I bought a new PC and it came with WinXP Home OEM. I'm just curious as the Advantages Pro has over Home in terms of Performance (like is games). I know there are huge networking differences between the two, but thats not really what I'm going to use the Computer for.
Also if I was to update what should I choose? The Pro OEM version? the Academic Version? or the Full Version? (Why one or the other?) Thanks.
Kindest Regards,
Dan

Most of the differences as you note are involved with networking and security as Pro was designed for the office environment. I don't think that you would see any performance differences on a stand alone computer.

I would suggest waiting 7 or 8 months and get Vista if your PC meets the requirements.

http://www.microsoft.com/Windowsvista/

im with jephree here because windows home is good now windows pro has unnoticable differences in it... windows x64 has alllooooooooooooot of driver incompatability issues atm. i would suggest waiting for windows vista then maybe gettin the ultimate version of it hope this helps all the best