Microsoft launched Windows 7 on Thursday. I’m sure everybody is very excited and anxious about the release and can’t wait to get a copy of Windows 7. But have you thought about what version of Windows 7 you’re going to get your hands on. Is it the Starter, Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate version. Here’s something that will help you decide.
Windows 7 Starter:
As the name suggests, this is a starter version of Windows 7. Is is lightweight and lacks many features available in the other versions. This version comes pre-installed with netbooks only and is not available for purchase.
Features:
Better Wi-Fi and device management, the Jump lists(alt/windows+tab) is available but without the aero, you can also upgrade to Home Premium by using the in-place upgrade option, but you will be charged for it.
Non- Features:
No upgrade option from Windows XP or Vista, no 64-bit compatibility, Backup and restore option not available with network drives, lacks the Windows 7’s most appealing feature, ‘the aero’, theme management is disabled, Remote Desktop Host, BitLocker Drive Encryption, multitouch support, XP mode (to run Windows XP only programs) and the Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player tools are nowhere to been seen with this edition.
I would suggest that only completely business-minded people, go for this edition as it is good for business netbooks.
Windows 7 Home Premium:
Home Premium is the basic version of the Windows 7 series and is available for purchase for a price of $199. Lot of features which aren’t available with the Starter are all packed in this, with many extra goodies.
Features:
Aero Peek , Aero Snap , Aero skin, Aero Shake (find out what these do at Microsoft Aero Features) are all up and running. Theme management is enabled, Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player, Multitouch, 64-bit(supports up to 16GB of physical RAM) are all available and anytime upgrade to either Professional or Ultimate is available too.
Non- Features:
Features like Location-aware printing, presentation mode, XP Mode, BitLocker, AppLocker, remote desktop host feature, Aero glass via remote, Backup and Restore with network drives are the features which aren’t available with this version.
For beginners who would love to have the Aero feel of the Windows 7 might want to go with this one as it is easy on the pocket too.
Windows 7 Professional:
This is a quite powerful version of Windows 7 and is definitely future friendly too. Other than the features present in the Home Premium it also packs some other awesome features that makes this both Home and Business equipped.
Features:
Supports up to 192GB of physical RAM in 64-bit mode, XP Mode, works with two physical processors, back up and restore to a network drive is available.
Non- Features:
AppLocker, BitLocker are not supported. Aero glass and the multilingual interface support pack is also not supported.
The Windows 7 Professional is priced at $299 and it basically gives you a professional feeling.
Windows 7 Ultimate:
Like name, like Ultimate. The name itself describes how Ultimate this version is. The most advanced version of the Windows 7 franchise, this is the best version of Windows 7 that you can own. The Windows 7 Ultimate is priced at $ $319. It supports all the features and apart from that it also has virtual hard-disk booting and a subsystem for Unix applications. Windows 7 Ultimate sets a class of its own and I wonder, with its advanced features, is it even recommended for home or office use.
Owning a copy of Windows 7, equals owning a Lamborghini Reventon, except its not as expensive as the latter, but packs a lot of punch with respect to its features.
The upgrade prices for Windows 7 can be found here!
We recommend that you go for Windows 7 Ultimate Edition.
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