They all seem to have pro's and con's, not really sure why I have such a hard time choosing
If I have resources Cinnamon.
If I don't have resources XFCE.
Sorry MATE.
Thanks Cinnamon it is ! :D
Yeah, it's kinda sad, because I really like Mate, but it does feel like it's too much of a jack of all trades. It's like Mate is always good, but there's always a better option. Plus it seems like every update takes longer than the previous one. I'm starting to worry about it's future.
I do like that I can theme MATE to look like OSX.
Also been using Regiolith (version of i3 dm) as well on Ubuntu and Debian
I've used XFCE for old netbooks, it always felt like it was too bare bones. But TBH it's prob the lightest thing that doesn't look like garbage.
Cinnamon always felt like it was too fancy for me, but I get that it's great for most folks.
TBH if your using either Debian or Ubuntu, changing your DM is a much easier thing to flip flop on. Nixos always worries me for gaming.
This is the way.
KDE
XFCE forever!
Speed is king!
Just imagine when it comes out for wayland!
When xfce gets Wayland I'll actually consider trying a desktop environment again.
🐁
I kinda like Cinnamon, and if I only had these three, Cinnamon would win every time.
That being said, I'm a total simp for KDE.
Same for me. I liked Cinnamon on Mint, but that's also a long long time in the past. KDE made big strides over the years. Anything but Gnome though. I can't state how much I hate it for how gutted it is of basic functionality. I think the only thing I liked were the snappy animations and the black task bar. XFCE is nice for really low powered machines though.
KDE master race
Where's KDE & GNOME?
Gnome crashed.
In the pipewire client lib.
Installing mint right now, they give you 3 options.
Ah that makes more sense! I'd go for Cinnamon then!
Not sure memes are the way to ask for support but if you're actually half serious about the question: Go with Cinnamon, especially if you come from Windows. XFCE might also be a choice if your system is very very old / low powered.
For linux mint, go with cinnamon!
yeah the thing about window managers is it really depends on the distro and how they use it and extend it.
You need a login manager that picks a random desktop environment at login so you can install all three but never have to choose.
Prof Oak: Pick a Pokemon to help you on your journey.
Ash (takes a moment to apt install i3wm): No thanks. I'm good.
Prof Oak: That dumb kid is gonna get killed by the first Weeedle.
Edit: Source: Am i3wm user, and never could pick between the fine options presented above.
Try all three. It's not like it costs anything, and they're all just a click or one-liner away. Try them all and see what works best for you.
That said, I'll go with Mate any day of the week.
Embrace Openbox
I think mate is the only major DE that i haven't used
Mint and cinnamon is the way. But something happened and i was having issues. An unrelated issue caused me to need a reinstall so i tried mate. It works fine but dragging windows around to corners or sides, i have to grab many times to get it done. The windows lag when they are being moved.
Thought I'd resurrect this old comment to say it wasn't the fault of any DE. It was my wireless Logitech mouse. Left clicker went bad. Replaced mouse and os super responsive again
Xfce for modularity and speed. Disable xfwm4 and xfdesktop and run i3 without i3bar.
Over the years XFCE is the DE I've used the most. Kept getting back to it. It simply does a lot of things right. That does not mean it's my favorite, though. There are plenty of good ones out there. LXqt is one I find to be excellent, but it does not get much attention. Enlightenment too, for that matter. Enlightenment feels like it comes from a different era, but it's quite charming. That said, I think I'm finished with these "small" environments, and will be on KDE from now on. You get the "batteries included" experience, and things generally work very well together. Sure, maybe it's a bit more resource heavy, but I can't say I notice.
I use Arch btw
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