if u arent into development, then XP Home is very good chioce, as its faster than any of previous version (2K, NT, Me, 98, 95)
those who have been usng 2K, they will find it vey worthwhile. as I am on dual boot, I've always find 2000 to be more heavy on mys syste, as compared to XP. although both are installed on primary drives (not extended or logical).
and as wll, i have felt 2K putting more load on CPU, as if I have to copy sme huge file from some other place. XP, cuts down the load the moment tranfer completed, where as 2K keep load on CPU for few more minutes (5-8)