OS Choice on MSI Wind Netbook?

Hi guys, ive recently upgraded my MSI Wind netbook (2gb DDR2 RAM, Intel Atom N270 1.6ghz with 1.9ghz turbo feature from the Wind, 60gb Corsair SSD) and had installed windows 7 professional 32-bit on it. It runs okay. I have it set up as a workstation/internet browser with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse at a desk. I'll occasionally take it with me for portable computing needs, but it isn't common anymore. Anyways, recently when using it ive noticed it likes to peg itself at 100% cpu. Ive done all sorts of virus scans and OS checks and such, nothing comes up as the culpirit. When I am watching videos online (youtube, vipbox streaming, etc) this 100% CPU usage causes a little bit of lag/stuttering on the videos/streams. For the most part, it seems to work fine though. I let my girlfriend use it mainly to do presentation stuff and word document stuff (and the aforementioned web browsing and video watching).

So, im thinking windows 7 is a bit heavy for it. After a while, leaving it idle (even with the browser open and running, but no videos or anything like that running in it), the CPU usage normalizes. But as soon as I get on it again, up it goes.

My question is this: Would Windows 8.1 be a more effective OS for this scenario? Or maybe something Linux based? I appreciate any feedback, thanks.

Probably Linux based, that unit needs more memory!

Linux, or XP. More ram would help too.

When you are pegged, what does task manager say is using the cpu? Can u post a screenshot?

Im not near it now, but it bounces between the active application (Google Chrome in my recent tests), svchost, and system idle process.

DDR2 isn't cheap anymore, especially a 4gb SODIMM :/

~$50 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ... DDR2 SO DIMM&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

Check if all the ram is used too. Do you see a lot of HDD activity outside of perhaps the 'heartbeat'? That is also a sign of not enough ram as it is paging out to the HDD.

Much easier to put in a single 4gb stick (which runs over $80). However, I guess I can take the keyboard off and check if the stick of ram under there can come out, if so then the $50 4gb kit is good. I don't recall all the ram being used though in my tests and nothing out of the ordinary with the SSD.

So far, one vote for XP and one vote for Linux. Nothing regarding Win8.1? Why would XP be advantageous in this situation compared to 7/8.1 (other than being lighter I guess)? Thanks

With a single core CPU and 2GB RAM, I'd probably give Lubuntu a try. It's designed to have low resource requirements with netbooks and old PCs in mind.

For Windows... XP has much lower system requirements than 7 or 8, so XP would be better in this case.

Ah, thanks for that recommendation