Comparison table of windows 7. We are recommended to friends
A brief description of the differences between versions of Windows 7.
- Windows 7 Starter. This version is intended exclusively for installation on new computers and is available only to OEMs. It is very stripped down compared to the others - it does not have the new Aero interface, Mobility Center, Desktop Manager, support for multiple monitors and many other features. Another significant disadvantage of this version is support random access memory no more than 2 GB in size.
- Windows 7 Home Basic. The version is intended for more powerful computers. It introduces some features that are not available in Starter, but in a stripped-down version - for example, the Aero interface has only one theme, the Mobility Center and Desktop Manager are added, but the multi-touch interface and domain connection are not supported. The amount of possible RAM has been increased to 4 GB (32-bit OS) and 8 GB (x64).
- Windows 7 Home Premium. A complete system for home use. Aero interface in full version, support for up to 16 GB of RAM (x64 version), multi-touch interface, the ability to create and join groups. Windows appears Media Center And additional games.
- Windows 7 Professional. New features - connecting to a domain, EFS file encryption, reverting to lower versions of the OS, emulator Windows environment XP (for programs that have compatibility problems), multiprocessor support.
- Windows 7 Enterprise. Corporate version for business and enterprises. It lacks an XP mode emulator and additional games, but many new things have been added - AES disk encryption, Branch Cache network caching, the ability to run Unix applications, booting from a Microsoft Virtual PC image.
- Windows 7 Ultimate. Most full version with support for all features.
Windows 7 was released for free sale in the fall of 2009 and has since become the most popular of all operating systems. Microsoft. Let's try to figure out what innovations and improvements compared to its predecessors brought Windows 7 such popularity and love from numerous users around the world.
Improvements and innovations
Great gift for lovers latest technologies was the emergence of multi-touch control support. This technology allows you to control your laptop from touch screen movements of several fingers at the same time. In addition, it recognizes various user gestures, making operation simple and intuitive. Windows 7 is tightly integrated with driver manufacturers various devices. Thanks to this, users are relieved of the need to independently determine, search and install necessary drivers, in most cases the system will do this automatically.
Fans of older applications will be pleased with the compatibility mode with earlier operating systems, such as Windows XP. This means that users will be able to easily run games that were designed for previous versions Windows.
In the operating room Windows systems 7 package included DirectX installations 11, which supports a number of new technologies in graphics processing. Users now have the opportunity to fully enjoy the magnificent picture on the computer screen, which is created thanks to improved tessellation mode and support for new compute shaders, as well as expanded ability to render images in multiple threads.
Finally, high-quality work of the media player built into the operating system has been realized Windows Media Player, who this time received serial number 12. Previous versions of the program only played limited quantity video formats, installation was required to improve performance large quantity codecs. Users did not like this approach, which is why they increasingly chose software from third-party manufacturers. IN latest version player, the list of supported video formats has been significantly expanded.
Windows 7 has received a modified, more convenient and functional taskbar. Now the panel displays only icons without labels, which allows you to fit a lot of space on it at the same time. more apps. In addition, a “Collapse all windows” button has appeared on the panel.
Now you can manage reserved disk space allocated for system recovery. The user can also determine what exactly should be restored - system settings, changed files, or all together.
Desktop gadgets in Windows 7 are no longer tied to a bar on the left side of the screen. The user can independently move them to any place convenient for him.
Windows 7 has expanded the list of fonts included by default. In addition, the fonts have been redesigned to display correctly various characters. The list of non-Latin fonts available to the user has been significantly expanded.
Aero interface, known to users from the previous version operating system Windows Vista, began to support several design options. It also adds new features that let you easily manage the location and size of windows on your desktop.
Safety
Windows 7 adds more security features personal computer. Now the user has access to the launch prohibition function individual applications using the AppLocker service. Technology BitLocker encryption has undergone significant improvements and now allows you to encrypt information on removable media. The Windows Firewall has been significantly improved to notify the user when applications are blocked. Thanks to the DirectAccess function, it is now possible to install secure connection With remote server without user intervention.
Editorial
Windows 7 has six different editions, which differ in the set functionality and cost.
Initial version or Windows 7 Starter characterized by limited functionality, for example, it does not even allow you to change the picture on the desktop. This edition of the operating system is supplied exclusively in the OEM version and, as a rule, was pre-installed on laptops and netbooks.
The next edition is called Windows 7 Home Basic and also has a very limited set of capabilities. It does not support proprietary Windows interface Aero and Multitouch technology, has little functionality when working with local networks. Designed for OEM sales and supplies to emerging markets.
