I used 1&1 hosting for a various projects on a VPS service plan. I am satisfied with the performance of the hosting, and I had not a single minute of downtime during the past 12 months I've used them. Also, the support is quiet fast and friendly, which I am pleased about as well.
Usually with VPS hosting you have issues with memory, which very often happens to be insufficient and causing the response time being very low. If you choose the Windows Server, you can easily setup your preferences in a Windows interface, which you are probably used to from your own computer. Overall, I'd recommend this hosting to both newcomers and more experienced people.