windows 7 ultimate or windows 7 home premium

i have a computer coming with home premium but i am not sure weather i should up upgrade it to ultimate.

i already have the disc.

i don't need the extra programs (bit locker ect.)

The Home Premium won't offer others as well like the XP Mode on Virtual PC and network as an option for storing any system images created of your main drive. Most advanced users would at least go with the Pro edition while you can also look over the comparisons between editions before deciding to replace the preinstall while under warranty. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/14422-compare-windows-7-editions.html

If you already have an Ultimate disk (and a valid paid for license, right?) then why not go for it? Ultimate is "Home Premium Plus" or to put it another way, Home Premium is a stripped down version of Ultimate.

There is really no reason not to go ultimate if you have already paid for it. Even if you dont use the extra features they hardly take up any extra space on your HDD, so you wont even notice their there. Until you find a use for them later on of course In which case you will be glad you installed Ultimate.

*Disclaimer* I use Windows 7 Ultimate and may be biased but thats just my $0.02

There is a reason to not use Ultimate on the factory-preinstalled Home Premium machine and that is you are throwing away a $100+ license while you do.

So unless you need the Ultimate features I would wait until you have a use for it, sell it or give it as a nice gift.

Of course, you can put Ultimate on the machine with the intention of retrieving it as soon as you have another use for it, reinstalling or reimaging the Home Premium to it's licensed place so you end up getting your money's worth.

I'm weird like this, needing to wring all the value out of tech. Sorry

I wouldn't be caught running anything less then the Ultimate edition here. But I am not planning on replacing any preinstallation for new premade system while under warranty either.

If I locate a micro atx AM2 board or go on to build a new mini tower for a family member that will however be seeing the Home Premium edition there since the retail disk has been waiting for something to install onto. That would be either salvaging parts off the old board since those are good or finding a new micro atx with USB 3.0 on it since some extra memory is already onhand for a new build.

If you dont need features like XP mode, domain join, bitlocker, MUI language support and imaging to network, you're just fine with home premium. So, basically this edition is for the typical home user who has a standalone machine and just does stuff like word processing, writing mail and watching movies.

I have one machine with home premium and the only thing I miss on that, at times, is the Group Policy Editor. But since gpedit is just a front-end for the registry, its fine, I can tinker directly via regedit.

I would suggest that if your profile fits the above, stick to the home premium. Save the Ultimate for another computer. However, if you do decide to switch, please image your current install using an app like like Macrium Free before changing, that way you can revert to Home Premium without the bother of activation/ reactivation.

You can always add in a second drive as well for seeing a dual boot of both editions. That be another direction to consider to see both available.