Good content as always ! As a long time KDE user I've some tips to share: 1. Konsave is a great utility to backup/restore your existing KDE configuration. 2. Plasma customization Saver by Paju is an applet that will allow you to save and switch between different layouts.
Gnome does a lot of things right, but the thing is... I can emulate everything I like from Gnome in Plasma without implementing the stuff I don't like in 5 minutes. And I don't need a couple of third party extensions for it, that could break after another update. Edit: And I need a functioning system tray.
Well, to have a normal dock you'll need latte-dock, making a plasma panel into a dock seems to be buggy. Latte-dock itself is very buggy. For me the lack of a reliable dock like dash to the dock is a dealbreaker. Also Plasma still lacks a proper RDP server tool on Wayland. KDRP is getting there but still miles away from the encoding support of gnome remote desktop. Gnome also has gnome gnome-session-inhibit that is great for scripting stuff, as in my experience the DE doesn't respect systemd-inhibts. Even the wayland experience is much smoother, there are still some quirks on Plasma Wayland. Like for instance there is fractional scaling, but it is very buggy: graphical glitches(that were more visible, now they hid it with masks, but still visible), apps going crazy after wake, full screen apps not going into full screen and the list goes on... And show some respect to the extensions. The Gnome community has many extensions that are continously updated, with compatibility info and some really great stuff. It was wise from the Gnome team to offload features to the community in such a way. On Plasma there aren't many extensions that are well maintained. Its kind of a mess, lots of deprecated stuff still there that WILL break your system(I did manage to break mine with some task switchers for example). Take Event Calendar as an example, one of the must used extension. Dev abandoned it, it broke with the new google auth, after months of begging there are like 3 forks trying to make it work, but good luck installing any of them...( I did make it work for myself) My point is that Gnome does a lot of things better, even for power users and it and its extensions deserve some love.
@@JoshuaT902 Can someone tell me why does Activities exist ? You can have as many Virtual Desktop yet KDE team decided to add activity to the tab and a different set of short keys.
I use KDE as my DE as well, I prefer it over Gnome and it just works with my workflow I do 1 task at a time I don't have 4 or 5 programs open at a time.
KDE has one thing that even as Gnome user I prefer is the breeze cursor that small tiny detail that nobody cares but its so refreshing to see something like that. It's so different from your traditional arrow thingy I just love it.
@@pikachuchujelly7628 Very nice. I prefer the Oxygen themed cursors since KDE 4. openSUSE used Oxygen as the default theme in those days. Breeze is nice too. I tried it for a while. But currently on Breeze Dark theme with oxygen white cursors. I just can't get away from it 😁 I don't mod my UI too much. I just use the settings that it comes with. I like the stock dark breeze 🙂
To each their own. I've bounced back and forth between DEs/WMs for like 20 years now. Currently rocking Plasma 5 for similar reasons you've pointed out - it just offers the customization I want while still being a full DE. I don't go ham on it, just a few little tweaks here and there (hell, I'm using the default Breeze theme), but it's more than Gnome allow for and I don't have to play the "will my extensions work after this update" game. And if I wanted to make some crazy custom desktop workflow, I absolutely have that ability here. Also the dev team are a treat. I pushed a bug report a couple years ago and it was replicated, fixed, pushed to master, and out in the next point release within a few weeks. Not that everyone's had that same experience, but it was refreshing compared to some projects I've lodged issues with.
@@n.m4497 It's the best, ofc when updating there where some issues where plasma 5 used pulseaudio and plasma 6 now uses pipewire which needed another package to fix it but overall clearing the .cache folder and rebooting afterwards I gotta say plasma 6 is pretty fantastic! it's way too good to be true like I had a simple time replicating the macintosh look with the new "Float" taskbar feature. My only issue with it is sometimes it can be unresponsive at first after the upgrade but that could be because of the .cache folder which needed clearing before upgrading.
i am very excited for plasma 6! using plasma vs gnome is like using windows vs macos, they're very different things suitable for different needs and use cases and user preference
I get your point. But I have to say that window management in MacOS is total crap. I like my Macbook Pro for its hardware but oh boy... Under Windows I constantly struggled with the updates. They are slow and broke some apps. Not to speak about privacy and inconsistent menus. Now I have both KDE and GNOME with Fedora and I can use whatever I'm in the mood for. I love Linux.
I'm running Plasma on my desktops/laptops and GNOME on my Surface Pro. They're designed differently for different use cases and people that pick one or the other sometimes miss that point. Nice video!
@@rangerkayla8824 Razer Blade 2018, only issues was the NVIDIA GPU but that worked fine when I set up envycontrol. Couldn't say for sure about your surface laptop but it should be fine.
Thanks for the video. I think KDE Plasma and Gnome are both great options and what you choose it will come out to be a personal preference. In my case I've tried Plasma several times but haven't been able to like it and I always come back to Gnome, honestly I'm very happy with my workflow on Gnome but try Plasma time to time because many people speaks highly of it, but I never seem to like it or gives me some annoying problems that makes me go back, but for other people it just fits perfectly so in conclusion just use whatever you are happy with
Absolutely. But for me it's the other way around. I like GNOME but there are some issues that make me switch to KDE. I have both installed on my workstation and can easily switch to the DE I'm in the mood for.
