Window 7 vs Window 7 Professional

[wolf]

Simple Computer question.

1. 3yr old Dell laptop, Window's 7. Intermittent, screen goes black, and
re-boots itself. Then works fine. Figure
time to start looking for replacement.

2. New computers, are Window's 10. Hate to have to spend the time learning a new operating system.

3. Noticed, Dell, sells PCs with Window 7 Professional.

4. If I purchase, Is there any major difference, between the 2 operating systems.

 

[davismills]

IMHO: If you right click the START button in Windows 10, you'll find the OS to be surprisingly like Windows 7. I don't think you should limit your choices of new laptops based on the differences between these two OSs. I've been using Windows 10 since its roll-out and consider it superior to 7. Opinions, as always, will vary.

BTW, a three year old laptop is not that old and I suspect some basic maintenance might prolong its life by a few more years. Possible replacement of RAM, defrag or replace hard drive, etc.

 

[FIRE'd@51]

For the past couple of years I have wanted a new computer with more memory and a bigger hard drive and balked because of Windows 10. When my Windows XP desktop finally failed last year, I even bought a refurbished computer just to get Windows 7. Last Thanksgiving, I finally broke down and bought a new HP laptop with Windows 10 that was on sale at a very good price on Black Friday. I've been very pleased with Windows 10. If you click on the notifications icon in the lower right-hand corner of the taskbar and toggle off the tablet mode, the desktop looks just like Windows 7. If you click (or press on the keyboard) the start key, the tablet window comes up and lets you take advantage of its features, which work like a smart phone or tablet, such as email, weather, etc. You can get rid of the tablet window (which covers a lot of the desktop) by simply clicking elsewhere on the desktop. You can set up shortcut icons (Notepad, Wordpad, Control Panel, Windows Explorer, Firefox, etc.) on either the desktop or taskbar where they are easily accessible.

So far I have been extremely pleased with Windows 10 and, like davismills says, consider it superior to Windows 7. I'm so happy I finally switched over.

 

[DrRoy]

Windows 10 is OK. You do not want to be stuck with an older version because MS will stop supporting it at an earlier point and it will become vulnerable to hacking.

 

[oldtrig]

As someone who has been working on and building computers for 20 years I would suggest you go with windows 10.
I am currently using windows 10 pro but home edition would be fine.

You mentions your laptop is rebooting without warning. I suggest you check you temps. A good small program to download free to check this is this
https://www.piriform.com/speccy/download
Use the piriform site to download this free program. Then check those temps and let me know. I can advise you on the repair.
If your computer is only three years old then there are ways to install windows 10 for free. If you have at least 4 gigs of ram then you will be good to go. I am betting you have heat issues which can be solved pretty easy.

The only reason I use windows 10 pro is I already had windows 7 pro so I just upgraded when it was free.

Windows 7 has issues with updates if you install a fresh install but there are patches to fix this.

Go with at least 8 gigs of ram. Hard drive is your choice but 500 gigs is plenty. I installed a solid state hard drive in the one I built last July and it is much faster that the standard 7200 rpm drive.

You have options in windows 10 that was not available in 7. One I like is you can reset it.

1. Head to Start then go to Settings. ...
2. Head into Update & security. ...
3. On the left, head into Recovery. ...
4. Under reset this PC, click Get Started. ...
5. Click what method you want to perform. ...
6. Windows is now loading the list of applications you'll need to reinstall.

You can use the option to keep files or remove everything and start over. Good in case system is messed up but I always tell people to make sure you have things backed up.

Final answer. Windows 10 hands down.

 

[easysurfer]

Wolf,

To answer your question, here's an article comparing Win 7 Home vs Win 7 Pro.

If you are running Windows XP or Windows Vista and are thinking about making the switch to Windows 7, you might be wondering what’s the difference between all the different versions. Unlike OS X, which has one version for everyone, Windows tries to break it down into several groups with different price points. Depending on what you will be using your computer for, you may only need the Home version or you may need Ultimate.

