The problems with the student downloads will be solved. Windows XP often uses a variable page file size, this is problematic for SSD owners due to our limited initial capacities (Windows 7 uses a fixed size to begin with and will turn itself off once SSD drives are full). Virtual memory is also disabled with Windows 7 and SSD drives by default, that isn't the case for Windows XP. Scheduled defragmentation is also turned off with Windows 7 and SSD drives, it isn't under Windows XP. The TRIM feature that you mentioned was made by Microsoft and is being applied to be a standard for SSD drives. It is also used by default in Windows 7 and the list of drives that supports it is growing. However, this is currently officially used through Windows 7 only. Again, this is something that Microsoft made and not SSD manufacturers.
As for general netbook improvements with Windows 7, there are quite a few of the. First off is Aero. That offers a graphical upgrade over the drab Windows XP that actually works on netbooks. Additionally, Windows 7 no longer uses a series of system timers to wake PC's out of "sleep" or hibernation modes (except the low battery timer). This decreases CPU utilization and will increase battery life on a single charge. Many Windows 7 users are reporting better battery life than with Windows XP. Look at the small review that Chris did for the new Asus Eee PC 1005 model running Windows 7. It was able to push past the 6 hour mark while the Windows XP powered one comes in at 5.5 hours. There is nothing different about the two models other than Windows 7. Windows 7 also consumes less power when playing back video media (through Microsoft's applications) due to better codecs that don't tax the system as much. Microsoft is currently working with others to get these improvements up and running with other applications.
The use of a WDDM v1.1 driver means that having multiple windows open won't linearly increase the amount of RAM a system uses (the current Intel 945 express chipset and GMA 950 IGP will eventually have WDDM v1.1 drivers if they aren't out already). Another feature that will greatly help netbook users who are limited to 1GB of RAM. Other performance improvements reduce the amount of disk I/O for reading from the registry and indexing files for search, and improve low-level kernel operations that could slow down access to the Start menu and Taskbar. Windows 7 also loads fewer services when you boot. When you do something that requires a service, Windows 7 loads the service on demand and then unloads it once it’s no longer required—thus freeing up memory.
Those are just some of the features that Windows 7 has over Windows XP that can help netbook users.
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