · May 2nd, 2006, 08:48 AM

Hi all, I am going to be getting an intel mac and run windows on it for a bit of After Effects work until it is released in universal binary. Do I gain any advantage by using pro vs home edition? I won't be connected to the net at all or any servers or anything if that helps. TIA Nate

DJ Kinney · May 2nd, 2006, 11:51 AM

No. There would be no advantage. Pro just has more bells and whistles, but none of them affect processor behavior.

DJ

Nate Schmidt · May 2nd, 2006, 01:03 PM

thanks, that saves me some un-needed $$$ ;-)

Pat Sherman · May 12th, 2006, 01:26 AM

Home only supports a single processor. Pro supports two regardless of the number of cores.

So while a Dual Core processor will work in XP Home, it won't be taking advantage of the the additional thread and will see it as a single core.

Which leads me to my point, if your going after a AE machine, then dual processor or at least a dual core will help you out along the way..:)

George Ellis · May 12th, 2006, 10:49 AM

[QUOTE=Pat Sherman]So while a Dual Core processor will work in XP Home, it won't be taking advantage of the the additional thread and will see it as a single core.
QUOTE]
I a sure that this is not true. It still does not support dual Xeons, but I do believe dual cores are support (single instance, not dual processor dual core like with Opteron or Xeon). And, the scheduler will support multiple treads and can schedule them. Otherwise, no one would see any performance differences with Hyper-Threading or dual cores. That would have been a huge stick that everyone would know about.

Pat Sherman · May 13th, 2006, 09:07 PM

Maybe I wasn't quite clear enough. My apologies.

Purchasing XP PRO will give you much better HT and Dual Core performance support. PRO is more stable and less prone to BSOD's but that's nothing new.

XP Home was never intended for SMP support even in the early betas up to RC2 Home still had zero support for any SMP processing rather dual core or dual processor.

According to Microsoft dual cores and HT will work with Home SP2, but is extremely limited in the HT and SMP scale, compared to PRO. Pro was built from the beginning for SMP support and it was later added to home. So they left out routines and optimizations. The goal of the add was too not crash or fail should the unsuspecting user plug a dual core into a XP Home machine.

In the end, usually the hardcore gamers and others who grave outstanding benchmarks will or would notice the performance differences between PRO and HOME while the average Joe may not.

Mike Black · June 4th, 2006, 11:28 AM

Hi,
I am considering buying a Sony Vaio FE550G notebook for editing when not at home. It is a dual processor and comes with XP home edition.
Will this OS take advantage of dual processor with Vegas?
Do you think I am going the right way with this computer?
Thanks
Mike

Pat Sherman · June 5th, 2006, 10:07 PM

I can't speak for Vegas. But you will want to make sure before you buy that it will have the speed and setup for use with Vegas. As for the Dual Core Home/Pro discussion. I think you'll be fine with home..

May 2nd, 2006, 08:48 AM	#1
Nate Schmidt Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Welland ON Posts: 515	What's the difference between windows xp home and pro? Hi all, I am going to be getting an intel mac and run windows on it for a bit of After Effects work until it is released in universal binary. Do I gain any advantage by using pro vs home edition? I won't be connected to the net at all or any servers or anything if that helps. TIA Nate __________________ "We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty." Last edited by Nate Schmidt; May 2nd, 2006 at 01:03 PM.

May 2nd, 2006, 01:03 PM	#3
Nate Schmidt Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Welland ON Posts: 515	thanks, that saves me some un-needed $$$ ;-) __________________ "We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

June 4th, 2006, 11:28 AM	#7
Mike Black Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Perez Zeledon, Costa Rica Posts: 37	XP Media center edition 2005 Hi, I am considering buying a Sony Vaio FE550G notebook for editing when not at home. It is a dual processor and comes with XP home edition. Will this OS take advantage of dual processor with Vegas? Do you think I am going the right way with this computer? Thanks Mike

May 2nd, 2006, 11:51 AM	#2
DJ Kinney Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 277	No. There would be no advantage. Pro just has more bells and whistles, but none of them affect processor behavior. DJ

May 12th, 2006, 01:26 AM	#4
Pat Sherman Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: DuPont, Wa Posts: 325	Home only supports a single processor. Pro supports two regardless of the number of cores. So while a Dual Core processor will work in XP Home, it won't be taking advantage of the the additional thread and will see it as a single core. Which leads me to my point, if your going after a AE machine, then dual processor or at least a dual core will help you out along the way..:)

May 12th, 2006, 10:49 AM	#5
George Ellis Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Suwanee, GA Posts: 1,241	[QUOTE=Pat Sherman]So while a Dual Core processor will work in XP Home, it won't be taking advantage of the the additional thread and will see it as a single core. QUOTE] I a sure that this is not true. It still does not support dual Xeons, but I do believe dual cores are support (single instance, not dual processor dual core like with Opteron or Xeon). And, the scheduler will support multiple treads and can schedule them. Otherwise, no one would see any performance differences with Hyper-Threading or dual cores. That would have been a huge stick that everyone would know about.

May 13th, 2006, 09:07 PM	#6
Pat Sherman Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: DuPont, Wa Posts: 325	Maybe I wasn't quite clear enough. My apologies. Purchasing XP PRO will give you much better HT and Dual Core performance support. PRO is more stable and less prone to BSOD's but that's nothing new. XP Home was never intended for SMP support even in the early betas up to RC2 Home still had zero support for any SMP processing rather dual core or dual processor. According to Microsoft dual cores and HT will work with Home SP2, but is extremely limited in the HT and SMP scale, compared to PRO. Pro was built from the beginning for SMP support and it was later added to home. So they left out routines and optimizations. The goal of the add was too not crash or fail should the unsuspecting user plug a dual core into a XP Home machine. In the end, usually the hardcore gamers and others who grave outstanding benchmarks will or would notice the performance differences between PRO and HOME while the average Joe may not.

June 5th, 2006, 10:07 PM	#8
Pat Sherman Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: DuPont, Wa Posts: 325	I can't speak for Vegas. But you will want to make sure before you buy that it will have the speed and setup for use with Vegas. As for the Dual Core Home/Pro discussion. I think you'll be fine with home..