I guess if all you're ever doing is rebooting and logging in, it might appear snappier. But I suspect most people would like to do other things with their netbooks. 😉
I have a circa 2003/2004 (custom built) P4 box (Northwood chip) with 1GB that used XP with for 4 years, Vista for a year or so and now Win 7. I've always used the machine for heavy 'pro app' use (Cubase, Sony Vegas, Photoshop, etc). XP was great, but when you began pushing it things would definitely show and usually rather quickly it'd just 'give up'. Vista was worse in either 32bit or 64bit (no real advantage to x64 in my case but I tried it anyway).
Win 7 has been an absolute joy to use. Everything I've thrown at the RC has been just as or more stable than XP and the system remains far more responsive and graceful under heavy load (exceeding the physical memory as an example). I've never experienced a 'blue screen' either Win 7 or Server 2008, though I'm sure it happens.
I recently added another 1GB to this machine (found ram I originally paid $400 for in '04 for $5!!) and it was like getting a new machine. Yes, XP would have seen a great deal of improvement as well, but Win 7 really shines now. It's allowed me to hold off another year or two on getting a desktop replacement during tight financial times. Granted, when I do replace it, I'll be getting a Mac Pro!
😀
I would absolutely put Win 7 on any machine with somewhat modern specs (P4 2.0 / AMD equivelent or better and 1GB ram) with little reservation.
And before I get (possibly) flamed for all this different software, it's all 100% legal and I get advanced access to virtually everything Microsoft. I work for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner (we're in the hosting industy) and our MSDN / Technet accounts get us invite only and beta access to everything, so I wind up trying a lot (especially on the server side of things).
Yes, I work in a Microsoft centric environment and I'm not afraid to bash them where due, but Win 7 and it's Server 2008 brother is a damn solid OS.