I'm having a great experience with Windows 8.1. Much faster, cleaner, and efficient. But alas, this revolves around preference. If you want something stable and something that works with everything with no questions asked, go for Windows 7. I still use Windows 7 on a daily basis via my job, but I use Windows 8.1 at home. The only problems I've come across with Windows 8 and 8.1 is that only one of my games doesn't work. That's it, only one. People say that you NEED a touch screen to have the best Win8 experience, but I'm having no problems navigating with my mouse.