Amazingly none of the Home editions include the XP mode emulator.
This may leave a some folks unhappy. I guess MS thinks backward compatibility is only a business concern.

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"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
--PKD

I'm probably going Professional, $100 for the upgrade right now, but it depends on how long that lasts. Be a couple of months before I can do it, so we'll see. Silverhaze, I've seen those specials I was referring to, buy Vista, get a free upgrade to 7. I've had no real issues at all with 7, except that Auzentech is dragging *** on their drivers. Sold it, got a X-Fi which should be delivered today.
I'm uncertain what Mikey is referring to by software RAID. Do you mean using Windows to build an array using dynamic discs, or using Intel/whatever bios-based RAID?
I'm not sure what good XP mode will be, to be honest.

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This XP mode thing?? Is that not the same as the Compatibility options you get when trying to use older software? I would need that I think because some of the software I've had to install wouldnt work unless I put it into XP SP3 mode before using it.

If thats the case then Professional would be my choice. That would be the only reason though, Home Premium would be just fine otherwise.

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The special ends July 11th, but if you order you wont be charged until the product ships in October.

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"All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct." -- Carl Sagan

That should be do-able. I've been told I can't spend any more money for 2 months after a minor miscalculation in my finances this month

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To clean up a few questions.

The RC1 version of Win 7 is good for one year. At the end of the year it will auto shut itself off (somewhere in the neighborhood of a few minutes after starting up), thus making you get a full copy. The beta recently did this about a week ago.

It hasn't gone Gold yet. There are at least 2 newer versions out there after the RC1, but they are mostly tweaks and minor changes, nothing major like from Beta to RC1.

The version that an OEM gets is usually a month or two behind the version that is on the shelf, but they (the OEM's) do get the updated versions faster than the we do generally. But the disk that you get with the system, that is up in the air.


Personally, I am waiting on a bit more stability from the manufacturer's on the drivers before I make the switch. That said, the big 3 (ATI, nVidia, Creative) are very on the ball with the drivers. The smaller companies are the ones that are struggling to get their stuff working, but it usually can with some tweaking.