Difference between Windows 7 Home, Professional and Ultimate

I had Win 10 on my Dell desktop, but had a compatibility issue so dropped back to Win 7 for the time being. As for the look and feel, when I was using Win 10, I used the Classic Shell to make Win 10 look like XP/7 which was fine for me until the compatibility issue with my old Dell.

 

[meierlde]

Wolf,

To answer your question, here's an article comparing Win 7 Home vs Win 7 Pro.

Difference between Windows 7 Home, Professional and Ultimate

I had Win 10 on my Dell desktop, but had a compatibility issue so dropped back to Win 7 for the time being. As for the look and feel, when I was using Win 10, I used the Classic Shell to make Win 10 look like XP/7 which was fine for me until the compatibility issue with my old Dell.

In general today your only choice is windows 7 pro as windows 7 home is no longer sold. (Pro was continued because enterprises use it).

Actually if you have enough ram, look at VirtualBox and get a copy of windows 7 pro and run it as a virtual machine on windows 10 for apps with compatibility problems.

 

[Ian S]

3. Noticed, Dell, sells PCs with Window 7 Professional.

4. If I purchase, Is there any major difference, between the 2 operating systems.

Win 7 Pro has some additional capability over Win 7 home but AFAIAA, the look and feel is identical. As others have said, don't rule out Win 10; I doubt you'd have much trouble getting used to it. Win 7 will lose support in about 3 years. I have kept it on my desktop so I can run a couple of expensive to replace CAD programs but I bought an OEM version of Win 10 and installed it in a dual boot setup. I plan to gradually move to it for everyday use and eventually only use the Win 7 for a few old programs.

 

[wolf]

As someone who has been working on and building computers for 20 years I would suggest you go with windows 10.
I am currently using windows 10 pro but home edition would be fine.

You mentions your laptop is rebooting without warning. I suggest you check you temps. A good small program to download free to check this is this
https://www.piriform.com/speccy/download
Use the piriform site to download this free program. Then check those temps and let me know. I can advise you on the repair.
If your computer is only three years old then there are ways to install windows 10 for free. If you have at least 4 gigs of ram then you will be good to go. I am betting you have heat issues which can be solved pretty easy.

The only reason I use windows 10 pro is I already had windows 7 pro so I just upgraded when it was free.

Windows 7 has issues with updates if you install a fresh install but there are patches to fix this.

Go with at least 8 gigs of ram. Hard drive is your choice but 500 gigs is plenty. I installed a solid state hard drive in the one I built last July and it is much faster that the standard 7200 rpm drive.

You have options in windows 10 that was not available in 7. One I like is you can reset it.

1. Head to Start then go to Settings. ...
2. Head into Update & security. ...
3. On the left, head into Recovery. ...
4. Under reset this PC, click Get Started. ...
5. Click what method you want to perform. ...
6. Windows is now loading the list of applications you'll need to reinstall.

You can use the option to keep files or remove everything and start over. Good in case system is messed up but I always tell people to make sure you have things backed up.

Final answer. Windows 10 hands down.

OLDTrig- Took your advice and did the download.

CPU - temperature 52 - 55 centigrade. ( 125.6 - 131 )
Storage 38 centigrade (104)

Is my laptop running hot? If so, Is there an easy fix?

Thanks

 

[Ian S]

OLDTrig- Took your advice and did the download.

CPU - temperature 52 - 55 centigrade. ( 125.6 - 131 )
Storage 38 centigrade (104)

Is my laptop running hot? If so, Is there an easy fix?

Thanks

That doesn't sound hot enough to trigger a reboot. Could also be a memory issue. Also, are all your drivers up to date? Motherboard, display, etc?

 

[Sunset]

If you are going to stick with Windows, then go with Windows 10 , it is much like Windows 7 only better.
Otherwise go with Ubuntu (a easy form of Linux), it's free, and if all you do is surf the web and email it will be as good as Windows.

