|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review: ( 101 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
407 of 435 found the following review helpful:
 Windows XP Professional: a (mostly) fair and balanced review Feb 28, 2005
By Michael Marco
"friendly neighborhood tech guru"
Windows XP Professional is perhaps the best version of Windows that Microsoft has released. It's rock-solid, well-supported, and easy to use. It's also ridiculously expensive, bloated, and the anti-piracy measures are nearly draconian (and woefully ineffective to boot).
What follows is a pretty lengthy breakdown. If you just want the executive summary, read no further than the following bullet-point list:
- If you don't have any special needs consider XP Home instead. If you truly need XP Professional, you'll know.
- If you don't really need Windows (in other words, if you're not a gamer or need to run an application for work that's strictly Windows-only), consider switching to a Mac. Or even Linux if you're a power user.
- Windows XP is a decent OS under the hood. But lingering security issues, price, and Microsoft's questionable behavior over the years should give you pause.
Now for the extended, in-depth review...
Pros:
- Built on the Windows 2000 codebase. It's not so prone to BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) and other random crashes as 95, 98, and Me. I still get crashes, but they're usually the fault of a particular app, and a single crash rarely brings down the entire system.
- Excellent hardware support. It's plug-and-pray no longer; it recognizes and automatically configures a wide range of hardware.
- Well-supported. Like it or not, Windows is the dominant OS. You won't find a greater selection of commercial software for any other operating system.
- More secure than previous Windows versions. With the introduction of Service Pack 2, Microsoft is finally doing something about the rise of adware with improvements to Internet Explorer 6, a better built-in firewall, and a one-stop Security Center.
- Easier networking. Service Pack 2's wireless networking tools are often better than the ones bundled with wireless networking hardware. It's also easier to share files over a LAN, especially in comparison to Windows 2000. But if you need Windows 2000's more fine-grained control, that's available to you as well.
Cons:
- Expensive. Microsoft's monopoly position basically lets them charge whatever they want. Sometimes (and if you're a good bargain hunter) it's cheaper to buy a used computer with Windows XP preinstalled than to buy a boxed retail version. It's out of control. More on this later.
- Bloated. And not just bloated, but hard to cut down. Applications like Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Windows Media Player, Windows Messenger, and Movie Maker are bundled and do not have uninstallers. You'll need some technical expertise and quite a bit of free time to get rid of these apps.
- Still very insecure. Check Secunia or a similar security site, and you'll see that Windows XP and Internet Explorer are riddled with security holes. And many of the critical ones remain unpatched! Save yourself a lot of grief and use an alternative browser like Mozilla Firefox or Opera (but not ones that embed the IE engine like Maxthon).
- The new visual themes are an acquired taste. Some people like big and colorful. I'm not one of those people. Luckily, "Windows Classic" is still available. You'll get your traditional desktop and Start menu back, as well as a hefty performance increase.
- Activation. It's not as bad as you might have been led to believe, but it's still annoying. The process takes seconds over the internet, and you don't have to provide any personal information. But if you're in the habit of upgrading and swapping out hardware often, you might find yourself on the phone with Microsoft trying to prove that you're not doing anything illegal. Meanwhile, Windows piracy still runs rampant, especially in third-world countries where a genuine copy of Windows costs a month's wages or more. Hell, it cost me a week's wages here in the U.S. of A. for my copies. (The job market's not exactly laden with golden opportunities for recent college grads. But I digress.) Seriously Microsoft, drop the price. What you lose in the margins up front will be more than made up for by the decreased loss due to piracy.
Other considerations:
- Unless you have ancient hardware (by that I mean computers built before 1997), get away from Windows 9x or Me as soon as you can. Leave that crash-prone monstrosity of an OS behind.
- I'd say get away from Windows entirely if possible. This isn't a viable option for everyone. For gamers, there's no real good substitute for Windows short of a console. Sometimes you'll get Mac and Linux releases, but they're often released long after the Windows version and are not as well supported. Then there are those who need a Windows PC for work. Solutions like Virtual PC and VMware provide a Windows environment for Mac and Linux respectively, but they can be clunky, and you wind up having to get Windows anyway. And of course there are those that can't deal with the Mac way of doing things or can't be bothered with the endless tinkering that a Linux setup entails. But if you just need a computer that gets on the internet without fuss, and you're not beholden to Windows in any way, consider something like the newly-released Mac mini. Easy to use, easy on the eyes, easy on the wallet.
- Power users may want to consider giving Linux a spin. It's still got a way to go before it's a solid desktop OS, but it's getting better every day.
