I've just installed win 8 trial and O don't think that it is that much different than 7. There's no menu start, but I didn't use it much so that's not big thing for me. You can find little tweaks like better task manager and file copy progress window. It runs dramatically faster, but probably because I've also upgraded my 8 years old hdd to raid0 ssds. My only hardware that is troublesome is logitech F710 gamepad, I'll try install microsoft drivers for xbox 360 gamepad. I've also just copied Guild Wars 2 from old system and it just works so probably installing steam and copying all gamefiles will work as it used to in win 7. I think that if you are ok with no start menu you should give it a try.