Difference Between Xp Home, Pro, Vista, Media Center?

[Perkins]

Hello,

I have a windows XP home laptop which I would like to upgrade to Pro, but after looking for XP pro, I found out there are other OS that may be right for me.

What are the differences from PRO/Vista/Media Center?

I need PRO because I need to install SFU from microsoft which only runs on PRO. Is Vista, PRO with some other functionality? Is Media Center PRO?

Is Vista and Media center something I can download aftering upgrading to PRO?

Can any one help me make the best decision?

Thank you!

[Big Fish]

Media Center is based on XP Home, so you don't want that one. Vista is just a bogged down XP Pro more or less. Go with XP Pro.

[Viceman]

There are different versions of Vista, but to get one comparable to XP pro will probably be $300.

[Perkins]

Thank you guys... that helped me!

I will go get the UPGRADE to XP pro and go from there.

[newtech]

actually windows MCE is based off xp Pro, since it can log into domains, but really the real question is here, why do you really want to upgrade?

Honestly, for home use there is no reason for someone to run XP Pro unless it is just becuase they want to. The only feature pro offers that home doesn't, that may actually be used by someone is perhaps remote desktop, which there are free third party apps that do that already so its not crucial.