Question about LAN sharing Pro vs Home

I have XP pro on my current computer (gateway), and at school I will often share files by right clicking on the folder and sharing it. If I find my IP address, I can go to my friends rooms' and just type my IP address in and I can see all the files I shared and retrieve them, stream them, etc...

I'm building my first comp. now and am trying to choose between home and Pro. I was wondering if anyone knows whether or not you can share files over a network like that with XP home. When I did research trying to differentiate the two versions, I kept reading that XP Pro had more network file sharing capabilities but it never got into the specifics.

If I go XP home will I still be able to do this? Help is much appreciate thanks.

apc

p.s If I go XP Home, is there anything else major that I am unaware of that I might not be available which is under PRO? thanks again

Yea I saw that ealier. I was particularly looking at this line

Offline Files and Folders - access to files & folders on a network share when disconnected from the server.

It says XP HOME lacks this feature while XP Pro has it. But I have no intention of being disconnected from the server. I simply want to have both computers connected to the same network and from one type in the IP address of the other and access that computer's shared files. But never do I want to be able to access anything when I'm not connected to the network (hehe never even really thought of that).

Can anyone clarify this?