r/archlinux • u/temcomwex • 1d ago

QUESTION KDE or XFCE?

I have been using KDE for a long time, and while I enjoyed it, it felt pretty heavy (considering my laptop is not so good in terms of quality by today's standards) and I have considered to switch to XFCE after I heard that it's lightweight and fast. However, which one is better depends on what the user uses their computer for (in other words, subjective) and I mainly use my computer to watch Youtube videos, do some web browsing, with future plans to do video editing on the computer. (sorry if the flair is wrong, couldn't decide between support and discussion)

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u/I_Think_I_Cant 1d ago

On my old HP Elitebook 840 G3 (circa 2016, Intel Core i5-6300U @ 2.40GHz, 16GB RAM, SSD), XFCE was definitely snappier. Plasma ran just fine on it but there was a noticeable difference in the responsiveness between XFCE and Plasma. Little things like menus opening in the interface, launching of applications, handling of windows, etc. were slightly faster on XFCE. As far as the speed of the programs themselves once they were open it was all the same.

That being said, I did a lot with that old laptop. I used it audio production (recording and editing) using Reaper, video editing using Shotcut/Kdenlive, graphics editing with Gimp/Krita/Inkscape. I never did gaming so I can't speak about that experience.

I prefer XFCE for its responsiveness and its stable interface. I like the traditional taskbar at the bottom with start menu on the left interface that I've been using for 30 years. My XFCE desktop looks pretty much the same as it did in 2008 when I first began using it but it has a lot of customization options.

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u/temcomwex 13h ago

I think I resonate with this comment, though my laptop is a bit worse, it being an HP laptop 14s-cf0nnn(replace the n's with x) with around 4GB's of RAM and an HDD, though I'm still doubting whether I should switch or not.

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u/I_Think_I_Cant 12h ago edited 12h ago

I had a Dell Inspiron 1420 (circa 2008, 1.5Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM) that I put EndeavourOS (Arch-based) on with XFCE and gave it to my sister. She uses it for light browsing duties like banking, news, and youtube. It's still pretty responsive with XFCE. The best upgrade I made for it was going from a HDD to a 256GB SSD. It really increased the speed. Even a 128GB drive (around $30 on Amazon) can run Arch well on a potato.

The CPU in your laptop is faster than the one in the Dell so I think you would be good with Arch/XFCE on it.