It really depends on your opinion I guess. There are downsides to 1.8 and downsides to 1.7. I personally have a eh PC, but I can get around 60 FPS usually on 1.7, but if you have a bad PC 1.8 would get you better FPS. 1.8 also has a bit of a further hit range it seems like. I personally enjoy 1.7 a bit better as I don't like the knockback in 1.8, but it's up to the person. Neither are really better than the other.