Is Cinnamon a Good Choice for Low-End Hardware?

For lightweight options, you might want to check out LXQT, XFCE, and Budgie. Ubuntu flavors like Lubuntu, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu Budgie are great choices if you’re leaning towards those environments.

Cinnamon is a mid-weight desktop; it's lighter than Gnome and Plasma but heavier than Xfce and MATE. It could work for you, but if you're looking for lighter options, consider Debian or Void with Xfce. They’re about as light as I’d go for daily use without losing essential features. If you're adventurous, i3 is a super lightweight window manager, but there's a learning curve. I’ve heard LXQT does wonders on older machines, if you want to explore that.

Linux Mint 22.2 with the Cinnamon edition should run fine on your specs. If it feels slow, you can always disable animations or try the XFCE version for a lighter feel.

While Cinnamon might be a bit heavier compared to XFCE, with your 16GB RAM, you should manage alright. Your CPU isn't the fastest, but a well-configured desktop shouldn't spike too much. If you notice a CPU strain with background processes, you might want to disable those to optimize performance. You can use "top" or "htop" in the terminal to monitor CPU load and evaluate how Cinnamon impacts performance compared to your current setup.

Most Linux desktops work on various machines, but for older hardware, some perform better than others. I had a decent experience with Linux Mint on a system with the N4000, though it wasn't super snappy. Debian with LXQT felt noticeably better in my experience. Since you're using an Arch-based distro, sticking with it and trying LXQT or XFCE could be a solid move as those tend to feel quicker.