Windows 10 version for freelance translator (home vs pro)
Thread poster: Marianna Pulkkanen
Marianna Pulkkanen
Marianna Pulkkanen
Switzerland
Local time: 07:05
English to Finnish
+ ...
Feb 28, 2018

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to replace my old laptop, and I think I've found "the one" but I'm struggling to decide whether I should choose Windows 10 home or pro. I've compared the differences but I don't really know if I would really need all the features that the pro version offers. At the same time, I'm afraid the home version has a lot of useless applications that I won't be able to get rid of. I have very little experience in working with Windows 10 so I don't know if it's pos
... See more
Hello everyone,

I'm looking to replace my old laptop, and I think I've found "the one" but I'm struggling to decide whether I should choose Windows 10 home or pro. I've compared the differences but I don't really know if I would really need all the features that the pro version offers. At the same time, I'm afraid the home version has a lot of useless applications that I won't be able to get rid of. I have very little experience in working with Windows 10 so I don't know if it's possible to uninstall built-in apps. Any ideas?
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Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 14:05
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
Home Feb 28, 2018

Pro has a number of potentially useful business features; however, the general rule of thumb is that if you don't know whether you'll need it, you don't need it.

In any event, you can upgrade to Pro if you find out that you need to (or conversely, downgrade from Pro if you want to do so for some reason).


 
Enrico C - ECLC
Enrico C - ECLC  Identity Verified
Taiwan
Local time: 14:05
English to Italian
+ ...
Not many differences Feb 28, 2018

Marianna Pulkkanen wrote:

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to replace my old laptop, and I think I've found "the one" but I'm struggling to decide whether I should choose Windows 10 home or pro. I've compared the differences but I don't really know if I would really need all the features that the pro version offers. At the same time, I'm afraid the home version has a lot of useless applications that I won't be able to get rid of. I have very little experience in working with Windows 10 so I don't know if it's possible to uninstall built-in apps. Any ideas?




The sole useful difference i find missing in W10 Home (but there is a similar function) is Cryptography with Bitlocker. You can activate cryptography on a W10 Home Pc anyways linking it to an Outlook account. I have been wondering about the same question myself and in the end i decided to keep both my machines on W10 Home.

I hope it helps.


 
Marianna Pulkkanen
Marianna Pulkkanen
Switzerland
Local time: 07:05
English to Finnish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Home seems to be enough Feb 28, 2018

Thank you both! I thought about Bitlocker but I've read that there are other options for activating cryptography (as you said as well, Enrico). In the pro version you also have the option to defer updates which is interesting. But these are not reasons enough to pay $100 more.

 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 07:05
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Home Feb 28, 2018

Marianna Pulkkanen wrote:
1. I'm struggling to decide whether I should choose Windows 10 Home or Pro. I've compared the differences but I don't really know if I would really need all the features that the Pro version offers.
2. At the same time, I'm afraid the home version has a lot of useless applications that I won't be able to get rid of.


1. Which of the "pro" features do you suspect that you may find useful? I've had a look at the list myself, and none of those "pro" features strike me as things that I would actually ever make use of, but how about yourself?

2. It seems unlikely that the "home" version would contain bloatware that would not also be present in the "pro" version. The "pro" version is not usually described as a version that contains less bloatware.


Asma Naaz (X)
 
Steven Segaert
Steven Segaert
Estonia
Local time: 08:05
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Possibly networking Mar 1, 2018

As to license, it seems it is legal to use the Home edition for a business (as opposed to the home edition of Microsoft Office).

As to function, there used to be differences in terms of networking, which were important if you work with a server or a NAS. I can't find information about whether these differences still exist in Windows 10, but you might want to research this a bit more.


 
Stuart Hoskins
Stuart Hoskins
Local time: 07:05
Czech to English
+ ...
Read up on national accounting/tax law? Mar 1, 2018

I came to make essentially the same point as Steven, who notes that you shouldn't be using a home edition of Office for business. I'm not sure about the legality of using a Windows home version for work purposes, but at any rate I don't think I'd be able to treat it as an expense in my country of residence.

 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 07:05
Spanish to English
+ ...
No worries Mar 1, 2018

Marianna Pulkkanen wrote:
At the same time, I'm afraid the home version has a lot of useless applications that I won't be able to get rid of.


You should be able to get rid of the unwanted preinstalled "bloatware" no problem. Although my tech guy can put me together PCs from scratch, I sometimes just buy a laptop and get him to remove the stuff I don't need and install my own SW, like Dragon, CAT tool, etc., at the same time. In a worst case scenario, you can just format the laptop and reinstall everything.
And Windows 10 home seems to be more than enough for my purposes.


 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 07:05
Spanish to English
+ ...
Legal schmegal Mar 1, 2018

Stuart Hoskins wrote:

I came to make essentially the same point as Steven, who notes that you shouldn't be using a home edition of Office for business. I'm not sure about the legality of using a Windows home version for work purposes, but at any rate I don't think I'd be able to treat it as an expense in my country of residence.


The problem is that the ruling you're referring to conceives a "business" as a bigger concern than just some impoverished freelancer slaving away in a broom cupboard somewhere. As for treating it as an expense, in Spain you can claim back some of the VAT on office-type software, but it's such a faff that I no longer bother trying, as I'm rubbish at keeping a track of invoices anyway.


 
Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:05
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
Take your pick Mar 1, 2018

Marianna Pulkkanen wrote:

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to replace my old laptop, and I think I've found "the one" but I'm struggling to decide whether I should choose Windows 10 home or pro. I've compared the differences but I don't really know if I would really need all the features that the pro version offers. At the same time, I'm afraid the home version has a lot of useless applications that I won't be able to get rid of. I have very little experience in working with Windows 10 so I don't know if it's possible to uninstall built-in apps. Any ideas?




I have Pro on my desktop and Home on my laptop. If you ask me what is the difference, I wouldn't be able to tell you, I don't see any. Both are functioning well for my purposes.

So my advice would be: Go for the cheapest.

[Edited at 2018-03-01 12:04 GMT]


 
Rolf Keller
Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 07:05
English to German
Pro version, with 64 bit and twice the disk and RAM space you need Mar 2, 2018

Even if you knew all the additional features, you don't kwow if you'll need one or two of them in 2020. Hyper-V, Group Policy Editor, Remote Desktop can be very useful in some scenarios. Bitlocker can save you, if the laptop gets lost or defective.

I consider it shortsighted to save 1 $ per month (that's it during, say, 5 years), IF the additional features don't influence the day-to-day use unfavourably AND IF they can't be added later on. A pc is no car, no kitchen
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Even if you knew all the additional features, you don't kwow if you'll need one or two of them in 2020. Hyper-V, Group Policy Editor, Remote Desktop can be very useful in some scenarios. Bitlocker can save you, if the laptop gets lost or defective.

I consider it shortsighted to save 1 $ per month (that's it during, say, 5 years), IF the additional features don't influence the day-to-day use unfavourably AND IF they can't be added later on. A pc is no car, no kitchen cooker and no trousers - with such products one should plan&think differently, of course.

Actually the Home versions (from Windows Vista to Windows 10) have several small restrictions that most people don't see. E. g. many security settings are blocked (Group Policy Editor is missing), so you - or your computer guru - might not be able to follow an (emergency?) advice that will be published tomorrow or next year.

Regarding the superflous Home apps: Just don't use them, they don't consume resources (except disk space). Nearly all of them exist in the Pro version as well, but are not promoted.

Regarding advices like "I've never seen any differences" or even "there are no differences for translators: That are statements which describe that person but not an objective fact.
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Windows 10 version for freelance translator (home vs pro)






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