Difference Between Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional with Proper Definition and Brief Explanation
Does it make sense to pay extra for Windows 7 Professional or does it Home Premium? Does the edition offer all the functionality one needs? The answer depends on whether you need some special features that are not found in Windows 7 Home Premium.
Comparative graph
Windows 7 Home Premium versus Windows 7 Professional Comparison Chart
| Windows 7 Home Premium | Windows 7 Professional | |
|---|---|---|
| Location conscious impression | No | Yes |
| Price | $ 119.99 for upgrade, $ 199.99 for a new installation | $ 199.99 for upgrade, $ 299.99 for a new installation |
| Domain Join Wizard | Not included | Included |
| Windows XP mode | Not supported | Supported |
| Remote desktop connection | You cannot use the Remote Desktop Connection feature to connect to a PC running Windows 7 Home Premium. | Remote Desktop Connection works when trying to connect to a PC running Windows 7 Professional. |
| Backup and restore | Backups to a different drive or DVD only | Backup to a different drive, DVD, or on the network |
Content: Windows 7 Home Premium vs. Professional
- 1 way Windows XP
- 2 Networks and union of domains
- 3 Backup and Restore
- 4 remote desktop connection
- 5 price
- 6 location-conscious impression
- 7 BitLocker encryption
Windows XP mode
Windows XP mode allows you to run the older Windows XP software on your Windows 7 computer. It is available as a separate but free download, but it only works on Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise.
Windows 7 edition comparison
Networks and union of domains
Both editions of Windows 7 allow you to create and join. Home groups to share files between Windows 7 PCs on the same Wi-Fi network. However, if you plan to use your PC in the office or to work remotely, you may need to connect to a domain (a collection of computers on a network). Windows 7 Professional is designed to make domain join more quickly and securely using a Domain join wizard. The Home Premium edition does not have this feature, which makes the Professional edition better for yet another feature.
Backup and restore
Both editions of Windows 7 feature automatic backups, with options to configure which files and folders are backed up and when backups are scheduled. But with Windows 7 Home Premium, you can only back up to another drive or a DVD, while Windows 7 Professional allows you to back up over a network.
Remote desktop connection
Remote Desktop connects two computers over a network or the Internet. Once connected, you can see the remote computer’s desktop as if you were sitting in front of it and have access to all its programs and files.
The remote desktop connection feature is included with all editions of Windows 7, but it can only connect to computers running the Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise editions. This means that you can use a computer running Windows 7 Home Premium to remotely connect to a computer running Windows 7 Professional but not the other way around.
Price
The retail price of Windows 7 Home Premium is $ 119.99 for an upgrade license and $ 199.99 for a new license. For Windows 7 Professional, the price is $ 199.99 for an upgrade and $ 299.99 for a new installation. The software can be purchased at a discounted price from stores such as Amazon:
- Windows 7 Home Premium at Amazon (discounted price)
- Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade at Amazon (discounted price)
- Windows 7 Home Premium Family Update Package (3 Users)
- Windows 7 Professional on Amazon (discounted price)
- Windows 7 Professional upgrade on Amazon (discounted price)
Location conscious impression
If you work in different locations that have different wireless networks and printers, you can use the location-aware printing feature in Windows 7 Professional. This feature, which is not available in Windows 7 Home Premium, allows you to create preferred printer-network pairs so that Windows automatically selects the correct default printer based on the network you are on.
BitLocker encryption
BitLocker encrypts the entire drive that Windows and its data reside on. After BitLocker is turned on, any files you save to that drive are automatically encrypted. Neither edition has this feature. It is only available for Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions.