If you choose "Save As" or "Save Copy As" in X8 and want to save in jpg format, the dialogue that opens is almost identical to that of X7 except that it includes a compression slider that also displays the file size resulting from choosing different compression levels. That dialogue in X7 does not have this feature.
If you click on the Options button in each program the Save Options dialogue is identical in both, and the compression slider does not show the resultant file size as you change compression levels in either program.
Clicking the "Run Optimizer" button in either program results in an Optimizer window that is identical in both and which does show resultant file sizes as the compression slider is moved. That's several dialogues down to just be able to set a compression level with a desired file size.
I find the compression feature in the first "Save As" and "Save Copy As" dialogues in X8 a handy feature when I only need to determine the compression level and resulting file size, because if I have previously set my generally used desired jpg options in the subsequent dialogues (e.g., no chroma subsampling, standard encoding, whether or not to save Exif date, etc) then I only have to use the first Save As dialogue box to set my compression and be able to view the resultant file size and then save the image to a selected folder when saving jpgs. That's an improvement IMHO.
I don't use the simple "Save" option for any files or file formats simply because of the possibility of doing something unintended by using it without thinking of possible unwanted consequences. The other two options get my attention and make me think before saving stuff - e.g.,where it will be saved, whether or not it might inadvertently overwrite something I might not want overwritten, whether I actually want to use my default options in this particular project, etc. Simply my workflow preferences.
