ah i can't even remember vista! not good times for sure

even on high end hardware vista wasn't very efficient. windows 8 is similar than 7 on fast hardware(definitely lighter and faster on slower hardware though) , probably a bit faster in some ways, but the main things that i notice how are things like the much more detailed graphs when transferring data, and the amazing task manager that shows cpu/mem/disk/network usage for each individual application, background process and windows processes. i also really dislike the aesthetic of vista/7 and i think the windows 8 matte/flat/square sort of aesthetic is much more minimal and clean, i know i like the look of it a lot more anyway. going back to 7 felt really dated when i was logged in there fiddling with the samsung drive. i actually prefer windows classic theme much more over the win 7 aero and i actually use the windows classic theme for my backup windows 7 installation. price vise the $40 direct download is a good deal my sister got that and had a seamless in place upgrade. i got the disk for $70 on preorder and i understand the prices will be going up at least for the disk.