Since I can't post in the Announcements page where Biff started this topic, I'll start this thread to respond to Biff's invitation.

There are some other distro spins of Debian, and some other illustrative websites, which show my preferences.
(note : comments refer to the websites, not the distros themselves)
Point Linux : carefully crafted to make 3 points, no excessive claims, absolute new-to-Linux users should be wary   
SolydXK : uncomplicated, text sells benefits gently - stakes its claim to meeting some key user needs
Tanglu : newer, but also clear about where it fits compared to Debian
EvolveOS : still in alpha and presented accordingly; very clean landing page, recent developer blogposts are featured

Each of these makes a confident, simple statement about where they fit in - not the gushy overclaiming seen elsewhere.
The statements are different, despite similar heritage.
Each has one single bar menu, at the top, for links
Each has a limited menu structure which makes it easy to get to where you want to go (in Tanglu's case, some consolidation is due)
It looks to me as if each is a low-maintenance page ... not such a bad characteristic   :-) 


So, in summary :
- Biff's suggested "simplify" and "information page" are approaches I'd support
- Go for a "best wattOS" page rather than some "absolute best" page
- Yes to having a link in the current forums to accumulated knowledge


Some other thoughts.
Established users rarely read much from the landing page, except perhaps in cases like EvolveOS.
Potential new users are much more likely to read it all.
There's space on an About page - or a Versions Information page, if you prefer - for outlining the various mainstream flavours of wattOS, and the potential for x.5 releases to try new ideas. So, just the summary on the main page, plus a link if appropriate.
There's a big difference, IMO, between "made for old hardware" and "made with resource minimisation in mind and will run on many older computers".  As Debian raises the minimum-cpu bar, the former philosophy will be sorely tested.

An online search for    debian wheezy boots to black screen    gets (sadly) a large number of hits.
Sorting a little, eliminate the ones which don't fit, such as black screen during install.
The aromas which are left are often X server doesn't start  and  of course "graphics cards".    As like as not, you will find your way to this page   http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1613132  (even though you started at debian), or this page   http://debianelectronics.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/nomodeset-to-correct-nouveau-driver.html     In both cases, the emphasis is on adding nomodeset as a boot code. 

Hope that provides a slightly different direction to look for an answer.

It has been long known that Broadcom wifi needs special attention in Linux, and any distro which is Debian based and doesn't have extra provision for such eventualities will have issues.   That said, this wiki item  https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Dell/InspironMini9   indicates that wifi is "the main problem" with the Mini9 but shows it as solvable.

You might find this of interest : http://grabag-linux.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/wireless-networking-on-dell-mini-9.html
In the comments, there is someone who had problems with linux headers - this too might be of relevance to you. 

Good luck.

You say "on every reboot the screen blanks after 10 minutes. "  I assume this means that if you don't change the setting then it will continue blanking every 10mins for the current session; yes ?   And, to be clear, are we talking about 10mins of inactivity, and not "10mins regardless of activity" ? 

If you choose&save a screensaver (ie not blank) for say 12 mins, does the screensaver start after 10mins or does the screen blank ?

As a comment, 10mins is a very specific amount of time - the sort of explicit timing which suggests something coded in a config file or even a system BIOS.
There are other reports of settings changes not "sticking", not solely in wattOS but I think I've seen other reports in these forums.   As I recall (ie no direct personal experience), generally the solution involves modifying a config file.  There are people in these forums who can help with that when the source of the problem is determined.

Welcome Thriftee.
If performance and efficiency plus built-to-your-choice are your goals, then you're in the right area. There's a sizeable pile of experience and applications from Debian available to wattOS users.
On that HP laptop, microwatt will probably run so quickly that performance/efficiency won't be noticeable.  The Celeron might be a better chance to see what wattOS can do on those criteria compared to others.

A couple of thoughts.
You should read elsewhere in the forums about microwatt.  Users have found a couple of nits and prickles which Biff has indiicated he will address with another release.
The LXDE version should still fly on the HP.  The MATE version is a larger iso but again your HP won't flinch at this version.

@hinto :
Glad you lie the MATE version too.
I haven't followed LMDE closely enough to know what Clem's up to.  I do recall Ikey opining that MATE would need to get beyond GTK2 to have a future, so perhaps it's inevitable for all MATE versions.

Biff can speak for his plans, but my guess would be that he will choose modern provided it remains lightweight(-ish) and works.   I also speculate that he will continue to provide enough substance to get you started and let you build the system you want. 
(fyi, since you're new here : Biff added MATE at R7.5, so it was experimental at that time.  There were problems with Caja - for others too, not solely for wattOS - but it was generally well received, so we have high hopes for R8.)

While formulating microwatt R8.x, perhaps you might consider :

- the issue of autologin has again arisen, as it sometimes did for U-based releases of wattOS. 
How about enforcing NON-autologin at install, and providing a post-install utility to change that ?
Nothing fancy, same sort of thing as checking for proprietary drivers or adding an office suite.

Not sure what you did wrong, but suggest you can resolve it with a reinstall, including :
- do not encrypt any partition
- do not select autologin

To get the autologin, use the search facility on these forums - I'm sure I saw a post on autologin recently, involving edit of a config file.