Greetings to all,

 I'm close to having all the components for a new build (listed below)
lacking only the case and operating system. I hear good things about
windows 7 but I've become so familiar with xp, I'm hesitant to change.
Since only w7 pro has the xp compatibility mode I would most likely go
with that but looking at os's at Tigerdirect, I see media center is quite a bit
cheaper and this pc will be used forhome entertainment, music and
video production, photo editing, gamingand an occasional bit of turbo
cad.
Other than os activation, it will not be connected to the internet.

 So far, all my builds have been xp home though I have liked what I've
read about xp pro such as the ability to use on multiple machines(?).
What I'm wondering is if any of you can tell how media center compares
to both xp home and pro and if ending support for xp will cause any
difficulties later. wouldn't having all drivers backed up to cd take
care of the support issue? Or even a total drive image using Acronis
True Image?

My components are:
-ECS G31T-M mobo (micro atx)
-(2) 2gig sticks of corsair xms2 DDR2 ram
-450 watt PS
-Intel Q9600 Quad processor
-Optiarc DVD RW (AD 7200A) drive
-WD caviar 320g sata hd
(will add a graphics card and a second HD later)

 All feed-back is greatly appreciated!
 -Phil Williams-

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