So, my computer broke the other day. Even though money's tight, I'll have to spring for a new one.

Anyway, what I wonder is:
What are the key differences between Win7 Hone Premium and Ultimate?

Also, Wikipedia, that all-knowing repository of info has a good article!

Seems I should be able to get along nicely with the Home Premium edition. Thanks both of you. :)

Its been my observation that if someone has to ask the question about which version to get, then the answer is always home premiumWhen you say broke, exactly what happened? It might just be the power supply rather than the entire machine (unless its a laptop, those things tend to break really well)Can win7 32bit run 16bit apps? That'd be the only advantage

AFAIK, support for lower "bit rates" go back only one step. So yes, any 32bit Windows can run 16bit and 32bit executables, while any 64bit Windows can run 32bit and 64bit executables. I think this is a conscious decision from Microsoft, rather than a technical necessity. It also means that from Windows 8 onwards, a VM will be a necessity for lots of old games, as that will only be released as 64bit.

Honestly I've never had a problem running old 32-bit apps on my 64-bit W7. I left XP behind the moment I got a machine with W7 on it, and I'm not looking back.

Because it's often more hassle than it's worth? Not only installing the second system, but also finding drivers to help the old system getting along with the modern hardware.

sorry to bring this thread from the dead but I just wanted to ask for personal experience if you have it :)

I'm planning to buy Win 7 (Home or Professional) and I lean toward Home (as it's much cheaper) - I play many various games, both new and old, both from GOG or my own old CDs...

is Home Premium really ok with that (I'll install 64bit version of course)?

thanks!

Pretty much what's been said above. I'm going to assume you're upgrading from WinXP here.

There was a huge jump from Windows 98 to Windows XP in terms of backwards compatibility in that there really was shit-loads of games from the 1990s that will not work on XP, and consequently will usually not work on Win7 either. The differences between XP and 7 are less pronounced. Out of around 600 games, I've found ten that I needed to boot up my network-isolated XP partition for.

All the GOG games should be fine.

Home Premium is more than up to the job. If all you're using the machine for is gaming and simple home office stuff, there's no need for Pro. You should bear in mind though that older disc games may struggle with the 64-bit side of things, as many 90s games using InstallShield used a 16-bit stub that will not launch on a 64-bit machine. For some games, people have created customised installers for them, but don't necessarily count on it.

ok, thanks, you've put my mind at ease ;) modern OS, here I come! :D