there any major differences between the straight Xfce in Ubuntu and Xubuntu?

Xubuntu tends to have lighter apps, e.g. has Abiword and
Gnumeric instead of Open Office. These suit a 'lighter' (older) spec boxes.

I have just added the latter together with Xfce to Ubuntu Mint and made
Xfce the default.
Picked up my wifi without too much trouble