http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ How-To Geek Forums Topic: Windows XP Professional vs MCE2005 - Differences? & Buying XP (OEM?) en Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:30:39 +0000 http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-47389 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:17:50 +0000 Budohorseman 47389@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>The 149 one looks to be multilingual and the 139 looks to be English only. </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-47349 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:43:16 +0000 jmcguire 47349@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>I would do that, but in my opinion, most people that would sell a PC at a garage sale, bought a dell, hp, etc. so they have a Dell, HP, etc. XP disc. </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-47348 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:37:06 +0000 jack7h3r1pp3r 47348@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>i always look at garage sales for pc's lol :D </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-47345 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:15:47 +0000 jmcguire 47345@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>Retail - $269.99<br /> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16837116195" rel="nofollow">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16837116195</a></p> <p>OEM - $149.99<br /> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116513" rel="nofollow">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116513</a></p> <p>OEM - $139.99<br /> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116515" rel="nofollow">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116515</a></p> <p>The OEM is obviously cheaper (I've never understood why the huge difference though), but can anyone notice why the $10 difference in the two difference OEM editions? </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-47291 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:32:45 +0000 ScottW 47291@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>@jmcguire, the OEM license for Windows means that it can (should?) only be sold to you with a new system or a new motherboard. So, no, you won't have to sell it to yourself. Now, there are some naughty people out there who will sell OEM software without a system or motherboard. You won't find that in any big chain store, but more likely in the little computer shop in a strip mall between a nail salon and a Subway.</p> <p>@Lighthouse, I don't know how it is in France or the UK, but here in the US anything you buy from the trunk (boot) of a car is very likely to be stolen merchandise. Also, these thieves like to use a van with the sliding side door which allows for the display of more merchandise and a quicker getaway from authorities.</p> <p>@Budo, I wonder how long supplies of XP will last and is it my imagination, or has the price gone up? </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-47183 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:01:58 +0000 Budohorseman 47183@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>You can still pick up copies of <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&#38;DEPA=0&#38;Description=windows+xp&#38;x=0&#38;y=0">XP Home and Pro at Newegg</a>. </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-46771 Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:58:59 +0000 Lighthouse 46771@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>Have a look around the garage sales/car boot sales. You might be able to pick up an old computer for $10 with the original XP installation disk included :) </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-46768 Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:48:19 +0000 jmcguire 46768@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>Where would be the best place to buy a copy of Windows XP?</p> <p>Also, could someone explain to me the Microsoft OEM license? Does it mean that I can only buy OEM if I am going to build a computer to sell to someone? And if this is the case could I not build it and sell it to myself? </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-45823 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:57:42 +0000 jmcguire 45823@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>I plan on getting Windows Vista Ultimate when I get Vista. I like to have all the possible features available to me. I understand Microsoft makes different versions as marketing strategies, but I wish they would take a page out of Apple's playbook and only release one version of each OS. </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-45821 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:40:38 +0000 ScottW 45821@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>Keep in mind that not all 42 flavors of Vista have Media Center. Home Premium and Ultimate do, but not Home Basic or Business. Also, Media Center seems to get better with each release. Vista's Media Center is better than the one in XP MCE 2005 which is better than MCE 2004 and so on. I only use Vista's Media Center when using my Xbox 360 as a Media Extender. </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-45813 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:54:27 +0000 jmcguire 45813@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>While using the media center on the X360 would be nice, I assume Vista will do that as well, so I will most likely go with Windows XP Professional.</p> <p>So are there actual differences in the OEM and Retail versions? </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-45804 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:08:24 +0000 Budohorseman 45804@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>Well I must admit I did have to dig up some old memories (or more accurately make better google searches based on memories) from back in the day when I was in MSDN (thanks to a former employer). But you know Microsoft, after all, what are there, 42 versions of Vista?!?! </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-45802 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:01:37 +0000 ScottW 45802@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>Budo, that's good to know. It certainly adds to all of the confusing editions. In addition to all the versions listed above, MCE 2005 comes in 2 flavors: OEM and retail! Who knows how many other of those editions have special flavors. We have MCE 2005 that came with my wife's laptop, so I see lots of Pro features on it.</p> <p>So, my comments above only apply to XP MCE 2005 OEM flavor. </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-45798 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:45:20 +0000 Budohorseman 45798@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>@Scott</p> <p>The pre-MCE2005 versions were built upon Pro and were only released to OEM's (and MSDN subscribers), when they did their 'general public' release with MCE2005 they based it on XP Home 2nd and killed off most of the Pro features. It's basically XP Home with a couple of Pro add-on's. </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-45796 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:38:44 +0000 ScottW 45796@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>Versions of Windows XP manufactured in the US: none. (XP has gone end of life)</p> <p>It would seem that MCE 2005 is some kind of hybrid, but there are quite a few Pro features in it. Group Policy Editor also comes with MCE 2005.</p> <p>You can "connect" to an Xbox 360 with XP Pro or just about any OS, you just can't run it as a Media Extender. Any XP version can enable media sharing with Windows Media Player. That will allow you to play pictures, music, and video from the PC on the Xbox. However, only Windows editions with Media Center will allow the Xbox to run Media Center as an Extender. </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-45781 Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:21:30 +0000 Budohorseman 45781@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>Actually MCE205 was built on top of XP Home SP2 and therefore lost most of Pro's features, about the only ones that survived were the Remote Desktop and the Encrypting File System.</p> <p>To the best of my knowledge, Pro does not hook up to an XBox360.</p> <p>EDIT:<br /> It was the pre 2005 versions that were built on Pro and had much more stringent requirements and were therefore OEM only. When they went for a commercial release with MCE2005 they went with XP Home SP2 so the average person could deal with it. </p> http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-xp-professional-vs-windows-xp-mce2005-differences#post-45777 Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:53:57 +0000 jmcguire 45777@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ <p>*Note* - Versions of Windows XP available to US Market:<br /> Windows XP Home Edition<br /> Windows XP Professional Edition<br /> Windows XP Media Center Edition<br /> Windows XP Tablet PC Edition<br /> Windows XP 64-bit Edition<br /> Windows XP Professional x64 Edition</p> <p>I am considering building a computer in the near future and using Windows XP as one of my operating systems.</p> <p>Windows XP Home Edition is obviously the "dwarfed" version of Windows XP.<br /> Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is for tablet PCs.<br /> Windows XP 64-bit Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition are not as stable as the 32-bit editions of Windows XP or their Windows Vista 64-bit and Linux 64-bit counterparts (or so I have read).</p> <p>That leaves Windows XP Professional Edition and Windows XP MCE2005 Edition.<br /> I have read the wikipedia article:<br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_editions" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_editions</a></p> <p>After reading the article I am still baffled by one thing, which version has what?</p> <p>I know the Professional Edition does not have Media Center installed, and their are third party media center software suites, some of which emulate Microsoft's, so Professional missing Media Center is not a huge deal.</p> <p>Correct me if I am mistaken, but Windows XP MCE2005 seems like Windows XP Home Edition + Media Center (and a couple things from Professional) but does not contain the full functionality of Professional Edition.</p> <p>The wikipedia article also boasts Windows XP MCE2005's ability to connect with an XBox 360, but I was under the impression that any version of Windows XP could connect with an XBox 360. Am I mistaken in this?</p> <p>Ultimately my questions are:<br /> What exactly does Windows MCE2005 Edition contain?<br /> What exactly does Windows MCE2005 Edition not contain?<br /> Can Windows XP Professional connect to an XBox360?</p> <p>Thank you in advance. </p>