I tried almost all desktop environment on Linux. I used too many Linux distributions to try those desktop-environments on. I used Ubuntu, Manjaro, Clear Linux OS, Elementary OS and Linux Mint. The Desktop Environments I tried are GNOME 3, KDE Plasma 3, XFCE, Budgie, Pantheon, Cinnamon, LXDE and MATE.
It is worth mentioning that the laptop I tried those on is a modern laptop with intel core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 500GB SSD storage and Intel GPU with AMD one.
My honest opinion, I loved Gnome 3 and Pantheon desktop environments more than any other desktop environment. I loved GNOME 3 more than Pantheon, if you wonder.
Why I like GNOME 3 and Pantheon more than others ?
- Both are ready to be used out-of-the-box. other desktop environment are not good enough to work with from the first interaction.
- Both GNOME 3 and Pantheon have a theme or pattern of design which help you as a user to blend it -- if you have the same interest for design elegance, simplicity and minimalism.
- Both are minimal with feature-rich ability when you need it.
- Guess what? GNOME 3 and Pantheon are more performant on my laptop! That's shocking to me! KDE Plasma 3 is horrible on my laptop - which shocked me too. Which is more performant, GNOME or Pantheon ? guess which?? it is GNOME !
My thoughts on KDE Plasma ?
It is good but not good enough for me. Its focus is customization only. KDE Plasma is not performant on my laptop as I thought before trying it. KDE Plasma has a huge set of programs which have a weird names.. I think they are good, but I don't like that bloated-idea of KDE-f******-programs (Kthings).
Plasma 5.21 video trailer/teaser is on YouTube 3 days ago and seems beautiful, I hope it is performant too. I will check it soon and tell you what I think of it.
My thoughts on Cinnamon ?
On my experimental installation of Cinnamon as a default desktop environment on Linux Mint, the usage of Cinnamon was good even good enough for me. It is good but I don't like the cloning-philosophy of Cinnamon. It is too much like Windows 7 for me. It is a perfect clone of Windows 7 desktop .. even perfect clone than Windows itself .. HAHA..
I tried those desktop environment on for a week then I decided what I will use from now on. Also something worth mentioning, I am using Mac OS and Ubuntu (w/ GNOME) as my daily driver OSes before those experiments. I also use Windows 7, Windows 10, Clear Linux OS, Debian and Elementary OS sometimes in my job.
Finally, I chose GNOME 3 and Pantheon as my desktop environments of choice. Thanks for reading my thoughts, I hope it doesn't make you angry.
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