Ohh thats a big step and i feel for you since i am kind of in the same boat as you are. Some of the problums are incombatability of harware you might have . Like a sound card or your video card. It also means current updates for hardware and software. Your mother board might not support is well either. Thats why the newer ones are XP specific or made for win XP. I would tell you to first have some one to ghost your drive for you . Meaning make a image file of it so if it turns out bad you can put it back just like it was. Sorry i can help more than this .