XP Media Center of Professional

[chainsaw_masochist]

Hi guys,
I want to get a laptop for my folks and I am going to have to choose as to whether it comes loaded with XP Professional and XP Media Centre. My own experience only goes as far as XP (Home Edition) which is now no longer supported. I have heard some bad things about Media Center and for an extra £35 I wonder if it is better to go for the Pro? This will be their first PC by the way. Thanks for any help.

 

[Igorian]

According to M$, mainstream support for the Home edition will continue for two years after the release of the next version of Windows.

As to home or Media, it would depend, I guess, on whether you intend to use the additional features of ME. (Uggh, is that a clue?)

 

[chainsaw_masochist]

Thanks, Ian, for the news re Home Edition....really need to keep abreast of events more. Okay, looks like it's genner be the Pro then. Cheers.

 

[bigdic]

Media centre is just XP pro with media centre installed over the top. If you don't want to use media centre then you never need to, just use it as an xp pro system.

 

[chainsaw_masochist]

Media centre is just XP pro with media centre installed over the top. If you don't want to use media centre then you never need to, just use it as an xp pro system.

If that is the case why is there a £35 premium for the Pro?

 

[scotster]

I have been running a Media Centre Edition for four years without issues. It can be 'interesting' to configure if you want it to do 'non-standard' things like play Div-X etc.

It is XP Pro WITH the Media Centre software on top which is why you pay more. You may also get a MC remote thrown in.

The MC software gives you a whole raft of features that my family now find indespensible.. The MC is the core of our home entertainment centre.
You may not find it usefull as its main purpose is to give you a '10 foot interface'. i.e one you can use from the sofa with a remote.

www.thegreenbutton.com forum is an exhaustive resource if you have more questions.

 

[scotster]

Sorry. Misread your post. Dunno why Pro is £35 extra.

 

[empip]

Media centre is just XP pro with media centre installed over the top. If you don't want to use media centre then you never need to, just use it as an xp pro system.

If that is the case why is there a £35 premium for the Pro?

Is it very similar to XP pro??

...Basically, Media Center is XP Pro, with some extra bits, and the ability to join a domain is disabled. The interface you're mentioning is that of Media Center, which is more properly an application that you run on the Media Center OS. If you never start the Media Center app, the system looks and acts just like XP Pro, but it's cheaper than XP Pro.
Dana Cline - MCE MVP...

Why cheaper??

...Media Center 2005 makes a number of changes to the base operating system over XP Professional SP2. The first is that Windows Media Player 10 and the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0 SP3 come preinstalled. The second is that the ability to join a domain has been removed inside Windows (however it is possible to do so during setup, or retain domain functions if upgrading from Media Center 2002/04). In doing this Network authentication is also knocked back to Windows XP Home Edition level (unless you are part of a domain you cannot save passwords for shares). You then either need identical accounts on each system, use Simple File Sharing or scripts to avoid login prompts. This change was made because of a need, which was the Media Center eXtender technology in part relies on fast user switching. This is a feature not available as part of a domain, so if you did join a domain, the extender devices would not work. By also having this feature disabled it allows this version of Windows XP to be sold cheaper than Windows XP Professional...

Is that it - Is there more to it ??

...It turns out that XP Home SP2 OEM sells for $91.95. XP Pro SP2 OEM goes for $141.95. And XP Media Center Edition 2005 OEM goes for $129.95. That's right. MCE, which is XP Pro SP2 with a 10-foot UI strapped on the side, is now cheaper than XP Pro itself. It's a brilliant, synergistic move for Microsoft. The TV stuff is what confuses many consumers. So strip that out, price MCE to be the de facto Windows desktop OS, and get legions of users addicted to managing their multimedia with a remote control. It's a perfect set-up for the Xbox 360 and leverages one of the few key function advantages Microsoft has over Mac OS. And it's a great value-add from a channel perspective at a time when most tier-one boxes are still shipping with regular XP...

