The machine seems to run smoothly and quietly. I am new to Win 8.1 so I hope it is just the lousy OS which is letting the side down. I am using it for Reason 8 and so far it hasn't broke into a sweat, it downloads at lightening speed and everything seems to install over the net without driver disks! It is the best value machine I've found after days of looking, to be honest I wanted Win 7 which seems to offer a good interface without going all 'app city'. When I can work out how to run three monitors it should be prefect. I am very pleased with this purchase and have added 'box' to my favourites.