Microsoft account established with outlook or really any other product on win 8 will upload to the cloud favorites passwords & misc other files and then continue to update itself. You just keep using the same login account & password.

Switching to a new pc and using the same login email will set everything the same as the first.

Switching to a new pc with NO login account will start from scratch but will also prevent you from buying anything from the Microsoft apps store, which may include automatic free updates (not sure there).

No account means limited Microsoft snooping on your PC. 

Windows 8 is sneaky on the setup screens pushing to setup an account but you can force an opt out by selecting create an account later.     

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