Windows 10 Home or Pro ?

[Startrek]

I’m buying a new laptop next month for astrophotography which initially will run Stellarium, Backyard EOS and PHD2 followed a little later with some stacking and processing software

Need some advice whether I should run Windows 10 Home version or Windows 10 Pro ??

Thanks in advance

[Wussell]

Unless you are going to be connecting it to a domain then I would stick with the Home edition. The only downside would be that home does not have remote desktop, but you can use Teamviewer or VNC for access. Also go for at least 8gb ram :)

[TwistedRider]

Agreed, Home unless you like to tinker.


If you're planning on and graphics/image or "heavy" work, i'd recommend 16GB.

[Exfso]

with Home you don't have any control over your downloads at all with Pro there is at least some control as in the ability to delay them.

[Startrek]

Hi Exfso,
Dont you mean windows updates ? Not downloads ?
I thought you could disable windows updates whilst using your laptop ? Switch off wifi ?

[AndyG]

Win10 updates kill/unkill:
https://www.easeus.com/todo-backup-resource/how-to-stop-windows-10-from-automatically-update.html


The 8Gb+ Ram advice as said below, and an SSD I'd offer as absolute priority. Next, best CPU within the budget. Everything else is a distant 56th on the list. I wouldn't even consider the Home/Pro issue. You can't go wrong for these tasks with home, though you may, by accident get Pro by your choice of purchase.


So, SSD, 8Gb+ RAM, Best CPU within budget, and maybe warranty, if there's any difference to be found. Enjoy.

[skysurfer]

There is a simple hack for it which worked for me.
https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/how-to-rdpwrapper-win10-home
Another con is that you are constantly harassed by the updates which cannot be disabled. But I have found another hack which kills the update manager every 5 minutes.
But I run win10 in a Virtual Box on a Mac or Linux but native it won't make any difference.

[Startrek]

Thanks for the heads up on windows 10
Much appreciated

[sil]

Win 7 all the way ! :)
sorry

you dont need a huge internal drive but it should be an SSD, if it allows for a second internal get a larger sdd for that. I would avoid using this machine for any processing. period. the less "garbage" you have installed the better the machine will run and the less dropped frames you'll have. A 120or 160GB ssd is plenty for windows and your capture and control software. captures should always be to a separate drive (a large SSD) to avoid read/write delays causing control errors or dropped frames. do not record to a regular hdd if planetary/lunar/solar recording is what you want, the write speed will limit your frame rates which are important. you really dont want the OS tripping over itself by recording to the same drive everything it installed on , plus its easy to fill the drive. disable hibernation if you are going to use a single drive. record to an external usb3 ssd drive then just plug that into a separate machine to move for storage and processing then put empty ssd back on laptop for next imaging session. also best to make the laptop airgapped (no network at all, unless your control requires maybe plate solving on the fly i guess theres no reason. likewise dont have internet security garbage running at all times its just chewing resources and possibly hindering recording capabilities, you can use something that isn't autorunning that you can check the system periodically if you wish, but a standalone single purpose machine doesn't really need it. win 7 baby!

[LewisM]

I’ve had enough of Win10...my computer is being backed up as I write this in preparation of a HDD dump and wipe and putting 7 on it.

Win10 is a pig.

[Startrek]

Understand windows 10 is unstable
How do you get a copy of Windows 7 as it’s no longer supported ??

[luka]

Win10 home remote desktop (https://www.download3k.com/articles/How-to-Enable-Microsoft-Remote-Desktop-in-Windows-10-Home-Edition-02036) solution.

Also I would not say that Win10 is unstable. It has a mind of its own and needs configuring so it does not do stupid things like doing an update in the middle of the night during an imaging run. This particular problem can be easily solved by setting the network connection as metered, on Win10 home or pro.

Also there are compatibility issues with Win10 and ASI120 USB2.0 cameras and those cameras cannot be used for guiding. But only on some machines...

Regarding reverting to Win7, people have old Win7 copies or get Win7 from not so legitimate sources. Also newer machines may not have drivers for Win7, for example my laptop has drivers only for Win10 so going back to 7 is not an option.

And to your original question, as previously said get 8GB of RAM, SSD and not the lowest end CPU. The rest won't make much difference.

[Startrek]

Hi Luke

Maybe I shouldn’t have suggested windows 10 is unstable rather that it is a complex piece of software that needs to be understood.
I will probably opt for the
pro version as it offers a few more features

Why have so many IIS members complained about windows 10 ?

When windows XP came out everyone complained until a few bugs were ironed out in later versions and it became one of the best operating platforms ever

[acropolite]

I'd go with W10 pro, it's more configurable, you may need some of the advanced features down the track.
Re the RAM, if you can get 16gB as it will be more expensive to upgrade in the future.

