I have been running Windows 8 (x64) preview edition on my old Dell latitude D820.  No problems, no driver issues.  All original hardware works with Microsoft supplied drivers.  Originally the D820 had Vista.  One point to consider is that an install with all the "bells and whistles" is over five gigabytes, and therefore  will not fit on a single DVD.  You may be able to do the install from a double layer DVD or a Blu-ray disk.  I did the install from and USB flash drive.  Microsoft has a new utility called the "Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool which can convert an ISO O/S installation image to a bootable USB Flash drive.