Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate

by amarzano Jun 27, 2009 1:54PM PDT

Hello -

I'm running an older Sony Viao Desktop (P4(560) 3.60Ghz, 2GB Mem, 256mb Video, 1TB disk, DVD, DVD-R. This box came w/ Media Center.

I'm looking to upgrade and both the Sony Support Page and Upgrade advisor suggested Home Premium. I am looking at Ultimate because I also use this box for work (fax features sound nice) and do a lot of file sharing via a NAS (Ultimate seems to have some extended sharing features).

My Questions are:

- Can my Sony handle Ultimate? And is Ultimate more of a resource drain than Home Premium?
- Am I just making headaches for myself by trying to install Ultimate?

As I mentioned - I do a lot of file sharing and streaming (ie - home movies stored on the desktop and played back on the TV's). Does Ultimate offer any more features for this than Premium?

Thank you in advance!!

Alex

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details
- Collapse -
Windows Vista Ultimate..
by John.Wilkinson Jun 27, 2009 2:55PM PDT

Can my Sony handle Ultimate? And is Ultimate more of a resource drain than Home Premium?
-> Yes, it can. Ultimate does not have any additional requirements over Windows Vista Home Premium.


Am I just making headaches for myself by trying to install Ultimate?
-> Not at all. Windows Vista Ultimate can run any application and handle any hardware just as well as Windows Vista Home Premium.


Does Ultimate offer any more features for this than Premium?
-> Not really. Networking capabilities are enhanced, but streaming video is more or less the same under both editions.


Hope this helps,
John

- Collapse -
Thanks!
by amarzano Jun 27, 2009 3:00PM PDT

Thank you John - This does put my mind at ease with continuing.

I'm backing up all the data files now.

My other motivation for this was to get the Windows 7 upgrades. Although - I am going to doubt that my old desktop will be able to handle that upgrade, when it comes along..

- Collapse -
You might be surprised
by Jimmy Greystone Jun 27, 2009 11:14PM PDT

You might be surprised. Windows 7 is supposed to be focused less on features, and more on making a better, faster, Vista. While I reserve final judgment until Windows 7 has shipped, it's SUPPOSED to run on any system capable of running Vista, only better than Vista on that same hardware. Of course it's Microsoft we're talking about, and they've made these sorts of claims many times in the past, then failed miserably to live up to them. I know some people have been impressed by the pre-releases of Win7, but there's always an initial honeymoon period with everything.

- Collapse -
You might be surprised...
by John.Wilkinson Jun 27, 2009 11:46PM PDT

For all the bad press Microsoft has gotten in the past, Windows 7 will be more accessible due to less restrictive hardware demands while Mac OS X Snow Leopard will be less accessible due to more restrictive demands. Those who bought a PC since 2001 (the launch of Windows XP) should be able to run Windows 7, with varying levels of performance, but Mac users who bought their computers prior to late 2006 will not even have the option of upgrading.

John

Back to Windows Vista forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info