Which Win7 is right for me?

[AngryYankee]

I plan on buying and doing a fresh install of Windows 7 on a new 1TB HDD.  I listen to a lot of music, play a lot of music, and of course, a big PC gamer.
No real office type work, graphic designing, or anything "professional"

Am I to assume I should purchase Home Premium?

[tehfunk101]

I think most of us would agree, Home Premium is the only choice that makes sense.  I think the only things its missing (that professional and Ultimate have)  are extra languages, an XP-mode emulator (cant game with it though), and some kind of bitlocker security encrypting thing.  Unless you really want to use windows 7 in French or German, Home is definitely the best choice    And of course 64 bit >> 32

[Monkey_Grill]

Get Professional. It has everything except one thing that Ultimate has: Bitlocker. I HIGHLY recommend Professional, I use it myself.

[NavyChief]

The only real difference between the Home Premium and Professional editions is the Windows XP mode.

Here is a link comparing the different editions: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/compare/default.aspx

The Home Edition is the more economical version ($80 lower). If you don't need the Windows XP mode then the Home Premium is the logical choice.

I have the Ultimate edition for the multi-language capabilities. My wife is Japanese and the Windows program is in full Japanese language mode on her computer. The only thing I can understand are the icons - all the text is in Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji.

Just make sure you use the 64-bit versions.

[AngryYankee]

If I plan on using 64 bit I'll need to upgrade my processor.  Got a Core 2 Duo and really want to bump it up to a Quaddy.  My mobo is LGA775 so i7 is out of the question

[tehfunk101]

If I plan on using 64 bit I'll need to upgrade my processor.  Got a Core 2 Duo and really want to bump it up to a Quaddy.  My mobo is LGA775 so i7 is out of the question

Your core 2 duo is most likely 64bit already.  But, quad cores are really nice and worth upgrading to!

[Monkey_Grill]

Yank, your CPU supports 64-Bit. http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=30781

Almost every single processor supports 64-Bit.

[Schlup]

Yeah, I got Professional because of the advanced backup capabilities.  But to each his own.

P.S. Get 64 bit for sure...they are right your processor is compatible and that is the only thing that needs to be.  They haven't made a non 64 bit processor in getting close to 10 years now.