JCK has a not so expensive honesuki in their Kagayaki basic line. Should be only a little over a 100 bucks. It's not listed and you'll need to email Koki for the price.
White is not the king of edge retention (blue is generally better in that regard, but the Kono whites are very nice knives). Can't say anything about the Yoshikanes.
Win 7 is ok but 8 takes a while to get used to (well, I hate it). GF bought a laptop with 8 and I had to use google to find out how to shut the damn thing off.....