I don't use Xubuntu; on Xubuntu a lot of other crap runs along with Xfce so it is not fair to compare it to just a system running Xfce and no extra dependencies that are there for added functionality they thought was needed.
Yes, compared to gnome XFCE on my 700 Mhz, 192 MB ram laptop starts extremely fast and is ready for use, along with Epiphany (browser) it is a stable little machine that boots faster than my Mac OS X laptop which I have for daily use, but it off course has more limitations, no having 5 pages of documentation open (PDF's, and HTML) and a chat client, couple of gvim's and compiling massive projects. But it works well enough for development with Python when I am on the road and don't want to have to worry about the US border patrol going through my laptop and files.
I'd love to replace that old laptop with another ultra-portable (old Toshiba Portege, thinest laptop of its time), but I don't have the money, so until that time Xfce does everything I need it, and more with a lot less bloat than KDE or Gnome.
Yes, compared to gnome XFCE on my 700 Mhz, 192 MB ram laptop starts extremely fast and is ready for use, along with Epiphany (browser) it is a stable little machine that boots faster than my Mac OS X laptop which I have for daily use, but it off course has more limitations, no having 5 pages of documentation open (PDF's, and HTML) and a chat client, couple of gvim's and compiling massive projects. But it works well enough for development with Python when I am on the road and don't want to have to worry about the US border patrol going through my laptop and files.
I'd love to replace that old laptop with another ultra-portable (old Toshiba Portege, thinest laptop of its time), but I don't have the money, so until that time Xfce does everything I need it, and more with a lot less bloat than KDE or Gnome.