Might be getting a new laptop in the next month or two and have a question about Win7 and older software. I seem to remember reading that if you want to ensure compatibility with XP apps you're best off getting Pro or Ultimate. Any truth to this, and does the version really matter for the older DOSBoxed GOGs and other pre-XP titles?

Outside of gaming, most of my stuff is regular productivity apps - MS Office and Open Office, NetObjects, the proprietary machine software I deal with (I already tested it successfully on Win7 Home Premium), that sort of thing. If the gamut of older games play well with Home Premium, are there any compelling reasons for a light productivity / office user to bump up to Pro or Ultimate? Note that this is both my business and personal machine, I'm not doing any tricky file sharing or strenuous networking, and the other machine on the network runs Vista.

Compatibility wise - Pro and Ultimate give you XP Mode for free. But if you already have an XP system, you can use VMware or Virtual Box to virtualize your XP installation on the new machine, if a game or app cannot be made Win 7 compatible in any other way (which is unlikely).

Productivity wise - judging by the things you mentioned, you'll be fine using Home Premium.

You want Windows Upgrade Advisor: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx

It'll tell you what won't work on Win7 that you use now. Generally there are solid freeware alternatives if something you need doesn't work.

I got win 7 64 bit Home Premium my self and haven't stumbled on any bigger issues. Pretty much all older games I've tried have worked, as well applications like Photoshop etc.

+1 . Windows 7 basically works better than you(d expect with older games. There are sometimes tricks to apply ( like updating securom for Il 21946, recreating install disks with a newer version of the installer for TIE fighter 95 or applying patches on some other games ) but globally the compatibility mode and the use of administrator privileges will work most of the time.

The XP mode in Pro/ULtimate will give you a virtual office desktop machine. That will behave like a piece of .... for gamin purposes. This shouldn't really be a reason for purchasing pro or ultimate.

Just recently I got win7 64bit and for now all 32bit applications worked flawlessly. In the event that they wouldn't, I can try to virtualise XP or dual boot them easily. But I think that's unlikely given the current experience. The only thing you can't run in a virtual XP (that you get with the professional / ultimate edition) is 3D programs or games. They'll probably fix that some time in the future, just like they got DosBox up and working.

No worries. Sorry to hear about the pc issues you're currently facing, and thanks for the solution mark :)

Well, it's not as dire as it sounds, thankfully. More of an annoyance that might be a sign of further problems, or it might work fine for the next umpteen years. Time will tell.

What it's doing is: imagine interlacing, where the screen draws every other vertical line on every other cycle of the refresh rate (more of a CRT thing, but stick with me). On the left-most edge, for about the first 40-60 vertical lines of pixels (maybe 3/4 inch / 19mm across), every other vertical line is white. Makes that section look washed out. The opposing lines in that section still work, so it's like looking through a foggy filter or messing up the contrast. It doesn't happen on an external screen so I'm guessing either a bad solder joint or a bad spot that I was not able to find in the cable for the screen itself.

If it gets worse (spreads further across the screen), I may try some of the old tricks that get cold solder joints working again. Not sure what that'll do to the screen, though. ; ) If it stays the way it is, I may just live with it until other financial priorities clear the way to make room for this purchase.

Again, thanks to all of you for the help and advice.