The most popular versions were Windows 7 Professional and Home Premium. They are actively sold at retail, and are also pre-installed on big number computers assembled all over the world. They support all the functions necessary for the average user; the functionality limitations affected only the segment necessary to work in large corporate networks and performing specific tasks.
The maximum range of capabilities is provided by the versions Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise. They are identical in functionality, but the first version is intended for retail sales, and the second - for deliveries to corporative clients. Windows 7 Ultimate is the top version of the system, which includes absolutely all the features laid down by Microsoft developers.
Hardware requirements
For correct installation operating system on the user's computer it must have the following minimum characteristics:
- Processor with a frequency of at least 1 GHz;
- 1 gigabyte of RAM (2 gigabytes for the 64-bit version);
- A video adapter with a capacity of at least 128 megabytes (required to enable the Aero interface) and DirectX9 support;
- 16 gigabytes free space on your hard drive (20 gigabytes for the 64-bit version).
It's better to put it on your computer. There are several editions of the operating system. This:
Starter
Ultimate
Well, there is also a version called Enterpise (Corporate), but I think the name speaks for itself and we are not considering it. And here the Russian mentality comes into force and says - The more, the better. And few people know what more, as long as there is. Okay, if finances allow it, then let it be, even though it’s not clear what and why. But if you are planning to buy a licensed Windows operating system, and family budget bursting at the seams (but still really want to), then you should read this article on how to choose the most suitable Windows for your computer, while saving 5 thousand rubles.
First, let's look at the cost of each of them. Here is an approximate summary of prices for Windows 7 operating systems (prices are considered for boxed versions, i.e. boxes with disks):
Starter (Initial) - price around 1,500 thousand rubles
Home Basic (Home Basic) - 3000 tr.
Home Premium (Home Extended) - 5000 tr.
Professional (Professional) - 8500 rub.
Ultimate (Maximum) - up to 11,500 tr.
Now let's look at how all these releases differ from each other. First of all, the higher the version of the program, the more functionality, features and bells and whistles it has. Let's start with the most stripped down and go ascending
Windows 7 Starter
The main difference between this edition and other versions is that it is released only in 32-bit format. There is no 64 bit version. The most incomprehensible thing about it is that there is no ability to create and play DVDs. It also does not have support for such graphical capabilities as an effect Aero. There are no scissors or notes in it yet. No remote desktop connection possible. You cannot change the wallpaper on your desktop. In short, there is nothing in it. Trimmed as much as possible. It was also deprived of support for multiple monitors and printing over the network. Well, in principle, this is the most basic thing that does not exist. But she flies with a bang!
Conclusion: just right for netbooks, old computers and devices with low performance.
Home Basic
This version is practically no different from the previous version. Except that it now has a mobility center. That's basically all the differences. She didn't go far. I can’t even say why there is such a difference in price. Microsoft has its own cockroaches in its head and we can clearly see this in the recently released Windows 8 OS.
Conclusion: also suitable for low-performance laptops or older computers.
Home Premium
Here we are already seeing the emergence of a 64-bit version for more powerful computers that support 64-bit architecture, or in other words, four nuclear processors. More appears graphic capabilities such as turning on the effect Aero And automatic change desktop wallpaper. It is possible to create and play DVD discs. A fully functional Windows Media Center has appeared. There is support for multiple monitors, scissors (I’ve never used them and I don’t even understand what to cut with them), notes. There is support tablet computers. In principle, this is a more complete version of the operating system. And you can already think about buying it.
Conclusion: suitable for more powerful computers and laptops. Not bad for games.
Professional
What are the main differences between this Windows versions from the previous one. It has the ability to run applications that you previously used on Windows XP, which is good news, since they will not work in previous versions, but this feature is implemented here. You can also make a restore point and backup data via the network. It is possible to print based on the network location and connect to a remote desktop.
Conclusion: suitable for more powerful computers and laptops. Well suited for games, including online ones.
Ultimate
In short, it contains everything that Microsoft came up with for the Windows 7 operating systems. But here’s the question. Do you need it? Unlikely. What are the differences from previous versions? Basically, this is a BitLocker function to protect data from theft located on hard drives computer or removable media. There are also improvements to virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), enterprise search areas, direct loading from virtual hard drive, DirectAccess, BranchCache, AppLocker. If these words mean something to you (which I very much doubt), then you can think about buying this version.
Yes, and there is also no option to select the system language from 35 different ones.
