New laptop will come with Win10 Home but I prefer Win10 Pro

Hi, the tutorial section here is very handy. Here's the one you need:
Upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro

Just wondering- what specifically are you looking for in Pro?

All you need to do is buy a legitimate Pro key, and use the built-in Anytime Upgrade feature to enter the new key and the upgrade will occur. No re-installation will be necessary (in case you thought that)

Basically, all Win 10 installations are the same, it's just that some features are "blocked" in Home version. The Pro upgrade key will release those.

Jim McClain said:

Thanks for the link.

Familiarity and security. I've used Windows since 3.1 in 1992 and every time I've upgraded it has been to the "pro" features versions whenever available. I don't plan to change.

My history with computers starts at the same as yours, bought first in '92 [Hewitt Rand AMD 80386/40MHz], retired 2 years later then got hired in a computer store/shop and starting building computers when 80486 started coming out. I run both Home and Pro machines along with a couple of Insider Preview Pro. Since I'm not on a Server-based Network there's not much I need in Pro except maybe Group Policy Editor, I don't map drives on the other computers, only needed some common file storage so use NAS drives connected to the Router.

I had some left-over Win7 and Win8/8.1 keys left over from a canceled Microsoft Partners program I was able to use to Upgrade from Home to Pro. I didn't have to download much to change the edition, several minutes for setup, enter the keys in System where there is a choice and a reboot.

Jim McClain said:

I ordered a Dell laptop:
XPS 15 7590 9th Generation Intel Core i7-9750H (12MB Cache, up to 4.5 GHz, 6 cores)
1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
32GB DDR4-2666MHz, 2x16G
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB GDDR5
15.6" 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) InfinityEdge Anti-Reflective Touch IPS 100% AdobeRGB 500-Nits display

It comes with Windows 10 Home only - no option for Windows 10 Pro and I couldn't convince them to change it to that unless I wanted to cancel the order and re-order the newest iteration of that machine that now only comes with Win10 Pro. That change would have cost me more than $500.00 extra and the only difference would be the version of Windows 10.

The reason for this topic is to ask your advice on upgrading the laptop to Windows 10 Pro when it arrives sometime in late May. Should I do it the very first time I turn it on, or is there a specific procedure you think I should follow?

I haven't owned a laptop since 1997 (see photo below with my then girlfriend pretending she knows how to use it) - a Toshiba, if I remember correctly. I've built all my own computers since after I bought my first desktop in 1992, except for the laptop, of course. I want to scale down now, although I will be keeping my ASUS 27" IPS ProArt monitor, keyboard and trackball for when I use the laptop at home. I have purchased a 6TB external drive (Firebolt 3 connectivity) to store all my photos and personal files. I also have already received the Dell Thunderbolt Dock- WD19TB.

Your guidance would be appreciated.

Jim - Take a look at this link ->Upgrade W10 Home to PRO ?
I needed to do the that you want. Its really pretty easy and my new Lenovo is running W10 PRO. Just check out page 2 of that thread.

You can simply update to the Pro version quickly at any time by entering the Pro licence code. If you had bought a professional range PC e.g. Dell Latitude / HP ProBook for much the same price then the laptop would have been supplied with the Pro version.