It is an old build, the version that lvl cap was playing as well as the footage they have been showing in their videos on youtube is a far newer build by the looks of it, either that or they are false advertising like most of the other game companies out there........
It was the same for the beta of BF 3 (also an older version than what they had at the time), tons of problems, proper textures not implemented, changing settings not doing anything, poor performance for majority of users and it was like a month before release too, come the final game, most things were fixed/improved (iirc there was a day one patch)
Yes DICE/EA are terrible and well known for shoddy launches but they will get the problems sorted before then or within a few weeks of release, do you really think they are going to hamper performance for window 7 users (i.e. like 70-80% of PC gamers probably) just in order to get them to upgrade to windows 8? Do you really think they are going to make the performance terrible for good rigs in order to get people to go out and splash another £200-600 on their PC?
The main reason for the beta is server testing.
If the final game doesn't run/work well, the majority of people aren't going to bother with the game, therefore it will only affect DICE/EA in the long run, not just their profit but also their image and future game sales.
EDIT:
Also, remember what the crysis 3 beta was like compared to the final game?
and yes I am jealous
