I am using a netbook with a N270 processor, 1 MB of memory and Windows 7 Starter and am using a M2Tech HiFace USB interface and WASAPI. I am playing from memory. The CPU utilization is less than 10% using flac files. The library and files are local. Everything works fine for me. When I used a cheap Turtle Beach SRM with Direct Sound I did get occassional dropouts. You might want to check the latency to see if that might be an issue. But with the HiFAce it is fine.
I actually think a Netbook can be an attractive system. I have almost no software installed on mine and can run it on batteries for hours. So, there is very little to interfere with the audio.
I actually use another laptop to control the Netbook, with the Netbook serving its library to the laptop and then selecting "There" as the output zone. (Thanks Jim!) Works great and gives me the larger screen for the interface.
Standalone, I agree the windows can be a little difficult to see. You need to keep hitting the Full Screen buttom to be able to see them.
Give it a try. I found it well worth it.
