Microsoft spectacularly misjudged both the popularity of XP and the resistance of people to migrate to newer hardware… they [Microsoft] dragged their feet with 8's development and had to rush the E-8 build out which is effectively a beta version. There are numerous tweaks but the main issue is one of drivers for the various hardware venders so if you use all new hardware as Microsoft assumed then the E-8 build will perform very well but people whom want to keep older hardware esp peripherals like sound and network (in particularly wireless) devices then the evaluation build will start to struggle.
To be clear, significant time has passed since then and the current 8 (& 8.1) has much better support drivers.
While I agree that 7 is ok as a working system you obviously want to at least try 8 just to test it out or you wouldn't have posted. The e-build IS free so try it & don't get stressed out over driver issues or too upset because it is different to what you have gotten used to… it's just a demo and the final build can be configured to look or feel the same as 7 with a little effort.
As always, look around for a student, end of financial year or components special to get a bargain.
P.s. avoid torrent builds, they generate more trouble than they solve… seriously.