- If you're not a power user and/or don't need the advanced networking features, Remote Desktop, etc. (and really, really must have Windows), go with XP Home instead. All of the stability, most of the power, less of the fat. Cheaper too.
- If you're already using Windows 2000, XP Professional probably isn't a very compelling upgrade. You've already got a very mature, stable, not-too-bloated, well-supported desktop OS on your hands. Maybe the new network features (the better wireless tools in particular) are worth the upgrade and migration cost. I leave it to you to weigh the risks and benefits in your particular situation.
Thanks for reading!
159 of 176 found the following review helpful:
 Windows XP rocks, you might not need professional! Jan 22, 2005
By Charles Bittner
"Disabled comedian & gamer!"
If you're reading this. You're thinking of buying Windows XP Professional Edition here are a few things to keep in mind.
First thing is, you might be able to get away with buying just the upgrade edition. The upgrade edition allows you to do a full install. It just asks you for the CD of a previous version of Windows. Also remember you can download service pack two from the Windows update web site. So no need to buy it integrated with XP.
These are what I consider the minimum system requirements:
256 MB of RAM. I have found is adequate more equals better.
500 MHz or higher will do.
7200 rpm hard drive will help a lot.
If you're running Windows millennium edition, or 98 upgrade now the stability is vastly improved. Gone are the blue screens of death.
Frequently asked question: is Windows XP Pro better than home edition?
Windows XP Pro has a more high-end networking features that most home users will never miss or would even know were missing. So for most users Windows home edition is fine. They both are based on the same code and are almost identical.
And the price differences are drastic and deftly not worth it in my opinion unless you need these networking features.
If you're thinking of upgrading from Windows 2000, I did, because I like the GUI interface better. But Windows XP is as stable as Windows 2000. So it's your call.
The plug-and-play ability of Windows XP is totally great! Windows XP will by default find most drivers for video card sound cards, network cards, etc. that is such a bonus gone in the days of having to search for CDs with drivers.
I recommend upgrading to Windows XP be it professional or home edition. It is a great operating system
Have some fun and get it done
27 of 29 found the following review helpful:
from a long-time Mac user...best Windows to date Dec 06, 2006
By Living in Budapest
"livinginhungary"
While I could write that there are better alternatives to Windows, I realize that not all of us have the option of simply trashing Windows and going to Mac OS or Linux. In my case, I have worked for companies that are Windows based for 14 years. In this time I have always used some version of a Mac...mostly Powebooks. In the early years there was no option to use Windows on my Mac, so I often found myself using Windows on a desktop at my office. Thus, I have experienced the evolution of Windows over the years. The earlier versions always seemed to complicated and/or counterintuitive to my Mac senses, especially the installing of software and drivers. I also had way too many viruses and crashes (even with virus proetection and fairly good IT support) when using earlier Windows versions. Thus, I have been pleasantly surprised with Windows XP. I currently run it using Parallels on a MacBook. In four months of fairly regular use, Windows XP has not crashed on me. I should note that I mainly run business applications (i.e. Open Office, QuickBooks, Explorer) and for a time I ran Slingplayer (until released on Mac). These applications ran installed with ease and ran flawlessly. Perhaps the only thing keeping me from giving XP 4 stars is the price. A few lesser issues are the screen (I prefer Windows classic), the constant need for security updates, and the rather time consuming activation process (I worry that I may have trouble if I decide to upgrade my computer and move Windows to another machine).
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Running it on my mac Jun 13, 2007
By Brian Garrett
"Mac Geek"
While Windows generally has been a klunky interface, XP is really finally one of the more finished products from MS. I just recently upgraded to the MacBook Pro and with Parallels I'll finally be able to work with the very few Windows applications that I need. It works great with Parallels.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Macintosh hardware Apr 03, 2007
By Timothy Evans
"evansomd.com"
I bought XP after Vista was released because I want Windows on my iMac,a and Apple doesn't yet support Vista. It was slightly annoying, because a bluetooth keyboard (connected to built-in bluetooth, not USB) cannot support setup. Plus, I contacted Microsoft for support, and they claim they don't support Macintosh hardware. Stupid, it works perfectly, there was just one small kink. It is very cool that Windows runs on my Macintosh hardware.
See all 101 customer reviews on Amazon.com
|
| | |
![Microsoft Outlook 2007 [OLD VERSION]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Ol51l-80L._SL75_.jpg "Microsoft Outlook 2007 [OLD VERSION]")
![Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 UPGRADE [Old Version]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41IDzIsMdhL._SL75_.jpg "Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 UPGRADE [Old Version]")
![Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 FULL VERSION [Old Version]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41O7qKLRhbL._SL75_.jpg "Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 FULL VERSION [Old Version]")