So, for $89 I picked up a little netbook... Asus eeePC 1000HE(sold with XP) with 2gb(max) ram and a 160gb hard drive with Windows 10 loaded. It actually runs pretty well, except it takes a bit to load a netflix movie, but once loaded, it runs fine. I put all my Line 6 software on it, so I can use it with Pod Farm and the Variax 500, and still send it by 1/4" to the I/O for Sonar. I am gonna get an SSD today. I'll get a 500gb and swap out the 256 in this pc and put the 256 in the netbook. I loaded Audacity for recording purposes, as I would guess 2 gb of ram could be an issue with Sonar. Now I can see a need for a mobile version, just for quickies......I think 10 runs better on it than 7.

I have an old one of these that had XP on it. It couldn't really run XP though, so I had put a few different flavors of linux on there just to have something for checking emails and such. I figured at this point it was going to the junk heap. But it's running well with 10? Perhaps I should give it a spin.
 
 

I've use my ASUS HE 1000 for playback at live gigs since I bought it when they first came out.. 
First thing I did was up the memory to 2 Gigs which was petty maximium back then. 
Just last winter I added an SSD drive. Boy did that perk it up a lot. It's very solid and well built. 
I never had any issues with it and use it for not only my live playback device but was my main surfing and E mail computer for a few years. I also put on these Burn it Smart workshops and used it with a projector and power point for 3 years. It is so small and portable it fits in the projector gig bag.  
It came with a lot of bloatware so all I did was the usual housekeeping and optimizing and it has always been quick and responsive. Battery life is amazing and you can fly to Hawaii from Vancouver and still have 2 hours left over. The SSD drive even added longer battery life to it. And it say's around 10 hours when you unplug. ( more like 7-8 ) 
 
It runs fine on XP 32 bit. Because of the 2 GIG limit I would never even think of installing a newer OS. I get all I need from XP, And just note that XP is still getting updates and I've had no weird issues with it since they abandonded it last spring. XP still has its strong points if you know how to set it up properly. 
 
I was toying with getting a tablet to replace it but I need to use the USB ports for my foot control and this cheezy Behringer audio interface I'm using. I used the Real Tech on board for years without issue. It is dead quiet though the PA. I have found many laptops are noisy when using the on board output. Here's the HE1000 and my live rig. ALl fits in a small case. 
http://www.cactusmusic.ca/johns_rig.htm
 
 

Imo, it runs better on 10, and it will update....I don't abide running obsolete OS, I'm a retired desktop tech....
 
However "Mr. Cactus", let me be the first to say, what an awesome rig!

I thought you needed 4 gigs or more to run 10,,,

I'm using it for Podfarm, and Audacity. It works fine for that.
The idea is not to multitask too much and it's fine. The BIG secret is to get an SSD so the swap to disk is faster than going to a physical drive and waiting...
Microsoft even lowered the resolution a tad so the netbooks could fit the display in, which used to be the biggest issue with running 10 on a netbook.
 
here's the skinny from Microsoft
 
Processor:
1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or SoC
RAM:
1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit
Hard disk space:
16 GB for 32-bit OS 20 GB for 64-bit OS
Graphics card:
DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver
Display:
800x600

I've got a similar ASUS netbook that runs like a pig on 32bit Win10 (Atom chip 2gb). Figure if it does not speed up by the end of the year via Windows update I'll wipe it and install Ubuntu Linux on it. That will make it fly.

Was hoping I could get Addictive drums to run on it as a standalone app but sadly was too slow (close but no cigar).

Well a few reasons I stick with XP 32 bit.. I'd never try and run Sonar on this thing, I have other faster laptops for that. So there's no advantage to a newer OS because all my apps I use on it are from that era. 
My Son in law has a slightly newer ASUS netbook and it has W7 basic 32 bit and it is wayyyy slower than mine even though the Atom version is a hoigher number( I forget which) we also added 2 GB of RAM to his and I tweeked it but no matter what it runs pourly. 
Secondly it came with good drivers for XP and I'm know from my Sony laptop I upgraded from Vista 32  to W7 64 that you loose your function keys etc because there is no updates for that stuff. I need the function keys. 
Third, XP is paid for and any upgrade will cost over $100. 
 
ALex did yours come with W7?  Try XP 32 bit and see if that perks it up. Mine is certainly not slow. I have an XP desktop and thats slow, but with the SSD drive and optimizing ( 21 background processes running) this thing boots and is ready to roll in about 45 seconds. 
 
I was bummed out that I couldn't run my Blackstar software on it because of the screen resolution. Half the GUI if off screen and I see no solution. I've never had an issue with any other apps. 

They fixed the screen resolution thingy. OS 10 is DESIGNED to run on  multiple platforms/chip sets. Technically speaking, there is no way XP, 7, or 8 should compete with 10 on a netbook. Strictly my opinion, but backed by some research..

All my current (private) computers have 2Gb only. On Atom based nettops/netbooks XP was "ok", Vista was "no way" and Win7 was "oh no...". What has made them usable was Windows 8. My personal opinion is that 10 is a bit faster then 8.
On 2GB, 32bit OS runs better. But I have no problem with 64bit, till some "sampled instrument" is over 1.2GB is size. Sure, near every synth should be frozen before you can start to work with the next.