Windows 7 version for .NET web tools - VS2010 and Sql Server 2008 express

Question

I want to buy a new laptop to do .NET web development and am wondering what version of the Windows 7 OS I need to buy. The options are Windows 7 Home premium 64 bit or I pay $120 more and get the Windows 7 Professional 64 bit, which I really dont want to pay for if I dont need it.

I would like to Install Visual Studio 2010, SQL Server 2008 Express mainly. I can't seem to find the Operating system requirements on any of the websites for these specific windows 7 version. Looks like the documentation has not been updated or just lists windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit) wihtout getting in the specific versions supported. Not sure if this means that it will support ALL windows 7 versions?

Does anyone have any idea which specific version I need?

Thanks.

Answer 1

The sticking point with VS.NET development on Windows used to be the version of IIS (or lack thereof) available on a particular edition - XP Home for example was off limits if you were doing web development.

With the built-in web server that problem has largely gone away now. Visual Studio should run on all versions of Windows 7, as should SQL Express and everything else. The only thing is whether to go with 64 or 32 bit, but that's a personal choice. There should be no difference as far as I know. Note that VS 2010 itself is 32-bit only (IIRC), but runs fine on W7x64. And of course you can develop 64-bit apps with it.

Answer 2

Windows 7 Home Premium will work just fine. The only reason you would need Business is if you need to connect to a Windows Domain server, which Home Premium doesn't support.. or you need to write apps that work in a domain environment.

Visual Studio 2010 includes a development web server, but even if you need IIS then Windows 7 (all versions except Starter I believe) have IIS, though Home Premium does not install it by default. Unlike the version of IIS included in XP, you can also create multiple sites in the IIS for desktop machines, which is kind of nice. You shouldn't need a real IIS server for most development though.

SQL Server Express runs just fine on Home Premium also (it has to, since many apps use it as a backend and it needs to run stand-alone)