I recently purchased Windows 8 Pro 64 bit. I noticed once i logged on i have some applications that store my contacts, email etc.

Is there any benefit in using Office 2010 (mainly Outlook) over the free apps that come with Win 8 other than Excel, Winword etc?

Thanks

Well, in general, Outlook provides more powerful feature than Windows Mail app, you might want to compare them by using both of them (install the Outlook trial), and make your own decision after that.