I've used Ubuntu from 7.04 to now 9.10 but I cannot face any software /applicatiopn crash problem (Maybe I'm lucky). Ubuntu is quit stable.
I agreed with C Hing that the boot time for new Ubunut is long and long and needs more RAM to run the application.
I have 2 laptops (DELL + ASUS EEEPC) which have 1GB RAM. Both of them are installed Ubuntu and run "OK".
If you would like to change another Linux, you can try Fedora. (Apt-get -> yum, but the package name maybe different.)