I am downloading Beta 3 now and wonder if anyone has any installation experiences or tips they can share before I install--

The installation is simple and fast. GUI interface even if you boot from CD. Like Vista, you need to make 2 Partitions if you want to try BitLocker. Do not select ServeEnterpriserCore mode if you don't know what it is. If you do want to test ServerEnterpriseCore, you need use blank password to logon. Search Technet for information about how to change the password, computer name, ip address, and how to install roles on Server Core. It's difficult toactivate it!