windows 8.1

Win 8 and Win 8.1 work perfectly well on a standard computer. I have have used them both on my laptop for many, many months. I have also tried them using a Surface with keyboard and touch screen and I found that it is still easier to use the touch pad which is just millimeters away from my fingers than it was to reach out and touch the screen that was inches away. If I disconnected the Surface from the keyboard the touch screen works quite well.
You just need to know how you want to use you computer and make your decisions based on that. Not one single person here can tell anyone else what is right for them.