Hey everyone! I recently made the switch to Linux Mint with XFCE after using Windows 11, and so far, I've had a much smoother experience compared to my previous Linux days back in the 2000s. That said, I'm having some doubts about sticking with XFCE, mainly due to the absence of a built-in blue light filter. I've tried using Redshift GTK, but the GUI won't load and having to adjust color temperatures via command line each time is a bit cumbersome for me. I'm pretty sure this is a skill issue, but it makes the desktop environment feel a bit clunky.
My main question is: is KDE Plasma significantly heavier than XFCE? Would switching to KDE offer a smoother experience overall? Given that I mainly use a browser and don't focus much on the desktop, I'm just looking for a system that functions well without lag. I have a 2019 Asus Zenbook with an AMD Ryzen 5 3500U, SSD, and 6GB of RAM. Any recommendations or insights on switching to KDE or which distribution might be best?
5 Answers
With your specs, you probably won't notice much difference in performance between KDE and XFCE. In fact, KDE Plasma is actually lighter on resources compared to Windows 11. You're good to experiment with it!
If you're keen on using Redshift, try adding the command to your .bashrc to run it at startup. That said, for visual work, a simple toggle would be ideal!
I used both KDE and XFCE on an older laptop with 8GB RAM, and found KDE barely heavier than XFCE when it comes to performance. The major RAM hit often comes from modern web browsers, so if you're using those, consider keeping your other applications to a minimum.
Honestly, on your hardware, the difference should be pretty negligible. I switched from Mint to Fedora with KDE and the load time was a bit longer, but otherwise, everything ran smoothly. Just give it a try and see what you think!
You're at 6GB of RAM, so while KDE Plasma uses a bit more RAM than XFCE, it shouldn't create performance issues for you. I ran it on my old laptop with similar specs and didn't see any real slowdowns!
Just keep in mind that if you do heavy multitasking or run a lot of apps, having more RAM helps a ton.
Totally agree! Plus, it's not just about the DE; your browser and other applications usually consume a lot more resources.