 

[oldtrig]

OLDTrig- Took your advice and did the download.

CPU - temperature 52 - 55 centigrade. ( 125.6 - 131 )
Storage 38 centigrade (104)

Is my laptop running hot? If so, Is there an easy fix?

Thanks

No, you should be fine with those temps. Laptops tend to run a little hotter than desktops. There is a fan on top of the CPU that can get full of a little of everything. I have had to remove them then apply new heat sink compound ( Artic Silver is the best ) and clean fan good and make one run much cooler. Yours is fine for now though.

There is something called Event Viewer that can give you a clue why it is rebooting. Always check that first.

1. Click Windows Start button > Type event in Search programs and files field.
2. Select Event Viewer.
3. Navigate to Windows Logs > Application, and then find the latest event with “Error” in the Level column and “Application Error” in the Source column.

 

[oldtrig]

How often is this laptop doing this ? You can always boot it into safe mode to see if it happens when in that mode. That could tell us if it was driver related. Then again if this only happens once in a while it could be a problem to solve. Is the batter fully charged ? or dead and you are running on AC Power ?
Wolf, that small program you downloaded is pretty neat. Not only can you monitor temps there are other features that sometimes comes in handy when working on computer. It does not take any power to run that program so no CPU used.

 

[zinger1457]

One benefit I could see of getting a laptop with Win 7 Pro is that if/when you upgrade it to Win 10 it will upgrade to the Win 10 Pro version which includes Bitlocker. Bitlocker gives you the ability to encrypt your hard drive or any attached storage device, worth having IMO. I rarely see Windows 10 Pro installed on any new desktop or laptop and Microsoft charges $199 to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro. I've also read recently that it's still possible to upgrade to Windows 10 for free by using some type of accessibility feature.

 

[oldtrig]

zinger1457, I had windows 7 pro that I upgraded to windows 10 pro and that is not available on pro as far as I know at least on my windows 7 pro.

BitLocker is unavailable for Windows 7 Professional and it cannot be downloaded and installed. Applies to these editions of Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows 7 Enterprise.

I bought windows 7 pro when it first came out because of other features used in networking. I paid $139 for it then. I was much more involved in computers then than now as I am fully retired.

I still try and stay up with things just to keep my old mind sharp

You can still find windows 7 but not from Microsoft and to be honest I would not trust these sellers on ebay. Activation would be an issue I would think on anyone selling it now unless the package is unopened.

Windows 7 pro was indeed a great operating system.


But if you like Windows 7 pro service pack 3, you probably don't really need new service packs, and you certainly don't want a redesigned user interface.



As long as Microsoft patches vulnerabilities that could become security risks, Windows 7 remains a safe operating system.


Microsoft doesn't plan to stop fixing security problems in Windows 7 until extended support ends. That's January 14, 2020--five years and a day from the end of mainstream support.

 

[zinger1457]

zinger1457, I had windows 7 pro that I upgraded to windows 10 pro and that is not available on pro as far as I know at least on my windows 7 pro.

Yes, Bitlocker was not part of Windows 7 Pro but it is included with Windows 10 Pro if you upgraded to that. If you look in the Control Panel (Windows 10 Pro) you should see a Bitlocker option.

 

[oldtrig]

Learn something everyday. THANKS. It is there but it would not turn on. I would think this would be handy with a laptop if you happen to get it taken from you. Tom

 

[Ian S]

I rarely see Windows 10 Pro installed on any new desktop or laptop and Microsoft charges $199 to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro.

Fry's Electronics frequently has Win10Pro OEM on sale anywhere from $110 to $130 with promo code. I used it to make my desktop dual boot. Mind you the OEM version can't be transferred to another computer but if it extends your computer life for another few years, it's really worth it. BTW, the OEM version is not an upgrade so you'd do a fresh install which is normally the best approach anyway.