Here short review various editions of the Windows 7 operating system.
Conclusion: I think the most optimal of them for home work is Home Premium or Home Extended. Well, you can also think about buying Professional (Professional), which is also not bad for home use.
operating system Windows 7 published in six editions. Having learned about their number, there is no need to grab your head and spend sleepless nights on the Internet, trying to determine the most suitable one. You will only have to choose from two, because the publications can be immediately divided into two categories. And in each of them, the choice will largely be dictated by the thickness of the wallet.
Operating systems for home
Comparison table of Windows 7 editions
Operating systems for home
Windows 7 Starter
“Who needs such a system if you can’t run more than three programs in it?” - this is the first thing that comes to mind, if you don’t know that Microsoft has abandoned the idea of limiting the number of applications that can be launched simultaneously. Initially, the idea was that OEMs needed a cheap OS to install on cheap netbooks equipped with network card and/or Wi-Fi module. Imagine for a moment what you could do with three programs. Which one will you launch first? That's right, browser. And here you go:
Email
music and video
newspapers, magazines and books
collaboration with documents
social networks, forums, chats, blogs, websites (where are you reading this article?)
games and so on...
Considering the widespread shift of services to the Internet, you will have enough to do here for a long time. Not so bad for an ultra-cheap system, especially without a limit on the number of programs you can run. The edition is only available in 32-bit, which is not surprising given its entry level.
Windows 7 Home Basic
This edition contains everything in the initial edition, and also adds a number of convenient opportunities - general access Internet connections, fast switching users, mobility center. And this significantly expands the range of computers on which OEMs will install Home Basic. These so-called budget desktop and mobile computers will go to emerging markets. Yes, this edition does not have some of the “goodies” of the new interface, but it already has many of the functionality of the latest operating system. Microsoft systems. And having supplemented it free programs, you can get a system that will satisfy the needs of a very wide range of users.
Windows 7 Home Premium
Here, a full-fledged Aero Glass interface is added to the previous edition, as well as interesting desktop navigation capabilities - Aero Shake and Aero Peek. You will also be able to create a home group, multimedia capabilities, including Windows Media Center, as well as other nice utilities - like Notes and an expanded set of games. Perhaps this is the optimal edition for home use if there are no sufficient reasons or means to want more.
Windows 7 Ultimate
It takes the best of what Microsoft put into Windows 7. At home, you can benefit from encryption file system and BitLocker, increasing data security. AppLocker is useful for serious control over household members. It may not be superfluous to have the opportunity Reserve copy on network drive. This edition will be preferred by Windows enthusiasts - those who consciously use the wide range of capabilities of the operating system. Well, the users pirated versions, of course, where would we be without them...
So what should you choose?
Most likely, you need to be guided by two considerations:
budget size
level of own requests to the system
If you purchase new computer the cheapest configuration, it is logical to assume that you want to save on everything. And if it comes pre-installed with Home Basic, inquire about upgrading to the next edition. It is possible that this will be affordable for you.
It is unlikely that systems of average or high class will be equipped with the Home Basic. But if you encounter this, attracted by the low price, you can spend the “saved” money on a more functional and beautiful system - Home Extended. Your experience working with her will be more pleasant.
Experienced users who have a clear idea of what operating system functions they need, and who want to have everything at once, don’t need to think too much. You need to buy a computer with Maximum or pay extra for an on-site upgrade (at the very least, inquire about its conditions for the future).
If you decide to buy Windows 7 separately, retail sales, you only need to choose between Home Extended and Maximum. Most likely, the first of them will suit you quite well, but if you are not short of money... you have already skipped this section of the article.
Operating systems for business
Windows 7 Professional
With operating systems for organizations, everything is even simpler. Professional is designed for small and medium businesses. The functionality of Home Extended includes the ability to join a domain, group policies, location-aware printing, advanced remote desktop capabilities, file system encryption and other necessary things in a business environment under Windows control. All other benefits Windows platforms 7 (for example, such important ones as ease of deployment) are also with it, which distinguishes this edition from its “namesake” - Windows XP Professional, which is now dominant in organizations as a client OS.
Windows 7 Enterprise
The edition for large business has identical Maximum opportunity, differing only in the licensing scheme. IN large organizations BitLocker is designed to improve data protection, and multinational corporations will not fail to take advantage language packs. AppLocker will help administrators control the set of applications that a user runs, and enterprise search will facilitate collaboration between workers. This edition also includes other technologies that can benefit from the appropriate infrastructure.
