Ok, so first off, i'm not a computer wiz, so with that in mind i am currently running X1 Producer on a dedicated desktop with XP. specs are:
Windows XP 
Gigabyte EP43-UD3L MOBO Intel P43 Chipset 
Intel (R) Core 2 Duo CPU E8500 @3.16GHz 3.25GB of RAM / NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT  I know, i know i've heard the snide comments already about the XP. For the most part i'm happy! everything runs good, i've learned enough to do what i want to do. The problem is if i want to stay with Sonar i have to upgrade to Windows 7 or 8. Can anyone give me any advice on what this will do to make my life better other than being able to upgrade every time sonar releases a new revision? i'm more into playing/ writing music than being a computer geek and having the latest greatest stuff, however i do need to be able to stay updated with the basics. Also, i am not able to run with the 64bit now and i'm not even sure what difference that would make? better sound? better better something???  any constructive advice is welcome.
thanks,
Jefferson

Be sure to review what hardware is NOT supported on Win7 or Win8 before you upgrade... When I went to Win7, I had to buy a new camera and printer. Microsoft has website you can search for on "hardware compatibility."
 
I actually backed out of the upgrade to Win8 because of the disclaimer that you cannot uninstall and get the old operating system back... you had to re-install the older version from scratch (i.e. format and all that pain).
 
Now, on the X boards I read a comment that 8.1 drivers do not work in 8, so I think I am sticking with 7.
 
I got a 64-bit machine when going to 7, and the learning curve was originally painful, but it is more capable. I am not sure about 32-bit though, so this is also something to consider. Be sure to research!
 
Michael

Thanks Michael. I am leaning toward 7 at this point. Appreciate your good advice!

Jeff I ran XP for a long time too, then bought 7 64bit. I like it quite a bit. Plays very well with X3. I bought my daughter an HP running windows 8, and couldn't stand it. I ended up putting 7 on her computer too.

I would't go back to XP, despite it originally being a great little system. Win 7 64bit is the way to go...I'm not sure whether your system is 64bit capable, but it will allow you to run more ram, which is important if you're working with waves on the fly. 7 is a pretty stable system and hopefully won't be redundant for quite a few more years.
 
I'd like to try 8, but I think I would need a new system for it. I don't want to upgrade 7 especially - as mentioned above - you can't uninstall it...however, if you make a backup image of 7, then you could probably re-install it, if 8 didn't work...still too early for me though. 
 

I ran XP on my 32-bit machine until I retired that machine (but kept it for a year anyway). I didn't jump to Win7 until I got a 64-bit machine that could support it, and was happy for the change.
 
My concern is that I do not know how effective Win7-32 would be on even the same machine *I* had used (which was pretty good). I think the biggest advantage of Win7 is being able to use the 64-bit architecture. Typically people looking at an O/S upgrade are not intending to get a new machine.
 
Michael

I have to agree with the Windows 7 guys. W8's interface is mobile centric and, IMHO, has no place on the desktop unless you have a touchscreen.
 
As for the x64 business, extra RAM for a single app, dedicated RAM space for each app without swapping out to an HD, larger projects should be possible with the extra RAM x64 allows and although I've never bothered measuring it, there should be a bit of a speed boost for bouncing tracks and anything else that's time intensive.

The main advantage to me when I migrated to Win 7 / 64 bit was the ability to run as many sample streaming libraries (think EWQLSO) as I wanted without running out of RAM.
I could max out my old XP system pretty quickly, but on my new machine, it barely flickers, even with my 160 track orchestral template loaded up.

Wait a couple weeks. See what 8.1 is. Supposed to clean things up a lot. 8.1 has a much better search engine whatever that's worth.
John