Datasheet

36
Part I: Surviving Setup
Choosing Between Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional
Table 1-11 compares the features that are present in the Home Premium and Professional
versions of Windows 7.
Windows 7 Professional
♦♦
, unlike Home Premium, supports domain networking.
This enables users to log on to a network server using Microsoft’s Active Directory
(AD) technology and share centrally managed resources.
Windows 7 Professional
♦♦
, also unlike Home Premium, includes support for XP
Mode and Windows Virtual PC, which enables you to run XP-compatible appli-
cations virtually under Windows 7. This means that Windows 7 Professional (and
Enterprise and Ultimate) are much more compatible with legacy applications than
is Windows 7 Home Premium.
Table 1-11: Comparing Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional
Home Premium Professional
Max RAM (64-bit) 16GB 192GB
Backup to network — Yes
Encrypting File System (EFS) — Yes
Remote Desktop Host — Yes
Offline Files — Yes
Windows Mobility Center Yes
(No Presentation Mode)
Yes
Domain joining (Windows Server) — Yes
Windows XP Mode/Windows Virtual PC — Yes
Location-aware printing — Yes
While Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC are new to Windows 7, this
isn’t the first time Microsoft has attempted to include this technology in Windows.
Back during the Windows Vista beta, Windows Vista Enterprise was originally
going to include a feature called Virtual PC Express. However, before Windows
Vista was finalized, Microsoft decided to make its entire Virtual PC product
line—which enables you to run operating systems and applications in virtualized
environments under a host OS—available for free. Windows Virtual PC is the new
version of Virtual PC, and the big new feature this time around is that Windows 7
Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate customers can get an entire virtualized
Windows XP environment for free with the download. See
www.microsoft
.com/virtualpc
for more information.