keep in mind I am an avid linux user so this is somewhat biased 1. Stability and general business. *Amazing. This is the first Windows version that has not crashed on me. No BSOD so far even with my massive tweaking. Even windows 7 eventually BSODed on me. Drivers install quickly and seemed to recognize everything properly, even some weird hardware I threw at it - Smart Card Reader from XP era is a good example. Windows 7 wouldn't see it but 8 sees it immediately. 2. Ease-of-use. *It's windows. I personally find it clunky as I am the type of person that uses the CLI for almost everything. But as a GUI it is nice, feels good like 7 did. Not much to complain about. I used a surface pro for a month or two and metro works well here. I dislike it with the mouse but you do get used to it after a while. 3. Compare to XP and/or 7. * Way smoother then 7. Feels lightweight like XP did back in the day. I love this. The eye-candy doesn't get in the way as much as it did in 7. 4. Hardware support. *Better than 7 in my experience. Lacking with some devices. For example if I plug in my android phone windows 8 fails to see it, even though it use MTP (a MS technology if I am not mistaken) but my Linux box recognizes it immediately no need to download drivers. 5. Program support/compatibility. * Everything works. No bugs. Wish Truecrypt supported it though. 6. Anything else relevant. * Overall good experience. Some minor draw backs but for my usage (Visual Studio and video production) all works as expected. I bought it for $40 and use it for those two things only.
I have to say I have used every windows version since 95 and this is probably my favorite version. I mean I do bring back the start right away as I dislike metro interface for mousing around but the new search is quick, find apps instantly. It's stable as I said, and finds almost everything I through at it hardware wise. Gaming runs well too in my brief testing
I'm looking at buying a cheap tablet soon and installing Windows 8 on it, to see how it fares with a touchscreen.
I would stay away from anything Atom based. They are terrible with windows 8. If you go cheaper you may want to stick to RT to get a smooth experience still. i3 at the lowest on the intel side. IMO.
Most definitely, from my experience with them they are slow for Windows 7 too. I'm going to be buying an older machine with a Core 2 Duo probably - not exceptionally fast, but more than fast enough to run Windows 8 quickly.
Mostly, lol. While I want a Windows tablet to try Windows 8 on, I am quite happy with my current laptops. Because of this, I don't want to spend much on a tablet - it will be something to mess around with, but will not replace my current laptops. If I was buying a new tablet, I would probably only by a Lenovo one, and it's $699 for an Atom powered one, which would be too slow for me.