The scale of the business and the list of key technologies in the table will help you make a choice between these two publications.
Comparison table of Windows 7 editions
The table provides a comparative list of features of all editions. The list is incomplete, but it is extensive enough to give you an idea of the differences. Additional information Many possibilities can be found on the official website.
Windows 7 was released on October 22, 2009 in the form of 11 versions of the operating system: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate. All versions except Starter (32 bit only) have sub-variants with 32-bit and 64-bit architecture. The enterprise version of Windows 7 is functionally identical to the Ultimate version, with the exception of differences in licensing rules (purchase and use rules) and stated end of support dates. Below is a table showing differences between Windows 7 versions.
Windows 7 - version differences
| Version name: | Initial | home Basic | Home extended | Professional | Corporate | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terms of purchase: | Only under OEM licenses | Retail and OEM licenses (emerging markets only) | Retail and OEM licenses | Retail, OEM and corporate licenses | Only with corporate licenses | Retail and OEM licenses |
| End of support: | 13.01.2015 | 13.01.2015 | 13.01.2015 | 14.01.2020 | 14.01.2020 | 13.01.2015 |
| 64-bit version: | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Maximum RAM size for 64-bit versions: | 2 GB | 8 GB | 16 GB | 128 GB | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Center Windows recovery: | No domain support | No domain support | No domain support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Function " Home group", creating and joining a group: | Join only | Join only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Aero interface: | No | Basic theme only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple monitors: | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fast user switching: | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Changing the desktop picture: | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop Manager: | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Center Windows mobility: | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Improved recognition handwriting input and Multitouch: | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Media Center: | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Additional games: | No | No | Yes | Disabled by default | Disabled by default | Yes |
| Emulator | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| EFS data encryption system: | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Printing based on location information: | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ability to act as a remote desktop host: | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Connecting to a domain: | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Possibility to go to: | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for multiple hardware processors: | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AppLocker: | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| BitLocker and BitLocker To Go: | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Branch Cache: | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| DirectAccess: | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Subsystem for launching Unix applications: | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Multilingual user environment: | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Downloading from a VHD image file of Microsoft Virtual PC: | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Launching the snap-ins lusrmgr.msc (Local Users and Groups), gpedit.msc (Local Group Policy Editor), secpol.msc (Local Security Policy): | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
When compiling this table, data was used from the sites: microsoft.com, wikipedia.org.
To be able to install any version of Windows, if you have Windows 7 Ultimate, you must remove the release configuration file from the distribution: sourcesei.cfg. Don't forget that in 64-bit Windows version 7 Starter does not exist.
Windows 7 32 bit or 64?
Most users have the opinion that 64-bit editions Windows 7 faster than 32-bit. In fact, this is true, but only with the adjustment that the application must support x64 architecture, and even in this case, the difference in performance with applications that only support x86 architecture will not be significant.
Choice of 32 or 64-bit version of Windows 7 Basically, only 2 factors influence: whether the computer’s processor (CPU) supports x64 architecture and the amount of installed RAM. And if with the processor everything is extremely simple: almost all new processors can work with 64-bit applications (in case of doubt, especially if the computer was purchased a long time ago, this issue should be clarified), then the amount of RAM plays a decisive role when choosing the bit depth of the operating system Windows 7. 32-bit Windows can only work with no more than 4 GB. RAM is the limit for the x86 architecture. And if the computer has 4 GB installed. and more RAM, then for its entire volume to be available, a 64-bit version of the OS is required. It also makes no sense to operate a 64-bit OS with a small amount of RAM: Windows with x64 architecture consumes, on average, 300 MB more RAM than its 32-bit version. Therefore, before you say anything, you must first understand the purpose and capabilities of these platforms. And outdated software can be used on XP and other, older OSes. It all depends on the purpose for which you purchased the PC or Laptop.
Nikolay (NIL), you are also wrong! 32-bit versions support more than 4 GB, if only because Win2K Server could work with 128 GB of memory using PAE mode (https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAE). Another thing is that in practice, each program can be allocated no more than 2 GB, although the program can address up to 4 GB (and if the programmer wishes, even more). Moreover, at 32 bit systems not 3.25 GB or even 3.5 GB will be used, but all 4 GB, but part of it, usually 1/8 (that is, about 0.5 GB), is used by the system to work with peripheral devices and expansion cards. In 64-bit systems, the system naturally also uses part of the memory for its needs, but for some reason it is shown in the system properties the full amount memory.