I'm thinking of buying a notebook computer with XP MCE with the intention of later changing to XP Pro.... HP sales guy said "not recommended... could not guarantee functionality". Any of you guys have any experience with this? TIA
Wondering what your rationale might be. One of my primary trading computers for the last 2+ years has been a Toshiba P15 notebook with XP MCE and two external monitors. Isn't MCE a superset of Pro?
Actually, I think it's a superset of XP Home... MCE would be OK during its life, but Microsoft is going to end "support" for XP Home 2 years after Vista is launched (or at least so they've said), but "extended support" will continue for XP Pro for 5 years after support for XP Home ends. I've converted all of my XP Home machines to XP Pro already. (No Vista for me at least until SP2, and maybe not before XP Pro support ends.)
Realistically, how important is Microsoft's support? There are a lot of people running windows 98 without any support and very happy with it - not me but I can see me hanging on to my mix of XP variants long after vista arrives.
Just thinking of bug fixes and security updates... I too had one computer on W98 up until about a year ago, but it was never online.
You're absolutely correct on official Microsoft support (for what it's worth) for XP MCE. It's on the same schedule as Home: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselect Presumably, that's because MS considers MCE to be a consumer / multimedia, rather than business, product. So, if such MS support between 2-7 years from now is important to you, then, I agree, you don't want MCE. However, XP MCE is, in fact, a superset of XP Pro. On my Toshiba's Sys Info - System Summary screen it says OS Name - Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Version - 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600, etc. Also, I have access to Pro features such as Remote Desktop and Encrypting File System, which are not available with Home. Apparently, the only thing that MCE doesn't have that Pro has is this: MCE can't connect to a Windows Domain hosted on a server running Windows Server OS that's acting as a Windows Domain Controller. Aside from that esoteric tidbit (and that Vista-world extended support), you get the best of both worlds -- full XP Pro plus some very cool multimedia features.
incidentally, i am about to order a new Dell Inspiron laptop; it seems the model i want comes only with MCE or Pro, XP Home is not an option; i don't want to pay extra for Pro - i currently run XP Home - is anyone aware of any potential incompatibilities between MCE and off-the-shelf software, the only applications important to me are: IB TWS with API, Excel 2002, Visual C++ 6.0, Outlook 2002 and Word 2002; thanks in advance.
There should be no difference in software apps on MCE... MCE just gives you some additional media functions for your computing enjoyment. Did you read the previous posts about support for MCE ending in 2 years?
No incompatibilities in my experience, incl. IB and Office. Since effectively MCE = Pro + multimedia, I'd be surprised if any exist.
thanks, appreciate the feedback - isn't it surprising that they are pushing software which will have no support in 2 years? i am not too concerned about the MCE support, since i have gotten into the habit of upgrading to a new laptop every 1-1.5 years; it's "fun" to monitor how for about the same price i keep getting higher spec., i.e. more ram, hard drive, better processor etc. with each upgrade. also, dell says all new laptops are fully compatible with Vista, i am not an expert on this, but i thought if i wanted to upgrade from MCE, i'd probably want to upgrade to Vista, not Pro.