I had a chance to see Win8 on my Teengirl's laptop that we got her for college. Cat sick is being kind, really. It's abysmal. The updates are dreadfully slow, and if you make the mistake of downloading programs as apps, they don't close even when you think they do. You know how you need to swipe things closed on a tablet or smartphone. Yes, that.
I think it's well worth the extra fee (even though the idea rankles somewhat) to purchase Win7 for a new desktop. As far as tablets, mine runs Android. I like Android. I don't like Win8.