I installed the latest build (Build 6956) of Windows 7 Ultimate onto my HP Mini 1000 test unit, just to see how well the next-gen Windows platform would work on the low-on-computing-power netbooks. I was pretty impressed actually - installation took under an hour, and most of the hardware drivers were found by the OS itself, so nearly everything relevant - gpu, wifi, touchpad, audio - worked. Unfortunately, the stuff that didn't have built in drivers - webcam, touchpad enhancements, etc - didn't have immediately obvious fixes for them either. HP's driver website was absolutely no help, as the only non-working thing they had drivers for was the Synaptics touchpad enhancements, and the installer didn't have a Win7-compatible profile, so no go there. Thankfully, the only thing I lose by sticking to the generic touchpad driver is the side scroll area, so its ok. Arrow keys are more precise anyways. I'll probably look harder for working drivers and such tomorrow/later today.
In actual use, its actually pretty smooth. Granted, with decent hardware, Windows 7 would likely run significantly better, but from what I can see, it doesn't have much of an increase in sysreqs from Vista. The base memory footprint has stayed the same as before, at roughly 600MB (so its usually taking 60-70% of the netbook's memory), and the CPU idle speed of the Atom processor is in the teens, with spikes up to 55% periodically. Not so great, but again, looking at the hardware I've got, I can't expect much better. Interestingly, I managed to keep music playing in the background while browsing the web and didn't notice a big slowdown from what I am used to in XP. This is a very good sign. However, due to the higher CPU idle speed and greater use of memory, I'd expect the battery life to sink from the already mediocre 2.6 hours to right around 1.8 or 2 hours of runtime.
Lastly, I know I've forgotten pics, but my camera has run out of battery, so I've left it for charge. I'll get pics up when I wake up (sometime in the afternoon, probably) and I'll probably get an install guide written to post as well. I've got another project up my sleeve, too...it involves the letters O, S, and X. We'll see if I can get Apple's vaunted OS X Leopard booting on the Mini. We know its been done on the Wind many times, but I really want to try to get it working on the Mini, since its a better overall netbook in my opinion.
UPDATE: I know, its not the afternoon anymore, but pics are pics nonetheless. Click after the break to view them.

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