Comment Re:icewm (Score 1) 611
This may have a lot to do with proprietary display drivers, sometimes not available at all for Linux (what's the status of Linux PowerVR drivers anyway?), forcing them to do everything with CPU, and Atom isn't sold for it's processing power.
Also, if you don't mind, I'll take that "all effects turned on" + "very smoothly" with a grain of salt...
Something other than proprietary drivers is at work. I've run the Windows 7 beta under QEMU-KVM, which has no 3D acceleration, and the basic (not Aero) desktop effects run smoothly. Windows appears to be using 2D rendering to produce a false 3D look. Among window managers in Linux, Enlightenment is capable of something similar. A shame that all of the so-called modern desktop environments assume the presence of 3D hardware acceleration.