Basically for home use.
Adv/Disadv.

 

A big disadvantage for me was no Remote Desktop in XP home. Other than that I saw no issues.

 

use XP home if you don't want to do much networking\limeted networking. if you consider yourself a power user then i'd pick pro everytime...

if the software comes along at the right price then Pro!

mostly home will do!

 

Does one use more RAM than the other?

 

It's generally assumed that you need a minimum of 128 for home and 256 for pro (the extra networking stuff etc takes up more memory). Both run much better if you stick 512mb in though

 

Thanks Ian,you mentioned yesterday why i wasnt upgrading to XP and it got me thinking.
I've 256 RAM.

 

No problem. If it's just for basic home use (i.e. not advanced networking between pcs, remote desktop connections etc), then I'd probably stick with home rather than go for pro. I had that on my old laptop (with 192mb ram) and it worked fine...

 

Isn't it also the case that with XPpro you can upgrade and fiddle with it as much as you like without having to re-activate? That would be a big plus point for me.

 

That only applies to the corporate editions. You will not be installing a corporate edition on your home PC if you have legit media.
IF you're not paying for your XP I would go for Pro every time, Pro-corporate if available (the only difference is the lack of activation)

This is probably against the EULA and all that crap, but the EULA is probably illegal in this country anyway. I'd pay for pro, install a corporate edition, and feel morally sound about doing so.

It's worth having pro for the extra security features if it's a shared family PC, you can make your pr0n folder unreadable to your children/partner