Looking for advice regarding a netbook's OS Atom N550 @

The smoothest (less secure) option on those specs would be windows XP.

The smoothest secure option would be to install a lightweight Linux distro.
Linux Mint or Lubuntu are the easiest one to use in that sector imho.

>>136388
>1GB
Hahaha, no.
2GB is the bare minimum for a pleasant experience in Windows Vista and later. Upgrading might be as simple as getting a DIMM, or might be completely impossible.

>GMA 3150
Has no driver for Windows 10. You can use the Windows 7 driver, but power management will probably be fucky, and it won't provide the features Windows 10 is expecting (DXVA, rebooting the GPU on its own).

I upgraded an HP Mini to Windows 10 from 7 and it runs like a top. Upgrading got rid of all the bloat which helped it greatly. If you can run Windows 7, chances are likely you can run it with 10. HP Mini is a shit netbook, but it took the update like a fucking champ.

>>136392
I've been considering getting XP for a while now since I know it'd run better, but it feels redundant to roll back now.
What was that all about Embedded being supported until 2019? Is that one viable for regular use?

Never dabbled in Linux at all in my life. I run dosbox, some console emulators and low-spec or older games and visual novels on this, will they still run without much hassle?

>>136401
Duly noted. ram goes up to 2gb with a simple stick swap (really easy to open up too)
Shame about the drivers though.

>>136414
HP Minis use the same GPU as this thing, don't they? What about the lack of win10 driver previous poster mentioned?

>>136419
I guess it depends on your definition of "good".

I like my laptops to be able to run YouTube, and not randomly lose my work when I close the lid.

Your requirements may differ.

>>136424
This thing struggles with youtube as it is, it always has if it was anything over 480p or taken out of focus

Never had any trouble with "randomly losing my work"

I just want fucking Word and Adobe Reader to stop choking up every 15 seconds and to be able to play some old games and visual novels as mentioned above.

>>136433
I dual boot a Samsung n150 2gb ram with Win 7 & Lubuntu. Lubuntu runs nicely, plays 720p where Win struggles. Upgrading the ram will help a little, but dont expect much. Also replace the hd with ssd. Im thinking of trying out Win 10 soon to see what it would be like.

>>136433
Yeah, but it needn't. The GPU can accelerate h.264, and so can accelerate YouTube.

The hardware is capable of fullscreen 1080; the problem is that the driver is a pile of shit and can't expose this capability to DXVA, because it itself is a half-assed port of a Windows XP driver.

>>136419
I haven't had any driver issues whatsoever with the HP Mini, it just works.