I'm surprised Windows XP doesn't get better feedback from users. There was a lot I liked about XP, but it was too much of a resource hog even for my 800 MHz, 256MB Thinkpad. I switched to 2000, which is brisker and even more stable.
XP is really good with a least a 1ghz processor and 512mb of ram, minimum. You are right it is a resource hog, but it sure does run sweet on the right hardware.