Which Windows to use?

G

Guest

Hello,

I could use some help. I am buying a notebook for my son at college. PC
Magazine is recommending a Dell E1505. It looks great but it uses XP media
center edition 2005. I was always under the impression I should purchase a
college use notebook with XP Professional so I can be sure it connects to the
wireless networks.
My question is, what operating system should I add? Is media center as
robust as XP pro or am I compromising wireless network access for a media
notebook?

I asked the college and they are clueless about media center.

Any help would be great. I have XP Pro on my home desktop, if that matters.

Thanks,

Art
 
L

Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]

In
Art M said:
Hello,

I could use some help. I am buying a notebook for my son at college.
PC Magazine is recommending a Dell E1505. It looks great but it uses
XP media center edition 2005. I was always under the impression I
should purchase a college use notebook with XP Professional so I can
be sure it connects to the wireless networks.
My question is, what operating system should I add? Is media center
as robust as XP pro or am I compromising wireless network access for
a media notebook?

I asked the college and they are clueless about media center.

Any help would be great. I have XP Pro on my home desktop, if that
matters.

Thanks,

Art
Click to expand...

Media Center is XP Pro under the skin, for the most part (you can't join a
domain, but he probably won't need to). It should work fine for wireless
networking. The question is, does it do more than you /he needs it to do?

Personally, when it comes to laptops, I'm a Thinkpad fan and always have
been. I've never been that happy with Dell laptops, although I use their
desktops pretty much everywhere, and even servers for the most part.
 
G

Guest

Thanks for the advice. What makes me suspicious is I have no issue with XP
Pro. My son does all his multimedia work with it without any issue. What
would I be "losing" by not going to Media Center?
 
G

Guest

Thanks, Kelly. I realize media center is XP. I'm trying to figure out why I
would want media center over XP Pro. When you say it is great for xbox
360...can you play Xbox 360 games on media center pcs?
 
B

Bruce Chambers

Art said:
Hello,

I could use some help. I am buying a notebook for my son at college. PC
Magazine is recommending a Dell E1505. It looks great but it uses XP media
center edition 2005. I was always under the impression I should purchase a
college use notebook with XP Professional so I can be sure it connects to the
wireless networks.
My question is, what operating system should I add? Is media center as
robust as XP pro or am I compromising wireless network access for a media
notebook?

I asked the college and they are clueless about media center.

Any help would be great. I have XP Pro on my home desktop, if that matters.
Click to expand...

If you son will need to connect the computer to the college's domain
network, then he'll need to have WinXP Pro; neither WinXP Home nor WinXP
MCE can become domain members. Ask the school if your son's computer
will need to join their domain.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrum Russell
 
R

Rick Rogers

Hi,

You'd lose his ability to play with the media functions, something he
doesn't really need to do at school anyways. Otherwise, it's still WinXP.

You should check with the school network administrator, some do require that
students be able to connect to a domain to access school resources. For that
you will need Pro, not the MCE version. If not, then MCE or even Home will
be fine.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
B

Bruce Chambers

Microsoft was sued and lost, had to remove media player from XP, now
it's called Media Center, (instead of home or pro)
Click to expand...


No, it isn't. How can you possibly confuse one minor application
(Media Player) with an entirely different version of the operating
system (Media Center Edition)? And what an EU court case got to do with
anything?


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrum Russell
 
G

Guest

Thanks, Bruce. I realized Pennywise confused media player from media center
also. I'm leaning more towards XP Pro at this point. Connecting to a domain
is something i will need to do and from the posts XP Media Center does not
support that. I guess it is built on XP Home, which also does not support
domains.

Art
 
D

Dan

Another consideration is that you will get an additional five years of
extended support with XP PRO.
 
P

Pennywise

No, it isn't. How can you possibly confuse one minor application
(Media Player) with an entirely different version of the operating
system (Media Center Edition)? And what an EU court case got to do with
anything?
Click to expand...

It's an old link, but EU has rule'd that for one media player be
removed from XP.

Newer link
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/27/1459246

"Under that ruling, Microsoft must open up parts of their operating
system to competitors, and change how they bundle Media Player"

First MS sold an XP without Media Player but it wasn't selling, Media
Center does well tho...
 
B

Bruce Chambers

It's an old link, but EU has rule'd that for one media player be
removed from XP.

Newer link
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/27/1459246

"Under that ruling, Microsoft must open up parts of their operating
system to competitors, and change how they bundle Media Player"

First MS sold an XP without Media Player but it wasn't selling, Media
Center does well tho...
Click to expand...

That still doesn't explain why you injected this piece of trivia into a
thread with which it has nothing to do.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrum Russell
 
R

Rick Rogers

Actually, MCE is built on Pro, but is missing certain features including the
ability to connect to a domain. 'Tis why I suggested checking with the
school's network guys (not the registrar or bursar's office, talk to the
folks in the know).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
R

Rick Rogers

a) That is in Europe and only involves the Media Player. It is referred to
as version N, and is completely unrelated to MCE.

b) MCE is not the same as the Media Player, it is a superset of WinXP Pro
built around attaching and controlling multimedia devices.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 

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