I have been in the Linux camp totally for about 5 years now. I have Ubuntu 16.04 on my Desktop, and my relatively low powered Toshiba laptop uses Mint XFCE 18. Both boot from SSD's which are the dogs in terms of relative performance. A lightweight distribution such as Mint XFCE should be a bit quicker than W7, although it is the use of an SSD that makes the real difference!
The Atom processor will be a limitation for more complex work too! But should be fine for web browsing, email, and even streaming video. My machines are dual cores with much more power, but when opening up applications the CPU does peak quite high so that's not unusual. My OS's are both 64 bit, however you'll have to use the 32 bit if you only have a single core CPU.
You will need to make sure you set up Mint (or whatever you use) and the SSD properly, see here;
https://sites.google.com/site/easyli...irst-mint-xfce
Something for a rainy day I would say...
PS. My laptop shown below is modded from standard XFCE, with the task panel moved to the top, and the 'Docky' dock installed, along with some Mac wallpapers.