I usually don't have that many apps running unless the phone is in my hand. When it is though i have a couple.

Here's an example what I have running:
Media player (Always listening to music)
X-Chat
khteditor
x-term
1-6 browser windows
1-6 conversation windows
witter

sometime it's more sometimes it's less, but that is what I usually have open. I try to close stuff I don't use so i don't get bogged down, but it's pretty smooth with those apps as long as the websites aren't too heavy