Win 7 Starter

I am looking at getting a netbook to use strictly for on line banking. I noticed that most come with Win 7 Starter. Should I be concerned about this version. Am very familiar with the full version but not the Starter. Thanks
 
The starter version is a stripped-down Windows that uses as little computing power as possible with the most fundamental system processes and applications. It's being used in netbooks with Intel Ion processors so you have a lower power consumption rate. It's convenient for those who don't want to do much with their computer but want to be able to have a long battery life.

Personally I never liked the Windows Starter version. However, I do have an upgrade key to upgrade from Starter to the full version of Windows 7 Home Premium. A friend accidentally bought it and then gave it to me in hopes that I would someday find someone who might need it. The outside of the cover of this upgrade key box lists features of Windows 7 that apply to Starter and compares it to Home Premium:

Starter:
+ Makes the things you do every day easier with improved desktop navigation.
+ Faster and easier to launch programs and find documents you use most often.
+ Make your web experience faster, easier, and safer than ever with Internet Explorer 8.

Home Premium (includes those features of Starter, plus...)
+ Personalize your desktop with custom backgrounds, colors, and sounds
+ Easy to create a home network and connect your PCs to a printer with HomeGroup
+ Watch many of your favorite TV shows for free (FOOTNOTE: fees may apply, subject to availability) when and where you want with Internet TV
+ Watch your favorite DVD movies
+ Access your photos, movies, and videos from a PC running Windows 7 anywhere in the world


It looks like if you're solely using the Internet, you would be able to get by with just using Windows Starter.
But his mistake of accidentally purchasing that Home Premium upgrade might be your opportunity if you're interested in upgrading to Home Premium. I don't know if we are allowed to make offers outside of the "Selling" forum. Sorry in advance if this violate the Forum rules.
 
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My wife has a netbook with Starter on it. There really isn't a significant amount of difference between it and HP. It uses the same amount of computing power as any other version of Win 7, just has a few features stripped out. For instance, Starter doesn't let you change the desktop background but if you google around there are ways to overcome that. It also doesn't have Media Player which kind of makes sense since few (if any) netbooks have DVD drives. It can't access a Win 7 Homegroup but can still access a typical Windows network setup as a WORKGROUP.

For doing on-line banking, you wouldn't see any difference between the 2 versions.
 
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it's Windows based. so I believe so.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/p...ice-2010-system-requirements-HA101810407.aspx

That's the link to Office 2010 web page for system requirements. It mentions solely Windows 7, so I'm thinking Starter, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate all fall under that.

Keep in mind that if you have software on disk that you want to install on this netbook, you're going to have to find yourself an external DVD drive that hooks up via USB.

Just a personal thought: a netbook seems kinda small to do productivity work like Excel and Quicken on, eh? they come with low resolution screens and, keep in mind this is just my own opinion and would like to learn more about this from your perspective, I would find that rather daunting and inconvenient. especially if you plan on doing some internet banking, most likely you'll be jumping from your web browser to Excel or Quicken over and over again.
 
Win 7 Starter uses the same system files as any other version of Win 7 (32-bit). There's no reason why software like Excel or Quicken won't run on it. The limitations for netbooks aren't due to software, they're due to the hardware. Most netbooks use Atom processors that are single-core and limited to a max of 2G RAM. They have integrated video with limited video RAM.

Netbooks can perform most computing tasks such as word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail, web surfing, etc... However, the hardware limitations make it so that programs that are processor and video intensive, such as high end games and video editing, will be too demanding.

It's true that netbooks don't come with a DVD drive. When I first got my netbook I thought I needed an external DVD drive so I went out and bought one. It sits in a closet unused because it really isn't necessary. Unless the CD\DVD you need to install from is bootable (usually only OS install disks) the install files can be copied to a thumbdrive and the install can be done from there. If you have another computer on a network you can share it's CD\DVD drive and do installs over the network.

We have 5 netbooks in my family. They are handy, portable, little computers. I wouldn't want one as my only computer but as a second computer they are very useful.
 
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