DescentBB

I'm considering buying a eeepc 1008ha netbook. They are now shipping them with Windows 7 Starter.
How does this compate to regular Windows 7? Is it worth upgrading to Win 7 home? and will the Starter version still have full XP compatibility for older versions of MS Word etc?

All help welcome.

Thanks guys

no it will NOT have XP Mode, only Professional and Ultimate versions of 7 have XP mode

Pretty much every version of Microsoft Office out there will work in any version of Windows 7.

Thanks for that Guys - but is it still worth upgrading to Win 7 Home or should I stick with Starter?
Most of the work I'll do on it will be office-related / presenting / Web and emails / Skype etc.

The specs on this machine are typical for a netbook (Atom 16.ghz, 1 gig ram, 250GB HDD, Wifi, Bluetooth, webcam etc).

Ummm... you might be able to get away with Starter for that. The one other feature that could sometimes be helpful is \"presentation mode\" (which seems to apply minor tweaks to prevent sleep/screen saver/system notifications), but that is only available in Professional anyway, so it's not in question here.

Another thing I should point out; I don't think you save money versus getting the correct edition right off the bat, but there is this: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... me-upgrade

Also, if you want a detailed description of what features are in what edition, this page is the best I've found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions
Not sure whether Starter edition's lack of multiple-monitor support would be an issue with a projector. It might just be possible to switch them.

P.S. If it is within your means to run 2 GB of memory on Windows 7, it is probably worth it. 1 GB kind of gets by for relatively light use but the experience on 2 GB is better IMHO. Same would go for Vista.

Thanks Sirius - appreciate the help

After that, you might want to consider this:
http://www.dateiliste.com/en/descent-3/ ... ent-3.html

I guess. Why else whould've asked in the first place?

Has anyone else got the Office Depot mailer saying \"Come in for free installation of Windows 7\"? It didn't say what the catch was.

Presumably the installation is free, but the software is not.

That was too easy…