What will Windows Professional do for my DAW build vs. using Windows Home Premium? If I use the OEM version, will I be able to upgrade it to the next version? And what are the limitations? If there are any using an OEM install.

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit will only support 16 GB of memory, Professional supports 192 GB, but finding a motherboard that will support more than 32 GB is pretty tough/impossible. The 32 bit versions of either one will be limited to a 4 GB (not all of it available to programs). There are a number of other features on the professional version, but they will not affect how your DAW runs.
 
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx
 
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/compare
 
The general purpose OEM versions are supposed to be identical to the full retail version except for the license.  If MS enforces that license, you will not be permitted to move your OEM Windows to a new machine--it is locked to the machine which it is activated on the first time. A new machine need not be an entirely new box--replacing your motherboard would probably be treated as a new machine. Other changes to the machine that would trigger a requirement for re-activation would probably be granted re-activation with a telephone call, but who knows. You should have no trouble upgrading from an OEM Windows 7 to Windows 8 using an Upgrade version of W8 on the same machine. Microsoft will not provide support (technical assistance from a Microsoft "engineer") for an OEM version, but you can get updates, bug fixes etc. directly from Windows Update, and do your own self-support using the knowledge base etc.
 
Beware OEM versions that are re-sales of vendor-specific versions of the OS that sometimes find their way into the grey market. I got one for an earlier version of Windows years ago that was linked to a vendor's brand name machine and would not install on any other machines. These are usually the discs that ship with the machine for use if the hard drive crashes; they may be described as "installation" as opposed to "restore" discs, but they are printed by or specifically for the computer maker.  The larger more respected computer parts sellers will not carry these vendor versions, but some of the really super deals from unknown sites or garage sales may be bogus.

I had Win 7 Professional 64 bit OEM on my DAW system (that just bit the dust).   On my new system that I'm building now, I bought OEM Win 7 64 bit Home.  I never used the extra features of the Professional version and 16GB is what I'm installing on the new system. 
 
I'm on the fence about Win 8 (I have the consumer pre-release and I'm not impressed) but as noted, if you upgrade to Win 8 you can get a "full" (not OEM) upgrade and then you will be able to move it to a new system if desired. 

In reference to the OEM PC vendors discs.  They are technically illegal except for the PC it was delivered with.  On Dell OEM Windows discs, they are tied to a Dell BIOS (motherboard).  They will not install if it does not "see" the Dell BIOS.   However, just about all new PC's no longer come with physical discs.  They have a recovery partition on the hard drive and most will have a procedure to create a set of "backup discs" if needed (if the recovery partition will not work).   In addition, you can download Windows 7 (same version that you have), create an iso DVD of Win 7 and use  your Product Key (Retail or OEM) to install if needed.  

Link to Win 7 iso download: http://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/14-windows-7-direct-download-links

The professional version has networking security features that home does not have.  My wifes office bought her a IBM Thinkpad laptop and it was critical to have professional installed so she can remote  the office server securely. 

The OME  OS stashed in a partition is a danger to many people who never take the time to burn the disks. In my case I have a netbook and there is actully no Disk drive! So I have never backed up the OS.
I'm not worried as it is only XP so no loss. I beleieve you can download from the ASUS site too...hmm, I see the MS label on the botton is unreadable now! 
 I should probably swap out the hard drive soon as this one is 3 years old. I'll go with W7 next time anyhow.

The other bummer with OME OS is the disks often are Bloated with crap you do not need. My mother in laws Acer was just a bunch of total junk that took an hour to delete after I re did it.
So there is a benifit in having a proper MS OS full install on a disk in your posession.
I'm not sure about windows 7 but XP pro used to allow 2 computers to share, I still have that version.

The Windows OS disc, does not come with the "bloatware" you mentioned in the Acer PC.  That was placed there by Acer.  The Windows OS disc is just that, the OS and the utilities and games that Microsoft puts on all versions 

The IBM PC division was sold to a Chinese company "Lenovo" quite a while ago.  The "Thinkpads" are made by Lenovo.  I have a Lenovo "Idea Pad" laptop, that I ordered with the optional Win 7 64 bit Professional.  It too came with the typical new PC "bloatware". 

As a side note, the IBM laptops, such as the old IBM Thinkpad was actually made by Toshiba for IBM.  I used to deal with a lot of IBM products when I was working, including mainframe, 3270 devices and PC's such as the old IBM PS/2's with the OS/2 operating system.

syntheticpop


What will Windows Professional do for my DAW build vs. using Windows Home Premium? If I use the OEM version, will I be able to upgrade it to the next version? And what are the limitations? If there are any using an OEM install.

ram already addressed. as well as networking features you dont need.
 
OEM(not from a box slinger (EG Dell etc)): can be put on any computer you want no need to worry about upgrades but yes you can.
generally an OEM full version is less than an upgrade anyway so a moot point.
 
you can move OEM from computer to computer as long as its removed from the old. (MS has a new thing now anyway that shuts off more than 1 running system with the same license anyway) and you were not goofy enough to stick the COA to the case.
 
OEM can be leagally purchased with any hardware sale. (EG a mouse, a HDD)
not supposed to be sold by itself.
 
OEMs sold that came from a box builder is highly illeagal. had a local company around here that did that like 8 yrs ago. $500,000 fine plus criminal record..
 
 

jcschild

 
OEM can be leagally purchased with any hardware sale. (EG a mouse, a HDD)
not supposed to be sold by itself.
 


Newegg offers them all the time. I bought one but haven't used it yet. I was hoping I could set the whole family up with professional from the one OEM version. Haven't gotten around to learning how.

John
 
 

I was hoping I could set the whole family up with professional from the one OEM version. Haven't gotten around to learning how.

 
 
You could certaininly install the system from the same disc on multiple computers, but you will have trouble activating it on more than one. The discs for a given version of windows are all identical, so one disc works for unlimited installations. The identity of the particular copy you are licensing/activating is the printed alphabetic code included with the packaging. In order to activate additional installations you will need additional activation codes for each machine it is installed on. You would probably have better luck getting a cracked version that does not require activation from a pirate distributor than using a legitimatly printed CD to try to get MS to activate it on multiple machines.
 
The cheap and legitimate way to economize on multiple Win 7 was the Family Pack, which gave you three licenses (3 activations) from the same code. That may still be available, and cost less than two full OEM copies, but as far as I know was never available for the Professional version, only Home Premium.

slartabartfast

I was hoping I could set the whole family up with professional from the one OEM version. Haven't gotten around to learning how.

 
 
You could certaininly install the system from the same disc on multiple computers, but you will have trouble activating it on more than one. 

I believe with the OEM version you use "oem preinstallation kit opk" then you can have it on multiple machines as if you were Dell or HP and going to sell them with the system on them.

JOhn

M$ got smart starting with Vista.

if you install (OEM or retail) on mulitple systems using the same COA (license#) it will disable the first system
unlike XP you can not use the code on 2 systems. now if you never connect the system to the internet you think hey i am good,

wrong it times out without an authentication code,
on the other hand if you NEVER click the register now button you can pull it off for a period of time.

just no way aroung having to buy a copy for each system. and rightly so.

moving it from one system to another (with the previous begin decommisioned) is a different story.