 

[chainsaw_masochist]

Thanks chaps, interesting stuff. Perhaps had the wrong end of the stick, but I thought that XP MCE was now occupying the space previously filled by Home Edition - though clearly it has been around for some time. With this in mind I didn’t want the attendant @rsing around a la HE when needing to do a backup and having to load from the reinstallation CD. What seemed to endorse my (mis?)understanding was that a friend of mine recently bought a seemingly highly spec’d Dell laptop shipped with XP MCE and he is unable to use the file/password encryption facility that XP Pro provides so therefore concluded that XP MCE is equal to less than XP Pro. Also him and his other half claim to be profoundly p*ssed off by MCE’s inability to allow two different account users to have the device set up according to their own preferences, you know the sort of thing: different backgrounds, desktops etc all things which Pro does adequately well. So I am at a loss to understand what matey bought, but could it be the case that there are different versions of Media Center? Just a guess.

Scotster, the 10 foot interface would be of little use to my folks and also despite the entertainment aspect it will not be compatible with DVD-RAM discs and that’s what they use.

Good link, Pip. Very succinct, “It's a brilliant, synergistic move for Microsoft. The TV stuff is what confuses many consumers”. Reckon I‘m one of them. Clever move though, ain’t it, this charging more, giving less. We can always rely on the Evil Empire to leave us feeling like we dropped the soap in the prison shower, can't we?

 

[Andy2406]

Just to clear things up

Windows XP MCE is not XP Pro with the media centre edition but XP Home with MCE software.

The main difference is that the Pro version is used for business, so adding the PC to a Domain (collection of computers on the same network, with a controlling Server)

If you would like stability go with XP pro but if you want to use the MCE functions such as TV tunning and music centre go with the MCE version

Thanks

Andy (MCP and CSSA)

 

[empip]

Can I connect a new PC running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to a work network or domain?
While you can access network resources on a work network or a domain, you cannot join a Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 PC to the domain. PCs running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 are designed specifically for home use. Windows XP Professional features, specifically Domain Join and Cached Credentials (Credentials Manager for logons) are not included. As a result, you will be prompted for your logon user name and password to access network resources after you reboot or log back on to the PC. In addition, file shares or network resources that are set to require a domain-joined PC for access will not be available. Remote Desktop and Encrypting File System support are still included.

My emboldenment above... This does report 'specific' exclusions from XP pro.

I read that EFS was only for XP pro and above?

Note EFS is not available in Windows XP Home Edition.

So where are we now? In the usual place I guess (might as well).

 

[leecope3]

Just to clear things up

Windows XP MCE is not XP Pro with the media centre edition but XP Home with MCE software.

The main difference is that the Pro version is used for business, so adding the PC to a Domain (collection of computers on the same network, with a controlling Server)

If you would like stability go with XP pro but if you want to use the MCE functions such as TV tunning and music centre go with the MCE version

Thanks

Andy (MCP and CSSA)

so why then if when asked for cd2 during my media center edition install if i skip it it installs windows xp pro on my pc??
taken from wiki
Although MCE is based on Windows XP Professional, Microsoft has disabled its ability to join an Active Directory domain post install. This effectively precludes the use of Media Center in a corporate environment. Media Center still retains most other Windows XP Pro-specific features, such as Remote Desktop and the Encrypting File System.

Lee

 

[Igorian]

Actually, it's a hybrid o/s. It is almost XP Pro, but without the ability to connect to a domain, basically because it's aimed at home use. Most other Pro features have been retained.

 

[leecope3]

its xp pro minus one feature lol


p.s andy2460 where did u get your MCP? Ebay?

 

[empip]

You forgot this other difference, previously posted in invisible type ! straight from the horse's food funnel at M$

...Cached Credentials (Credentials Manager for logons) are not included. As a result, you will be prompted for your logon user name and password to access network resources after you reboot or log back on to the PC...