[deleted] what CPU does the netbook have? That will be almost as much of a limiting factor as the ram. If it's running 7 year old or less dual core @ 1.8 GHz or better it should be workable, but 2gb won't get you far. Guessing it's DDR3 12800, if it's easily replaceable it may be better to spend $40 and get them up to 8gb. My mini PC is basically an HP Stream Netbook, runs great with 8gb and a 1.7GHz Pentium. Before I upgraded from 4gb to 8gb, 5-6 browser tabs and my background applets could grind it to a halt basically. Now I can actually run Gimp and Darktable without issue.
Of course, I could have gotten rid of some of the applets that ate up ram, but another 4gb stick was $18....sooooo.....
Here's what mine is currently using in Budgie (with 5 Opera tabs, system monitor, weather show, and a handful of other applets running)