I noticed my CPU usage reduced a small bit when I upgraded, I guess that could be a reason. Steam and skype still work for me.

 

I found Diablo 3 ran better on my machine, not because of reduced CPU/RAM usage of the OS, but because it somehow granted a bit better HDD reading. Don't ask me how. All I know is that instead of major freezing while trying to load assets, those freezes are not as long.

 

Hmmm... I was looking at upgrading from windows 7, If I upgrade does it keep all my work documents?

 

Thanks guys. I will upgrade.

 

You may get annoyed by the lack of a Start Menu on the bottom-left of the screen, but I found with a little time and having shortcut keys related to the windows key to be quite nice (though I probably should have been using shortcut keys since Windows 7).

Win Key + C -> Charms bar on right side
Win Key + X -> Small list showing access to the system like "Programs and Features (for uninstalling)", "Control Panel", "Run", etc.
Win Key + F -> Search Files

Try other Win Key + key combinations to see what is available.

 

I'd do it for the heck of it, it's free so why not?

 

I would never upgrade my OS like that.
Sure you keep all the applications, but at the end of the day, it is better to perform a clean install and start fresh, then you can add all your applications again.
Or even better, perform a dual boot installation ( I'm doing that sice XP/Vista days ) .
Basically you create a new partition and install Windows 8 on it.
Upon starting your system, you will be asked if you like to boot into Windows 8 or 7.
At the end of the day, if you are not happy with Windows 8 you can just delete the new partition and everything will be untouched on the Windows 7 partition, so you don't risk loosing anything.
Also there is the odd game/application that has compatibility issues in 8, therefore I'd keep 7 just in case, at least for a couple of years until you won't care about the old stuff anymore and you'll keep booting in 8....

 

This is a bit off topic but I do believe Windows 8 runs differently on different machines.

There was one touch PC on show at our store. It's a toshiba with Intel Core i3 with Win8 Premium. It was extremely sluggish and glitchy. Hated it.

However, my friend who has a recently bought i7 Dell ran it quite smoothly.

 

Oh, didn't read that OP wanted to keep his stuff. For me OS upgrade == clean install.

 

The People App rocks. All of my social (LinkedIn, FB, twitter, Microsoft) contacts in one location.

As has been mentioned before, the Mail app works well too, with the ability to pull down all of your e-mail accounts. It wont handle POP 3, but you can get around that by creating an Outlook/Hotmail/Live e-mail account, then adding your POP e-mail accounts to the outlook/Hotmail/Live e-mail account, then connect the Windows 8 Mail to the new Outlook/Hotmail/Live account.

The Windows Store is cool too. LOTS of free games.

It takes a bit of time to get used to the new UI, but once you figure it out, you will like it.

There is a free upgrade to add Media Center to Windows 8 Pro as well. Go to: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/feature-packs

The Skydrive integration into the apps is nice. No more having to download the file first, then accessing it. Office 2013 will have Skydrive integration as well.

An don't forget - free streaming of over 18 million songs with Xbox Music.