I have a Netbook with Windows XP Home. Processor is an Atom N280 (1.66 GHz) with 2 GB of RAM. I noticed that newer Netbooks come with Windows 7, but as Starter Edition (which kinda sucks).
I wonder if there is a technical reason for using Windows 7 Starter? Or would a better edition (x86) perform equally well? I'm currently considering Home Premium, but BitLocker and Offline Files might convince me to go Ultimate.
Best Answer
There are no technical reasons to use Windows 7 Starter (au contraire), the reason is purely economical (it's cheaper - you buy cheap, you get cheap): while the resource usage is pretty much the same, Windows 7 Home Premium outperforms Windows Starter on the same system in most aspects, Starter even boots slower than Home Premium (see benchmark resuslts below).
The test platform is a Lenovo IdeaPad S12.
(courtesy of German compumag Chip.de, although it's in German, the results aren't not too hard to interpret)
Most certainly! Not only is it faster with Home Premium, you also get all the bells 'n' whistles. :)
AFAIK, you can't officially buy Windows 7 Starter anyway, there is no retail version. it's only a cheap option for OEMs to sell netbooks with Windows 7.