Gnome. Very sane defaults and flow, customizable. Also fully navigable both via mouse and keyboard, which works great for me since I navigate my system and apps using both almost equally. It’s gotten hate for relying on extensions, but for me it makes it feel modular and customizable.
KDE Plasma. Unless you’re a keyboard heavy user, there’s no reason not choosing it. It’s the overall winner hands down.
After being puzzled all these years why anyone would choose Gnome over KDE Plasma, I think I have finally figured it out: Laptop users with keyboard preference and only a touch-pad otherwise do seem to have a better time on Gnome.
But for anything with a mouse attached: KDE Plasma all the way :)
Plasma.
The first reason I prefer it is that when internet becomes unavailable while connected to the router, it changes the icon. The second is that is settings easy and KRunner is very handy. The third is that it looks cool for me, especially while using Latte Dock. It’s transperancy effects are very impressing. The fourth is the integration of server-side-decoration for Qt apps (with Latte Dock).
TL;DR, the above reasons are completely based on look & feel and ease of use
KDE Plasma, it’s been nothing but a great experience, it’s a beast of an environment. Plus, its accompanying software ecosystem makes it 10x better.
Gnome
340 by farI really enjoyed the Deepin Desktop Environment.
I did too. It’s pretty great for windows users.
My personal choice is MATE Desktop Environment
XFCE
GNOME 40 <3
Sway for myself, GNOME for my friends :D
I’ve tried GNOME, XFCE, LXDE, just to see what they’re like, but I always find myself coming back to KDE.
I’ve been using XFCE with BSPWM as my window manager and I love it
I’ve tried XFCE, Cinnamon, Budgie and Plasma. All are great, but I think I like the latter the most. The amount of functionality, customization and community support is amazing.
I’m always open to try new stuff thoughOh and I very much disagree with the speed ratings for KDE, GNOME and Cinnamon. They are not that bad, certainly not as slick as XFCE on older machines but they all ran decently in a 12 year old machine (tested about 3 years ago, so I’d say it’s likely there have been good performance updates since then).
i3 on x11, but I guess that’s not a Desktop Environment technically.
Lubuntu 18.04 on my old laptop. Fast and simple to use, but there aren’t many customizations.
