It's not an unsafe choice as far as driver and software compatibility goes. Like I said, under the hood, the guts are all essentially the same as Vista, with gradual refinement and optimization with 7, 8, 8.1, and now 10. As the above video states, they've made it faster and more lean to bring down the hardware requirements. The interface is a different story. 8 brought huge sweeping changes, with gradual refinement in 8.1 and 10. These changes didn't degrade software compatibility or the stability of the operating system, but they did upset a lot of people. For a new computer, I think the decision comes down to how comfortable you will be with the changes to the interface. If you're one to embrace change and enjoy poking around a new system to see what's new, then go for it. If what you see in the video gives you hives, then stick with 7 for as long as you can.