Re the HDD, rather than pay a premium for an OEM SSD installation, I would opt for a conventional Hdd, then buy a 1Tb Samsung Evo or pro SSD and clone the regular HDD to the SSD, keep the regular HDD as an original install backup, that way if W10 decides to trash your install (which it has done TWICE on my laptop, but that's another story) you can quickly rebuild.

[Merlin66]

Just my 2c....

I went through a similar process to upgrade my aging ACER to handle some BIG, FAST downloads from my ASI 174/ ASI 183 when doing solar. A Typical SER file is >3Gb...
I ended up going for a "Hot sexy" Gaming Machine - an MSI.
https://au.msi.com/
This has a i7 processor, 16 Gb RAM and a 1Tb SSD drive as well as a 500Gb HDD and the required USB3 ports.

Touch wood, it's fast and works 100% for me.
Yes Win10, but no issues.
I run CdC. EQMod, AstroArt, Firecapture, SharpCap, Registax, Imppg etc.
Download the SER files to the SSD drive, and then transfer to the HHD for processing....

[Startrek]

Thanks Phil and Ken for the hands on advice
Appreciate it

Cheers
Martin

[luka]

It is too aggressive trying to force you and trick you to do things its way. The operating system is supposed to sit in the background and help you be productive but Win10 is the opposite of that.

It is spying on you (sending reports to Microsoft), continuously and very aggressively trying to push Microsoft services even though you said no, resetting your settings on updates, showing advertising on the login screen, having buggy updates that break things etc.
It just feels like you have to keep fighting it all the time.

It tries to be too smart and fails at it miserably. The most relevant example is automatically downloading updates in the middle of the night and restarting after installing them. It may work for the common user but quite a few of us woke up in the morning to see that their imaging run was aborted by automatic update and restart. Even worse, it is not even possible to disable automatic updates (unless on Enterprise) and you have to use tricks to work around the problem.

And then, in some cases there were driver incompatibilities (for example with the previously mentioned ASI120 USB2.0 cameras).

However, once you configure it and get used to some of its quirks it is not bad.
But out of the box Win7 is a much nicer experience.

[AndyG]

Has nobody tried the "active hours" setting in updates?
Have people tried it, and it didn't "obey"?
Honest question.

Context of this is that Win10 tries by design/default to do all this business in the dead of night. This of course, is the opposite of what our community needs/wants.

I worked in a PC repair shop for 10 years, but I've never actually run an astro capture/control rig yet (most definately new to this). My Security Cam DVR and File server PCs have never restarted unless I let them. They're nothing but vanilla win10 Pro with the above settings in place.

Worth mentioning however, that certain settings do revert after some updates. Sleep timers (in Power), and Active hours (in Updates), come to mind, and sadly require attention each time.

Aside from the occasional sentiments around who actually owns these devices (myself, or Microsoft), I personally believe Win10 is the best release from them yet. I have 10x Win10 units at home, and my employer runs around 3000-4000. My positive experiences, coupled with this sample size, gives me little to personally complain about.

TL;DR: Win10 is a well meaning kid, who's an occasional smartarse, needing to be slapped back into line every few weeks.

[luka]

Active hours setting in updates do not work. It is only a "guideline" which Windows 10 does not have to follow. Internet is full of people complaining about restarts during active hours but Microsoft knows what is the best for us.

The only thing that seem to work is setting the connection as metered. It won't download any updates then. Every now and then I change it back to metered, get updates and then change it back. This is of course followed by changing back the settings that the update changed as, again, Microsoft knows what is the best for us.

As you said, Win10 needs to be slapped back into line every few weeks. It should not be that way.
I would say it is not a well meaning kid but a bully, trampling all over our choices :lol:

[sil]

What do you think that means? That it doesnt run? That there are no updates?

None of that. So why do you think you need support? You want an OS that is going to give you trouble and force you to contact Microsoft for help?

You can still buy Windows 7 legally through many computer stores but OEM vendors are on agreement to not have it installed on "new" PCs they also may have been enticed to exchange existing W7 stock for W10 Stock discs. They do what they can to move people to using the newest just because its new but especially as the big feature of W10 is the app store to encourage people to buy "apps" instead of having you download installers yourself direct from vendors sites. If it confuses some so they pay a vendor once then accidentally pay again through the app store. Its all money for microsoft. Plus they encourage venders to just create a single microsoft app store version and stop maintaining downloadable installers on their own sites.

Sure W10 does some things different but I'm yet to see anything that works better. My GPD machine is small and keeps saying it wants to delete old versons of windows to free space, for fun I let it and it wiped itself. Yay intelligent Windows 10! Its less easy to get along with and I avoid using it as much as I can, just too intrusive and restrictive. Doesn't like to cooperate on my network, decides its not allowed to see other machines when they can all see it. Often decides I'm not allowed to delete files I created on it with its only account.

Win7 all the way, just works and stays working. I'll take a working OS over a supported OS any day.

[rustigsmed]

windows 10 is cancer - avoid.
win 7 all the way.