Win2k Pro or WinXP Pro

[Stylez]

I have a legit copy of each of these, and have been using win2k pro for the last 4 months, but i got told winxp pro is alot better such as faster and more things etc.
I would just like to know in your views is it worth changing to.

I play games alot, listen to music and like to watch films etc and wondering if its the right choice, also i can skin it in which you cant really do with win2k and it looks plain like win98.

Thanks.

[TiG]

well personally i don't rate XP, i really don't like it. Both my systems at home at 2k pro and they are stable as anything and mighty quick. i personally hate Xp's rounded edges and if you use XP in win2k look mode you might as well use win2k imo.

All my games work fine on 2k.

I think it goes down to personal preference, if you like messing with your system and pretty colours go XP.

TiG

[scottyman]

I prefer xp pro, but it has serious issues if you're doing any development with it -
I've had to blow my copies away and start from fresh about 6 times now, due to .net corruption (incredibly frustrating!) where 2k doesn't have those problems.

But at the same time, 2k has inherent problems which you can't really do anything about.
I've just gotten a support advisory from discreet telling me that 3DS Max is only supported on Win2k SP2 - which is useless to find that out now.

What I'm saying is that there are always going to be software incompatabilities, and you have to work out for yourself which ones you can live with!

[Stylez]

Thanks for your answers, i have a few probs in win2k, and just wanted to try something different. Im going to try winxp pro and see how it goes and if i dont agree with it then straight back to win2k. Have got 6 weeks of now from college, so i got time to try some things and also have everything backed up so if i install winxp pro and like it then ill stay with it, if not ill go back to win2k.

Once again thanks for your answers, their very much appreciated.

[Nemeliza]

2k Pro rules!
Im not so keen on XP pro. im not saying its rubbish i just prefer to use 2k over XP.

[Jiff Lemon]

I'm using both at the moment.

Win 2k has been perfect, however I'm also aware of inevitability - it too will go the way of 95/98/nt, hence why I'm also using XP.

XP has some very nice features but also some INCREDIBLY frustrating ones. Why on earth does it insist on searching "the internet" for suitable network locations I may wish to add when (a) I'm not even connected to the net and (b) wouldn't trust a damn thing it finds. It wouldn't be half as bad if it ever realised this, but EVER single time? Ended up mapping network drives as it's quicker.

If its stability you seek, I still lean to 2k. By all means try XP, just make sure you a ghost image your 2k install you can fall back on!

[DaBeeeenster]

Although I prefer the look and feel of XP, 2k is more stable. I've had to reinstall about 3 times now, but I cant live without the skinning features of XP, or the smoothed fonts on my laptop...

[rough_neck]

Ive just installed XP pro on a small server it had to act as a gateway to the internet for two windows me clients. One tick of a box and away it went no problem.

However personally I wont be switching form 2k pro to XP pro, I cant see the point at the moment I'm happy with 2k. I also here that XP is memory hungry, but ive yet to see this...

rough_neck

[nichomach]

At home I use 2K, at work XP Pro. I found that XP felt more responsive than 2K on my dual Athlon work machine, but 2K goes faster at home on the single CPU box.

[Gristy]

2k networking seems really lame especially with dns. and also 2k kept freezng up on my pc and XP didnt so xp all the way for me now

[Shorty]

This is the kind of thread that never quites gives you a straight answer

It's best to try both and see which one YOU prefer. I prefer XP...

Better dual monitor support (2K dual monitor is really patchy).
Once you strip away all the XP eyecandy, it is faster to my eyes than 2k.
I simply prefer the feel and usage of the OS over 2k.

Some love XP, some love 2K. It's horse for courses try em both and see which you prefer

[M C STORM]

XP for me , you can make look just like 2k too if ya dont want the whole telly tubby thing

[joshwa]

I much prefer 2000 Pro, but if I had to buy one for a new system, I would have to buy XP Home, as it's cheaper than Win2k Pro.

I had some problems with XP (but it was a release candidate - legit from MS for £10) and on my system at the time it seemed a bit sluggish...

I think XP is best on systems with more than 256mb ram, whereas Win2k pro works okay on 128mb systems, and is fine and dandy on systems with 192/256mb ram. (my system is currently using 182mb ram with w2k pro)

We could do a poll ? yep, please vote here to help this chap
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?threadid=305

[Ben Rogers]

both are great imo, although 2k requires the hardware to be perfect else you'll get bsod's and crashes, xp doesn't require the hardware to be so perfect, if ram is a bit dodgy you may get by with xp but not with 2k, that's why i like xp over 2k for overclocking.

on the same hardware i've found them both to be totally rock solid stable os's, no problems at all so i guess it comes down to weather you like all the eye candy and resources taken up by xp or like the the classic feel of 2k without all the bits some don't use/need.

if you're running a system with a cpu slower than say a p3 700 with less than 128/192meg of ram go with 2k, as this will run far smoother than xp.

[Stylez]

Should be fine for me mate, im going to try winxp pro and if i dont like it will switch back.

Athlon XP 2100+ (1.74ghz)
Gigabyte 7VAX Mobo
512 PC2700 DDR Ram
60 gig hd..

So will run it easily, ive had experiences with xp home and thought it was pretty good and win2k seems fine just wanna try something else, so im trying winxp pro and if i dont like it straight bck to win2k pro.

[Spud1]

XP pro all the way. its like 2K pro but better. in my experiance its more compatable, more stable, easier to configure, faster, and umm just better tbh, but as Shorty said its mainly down to personal pref

however the newer OS's are normally better than the old in my opinion - compare it to NT4 and 2k - which would you run both stable when the service packs are applied, both very similar in many ways, but 2k is just..better somehow, its the same with XP