Here is an interesting article: http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1599

So, 1.6GHz CPU with 2GB of RAM is pokey? Vista runs fine on that, I've run it on a 1.6GHz Celeron D with 512MB of RAM, and it was decent. So, most people get Leopard with a new, fast PC, while people that get Vista, may upgrade, or buy a cheep PC, which has specs much worst than MacBook Air.

They shouldn't ship any computer with less than a 2 GHz processor anymore unless it's running legacy software or Linux. They're trying to do too much with too little, and it's just not going to work. The MBA is a decent machine, other than the price, and doing that to it just hurts the people who're paying for it. Good job Apple, another pile of sh!t you're shoveling out to us consumers.

Well my laptop has a 1.73 Ghz processor, but I think 2 GB should now be the recommend amount of RAM for Vista.

But you can optimize Vista's performance without modifying your hardware. You can gain some performance by disabling Aero, for example.

Im running Windows 7 M1 R2 (Close to Vista) And it goes fast on my 1.6ghz and 512mb ram..

I got 2GB on my desktop, and 1GB in my dad's laptop (which I brought), and vista runs fine on both of them. But yeah, more ram, better experience. That's why people like macs, because they don't ship their bloated OS on underpowered machines. I tried running Leopard on a PC with a Celeron D 2.4GHz and 1GB of RAM, and vista is fine, but leopard is super slow.

Again, Thats true..

That's good, well about Windows 7 M1 R2 looks they reduce some bloat.
IMO one of the prob in vista is the backward compatibility on older hardwares and unsupported older drivers, but I think vista is not really a worst OS as I experience it. I recommend 2GB or more RAM for vista too, at least 1GB, especially if your running AERO.