Where Do I go From Here?

Novice currently have laptop running 8.0

Getting mixed messages to update or not... Thinking I should.

Do I first update to old 8.1? Do I need to update everything with it:

BIOS ( how do i know if i have RAID or not?); Drivers (13 listed by manufac.); Firmware; Utilities (battery calibration, boot config, etc)........

Can I go straight to 8.1+ (umm.. how do I get it? :o )