Choosing The Right Windows 7 Edition

If you are planning to upgrade or buy a new computer with Windows 7, and you are wondering what edition of the operating system to get, then you came to the right place. Microsoft always tend to release many editions of the same operating system, making the process of choosing the right edition a bit confusing . the purpose of this article is to help you make the right decision on which Windows 7 edition to get. lets get started.

Windows 7 is available in six editions. those editions are:

1. Windows 7 Starter
2. Windows 7 Home Basic
3. Windows 7 Home Premium
4. Windows 7 Professional
5. Windows 7 Enterprise
6. Windows 7 Ultimate

Windows 7 Starter

Windows 7 Starter is mostly available in developing countries, and is the most basic edition of windows 7 family. it only supports the 32-bit processor, and it does not include the  Desktop Windows Manager ( WDM ) drivers which give the transparent glassy look to windows 7. if you are not in a developing country then you most likely will never hear about Windows 7 starter.

Windows 7 Home Basic

Like Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic is mostly available on developing countries. it lacks many of the new features in Windows 7, including the Aero experience. unless your computing needs are very basic, or you are in a developing country then you won’t hear about windows 7 home basic that much.

Windows 7 Home Premium

This Windows 7 edition contains features aimed for home users. Windows Media Center, Aero, and touch screen controls are some of the features packaged into this edition. Windows 7 Home Premium is the edition of preference for home computers, and most likely you will get it when buying a computer for home use.

Windows 7 Professional

This edition of Windows 7 is targeted to enthusiasts and small business users. it contains all the features found on windows 7 home premium, and adds the ability to participate on a Windows server domain. other features include the ability to remote into the computer using remote desktop, location aware printing, encrypting file system, Presentation mode, the ability to run active directory policies, and Windows XP mode.

Windows 7 Enterprise

This edition of Windows 7 as the name suggest is targeted to the enterprise market, and is only available through volume licensing for companies that have a software assurance with Microsoft. additional features on this edition include the support for multilingual user interface, BitLocker drive encryption etc.

Windows 7 Ultimate

This edition of Windows 7 contains all the features found on Windows 7 enterprise, but unlike that edition windows 7 ultimate is available to home users on individual license basis.

Which Edition Of Windows 7 is the right one for you?

As you might have noticed by the brief descriptions above, when it comes to decide which version to choose, we are left with only three options.

a ) Windows Home Premium

c ) Windows 7 Professional, and

b ) Windows 7 Ultimate.

Lets see which of these editions satisfy your needs. answer the following question to determine which  edition is right for you .

Q. Do you need the computer for home use only? to watch videos, edit or store pictures, create movies, play music,  or create basic documents.

A. if the answer is yes to the above question, then Windows 7 Home Premium is right for you. remember windows 7 home premium does not support network logon to a server domain, you can join it to a simple home network to share resources on a peer to peer network environment, but not to a enterprise network.also Windows 7 Home Premium does not support remote desktop logins. that means that you cannot use remote desktop from another computer to remote login to a Home Premium computer. if the primary purpose of your computer is just for home use, this edition is definitely for you.

Remember that Windows Home Premium comes with all the nice features released with Windows 7 like Windows Aero which give you a better visual experience with 3-D viewing, and Windows live searching which makes file searching much more convenient.

If the answer to the above question was NO, then you are left only with Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate which both are capable of running on a Windows Server network. the only question here is, do you need BitLocker drive encryption, or Multilingual User Interface support, or Unix application support? if the answer is yes, then buy Windows 7 Ultimate edition. if the answer is No, then buy Windows 7 professional edition.

Windows 7 Retail Prices