The two mostly widely used versions of Windows 10 is Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Professional. Most people will simply understand the difference as Windows 10 Professional being used at work or on professional laptops and computers, while Windows 10 Home is used at home and on personal devices. While that’s a fair general view to have, it’s not absolute.
Windows 10 Professional isn’t just for office workers. The Pro edition is suitable for anyone who will find the additional sophisticated features and tools beneficial. Of course this means Windows 10 Professional comes at a more premium price than the Home edition, but depending on what you’re using your device for, this may very well be worth the investment.
Let’s take a look at what the real difference is between Windows 10 Home vs. Pro.
Windows 10 Home
Windows 10 Home is the basic option of Windows 10. Compared to older versions of Windows, it comes with a number of great new features including a revamped Start Menu, a full-fledged version of Cortana, Battery Saver, TPM support, Microsoft’s new biometrics security feature called Windows Hello, and more.
For those who are unfamiliar with some of these features, Battery Saver limits background activity on your device in order to make your system more efficient. Windows Hello is a more secure and faster way to log into your device using fingerprint or facial recognition. One of the standout new features on Windows 10 Home is Cortana — a voice-activated personal assistant who can provide weather forecasts, set reminders, send emails, search the internet, and more! You can even set Cortana up to be summoned using nothing but your voice and a 'Hey Cortana' command.
Windows 10 Home provides the essential security features such as Windows Update – which will download automatic updates from Microsoft, as well as security measures such as Microsoft Passport. However, if you need more sophisticated protection, or if your work requires particular business-focused features and/or support for business apps, it may be worth considering Windows 10 Professional.
Windows 10 Professional
The bottom line is that Windows 10 Professional offers more features and security than Windows 10 Home. In addition to all of the features that Windows 10 Home comes with, Windows 10 Professional offers a number of sophisticated features and privacy tools. These tools include BitLocker, Assigned Access 8.1, Domain Join, Group Policy Management, Remote Desktop, Client Hyper-V, Direct Access, and more!
Assigned Access 8.1 for instance, allows users to lock user accounts and prevent them from accessing specific apps. Domain Join allows users to bring their own PC and connect it to the office domain. Group Policy Management allows an IT admin to control which PCs do what. BitLocker is one of the most powerful disk-encryption tools on Windows. It allows you to encrypt the Windows boot drive and other fixed drives within the system, as well as USB keys and external drives. This tool is particularly useful for those who travel frequently or work in areas using public WiFi — just that extra little bit of security.
While Windows 10 Professional comes with a number of extra tools and features, they're really only worth it if you're actually using them. If running a system that works optimally with business apps, offers useful business tools, and has additional security is important to you, then Windows 10 Professional will likely be worth the premium.
Windows 10 Home vs. Windows 10 Professional
If you're more of a visual person and prefer to see a direct comparison between the features of the two editions, we've got your back!
While upgrading to Windows 10 Pro is an option, a lot of business users prefer to purchase computers with the Pro operating system already installed. See below for a range of popular laptops that come with Windows 10 Professional as standard.
