Windows 8/8.1 under the hood is better than Windows 7 under the hood.
I haven't seen that yet. I just rolled back to Windows 7 on a Lenovo x230. Even with Windows 8.1 drivers the NIC sometimes wouldn't work after waking up the laptop. Will drivers make Windows 8 remembered like Vista?
When Windows 8 came out I tried it and call it, "My eight hours on Windows 8". With 8.1 and StartIsBack it's OK, but I realized I jumped through a few hoops to make it exactly like Windows 7 so why deal with the headaches and removed features (manage wireless networks I'm looking at you), hidden features, and breakages (SkyDrive sync). This time I lasted a month.