I really dont know why people are moaning at this one. I did my 2 Windows 8 RT tablets and 2 Laptops in 2 hours. That was bang on launch day where the world and his wife have been downloading it.
Everytime I tried my iOS devices it would take all night to download. While its annoying this is the way every ones going.
I see your point. Getting 8.1 was a good experience.
But those with 8 OEM have a real PITA ahead of them if they want to rebuild their machine. Which I might do regular twice a year, and as needed in case of an OS failure for whatever reason.
I am hoping that the Windows Refresh option is as good as doing reinstalls, as I have now created a image using recimg.exe. 6gb of space on my SSD but never mind.