Fastest and lightest OS for netbook (Acer Aspire One)

[steppinthrax]

I found a model that matches OPs specs (AO751h-1211):

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5011539
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115577R

So an Aspire One does exist, with 2GB RAM and Vista Home Basic. Interesting.

I bought this netbook used from a guy on craigslist. It was for my daughter. I figured when she got sick of it I would simply use it for my own purposes. Only thing he did to it was put Windows 7 Ultimate on it (which I felt was overkill!!!). When I was trying the different linux OSs I decided to take some of the covers off to look at the hard drive/ram/NIC card. I found that all those devices had manufacture stickers on it. Almost like they came from the factory that way. Indicating to me that it was "store bought" with 2GIGs of ram and 250GB HD!!!!

 

[sbpromania]

I tried elementary OS and even some of the small OS that run on a USB stick and they were slow and poky.

Let me describe to you the slowness in elementary.

"Upon bootup when I would move my mouse pointer towards the bottom where the icons were there would be a noticeable delay in the popups and the icons would not jump up in a smooth fashion but a jerky (3 frames) fashion"

This might be a driver problem, and because the driver is not properly installed/configured, the GUI of the OS does not take into consideration the hardware capabilities of the GPU.

You might have some luck here: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/21938/Graphics-Linux-PowerVR-Graphics-Media-Drivers