I have just come back to Plasma recently, too. 😀 I like to change my desktop every once in a while, and KDE Plasma is one of my most frequent choices, and one of those I stick with for longest periods. As you said, I can keep it Plasma, and still change my desktop entirely. 😀
I just couldn't get used to not having a minimize button. That said, Gnome absolutely has the better overall ecosystem with libadwaita. Hope you have a good time with Plasma!
@@bvd_vlvd sounds like a good middle ground but it's not just that. I need the Windows model of having icons on the Taskbar because I never learned workspaces and I have 9 windows open even now. It just becomes a mess very quickly. Also don't know how to cope without a system tray lol.
@@iodreamify oh yeah, gnome definitely wasn't for you to begin with 💀 Although there are extensions for all that but that's like saying you can download 3rd party apps to make windows look like osx
@@bvd_vlvd yeah I haven't tried it but I think I'd always be fighting the machine. I think we all get the general vision of the Gnome developers. I just wish Plasma got a little more coherent, had fewer bugs and maybe a little more focused.
Fresh one month Linux user here. Took a look at what Linux has to offer, KDE+Plasma was the clear winner, by far. On aesthetics and customization alone. That thing is the most beautiful IT device GUI I have ever had.. period. Went with Kubuntu btw.. pretty happy with the choice. I always liked the idea of Linux but hated the GUI (or lack of GUI in the early 00s).. Now it has the best GUI in the whole of IT (my opinion).
Been a Gnome DE user for years. Coming from MacOS it's been perfect. I'm very tempted by the promise of deep customization and improved stability. Further convenienced by Steam Deck and Nobara and Endeavour landing on it as a default.
I’m currently using both a sanitised Hyprland install (minimalist skin + Windows-style keyboard shortcuts) and a KDE Plasma install that utilises Aero Glass and Material Design icons; basically how Windows 7 would look like today. I like this setup and I would not give it up for something like vanilla GNOME or more advanced window managers like DWM or Ratpoison.
Kde 6 got kde to such a good state, i actually switched from gnome. I still run gnome on my old computer, as kde has actual performance issues on old hardware
While I personally prefer Gnome's stability and "sensible defaults", I'm very glad Plasma exists for those who want that greater level of customization
One thing to note is that some distros seem to play a big part in this. My laptop runs EndeavourOS, my desktop runs Garuda, they both run Wayland KDE, but my laptop craps out WAAAAY more. Still not a lot, and it never hard-crashes or anything, but I just started using it again after being desktop only for a while and it was a pretty easy difference to spot.
Specific hardware probably also plays a role, because I run EndeavourOS on a 2-year-old PC and a 13-year-old laptop and I've never really had a problem with either
The software between the two distros is literally the same. It's just that DE are very hardware dependent. Wayland just does not like some hardware, really.
@@SphereS7yeah it's nowhere near that simple. Plenty of distros make tons of minor compatibility tweaks and modifications that result in different experiences. No matter how much arch chads may tell you "it's all the same" it's really not. It may be the same binaries, yes, but the configs have been tweaked and tweaked and tweaked. For most distros this generally means they're just ultra stable, but if you are on something like an arch derivative or using a particularly touchy hardware configuration the difference can rear it's head.
I switched from GNOME to KDE recently and i'm really enjoying it. KDE is improving so much so fast. They worked out most of the things that have been bugging me on GNOME, small bugs and annoyances, etc. Basically every gnome feature is present but kde has sensible workflow unlike gnome, for me. And anything I don't like I can easily disable or edit, unlike GNOME which lacks any customizability. Also the gnome workflow is especially terrible for multi monitor. I think the only way it can be sensibly used is on laptops and tablets, where with gestures and stuff it is very nice. But again same can be done in KDE with a couple of clicks... The GNOME apps.... there are many of them, but they have so little options and features that its hard to use them for anything serious. KDE apps on the other hand have plenty of features, settings etc and are very good I'd much rather have a new user use KDE and be able to make it suit them easily instead of them using GNOME and installing extensions (No, most people dont like the gnome workflow) which will break every update. I think KDE does what it says - Simple by default, powerful when needed. I don't think it would be that confusing for a new user and even when you need to find some setting, just google it and there'll be someone telling you what menus you need to go to to configure it. With that in mind though, for users that don’t install Linux themselves but you install for them like mom or whoever, it’s a good choice. It’s pretty simple and it’s hard to break anything by clicking stuff. For those users you have to install a dock and enable minimise buttons.
Welcome to KDE! I've been using KDE ever since Canonical stopped supporting Unity around 2018. Now the question is which distro for KDE? I've used Arch, KDE Neon, and Debian and they all have their differences. One feature of KDE that I really like is offline updates. I don't have to worry about instability or restarting the browser. I can simply reboot or just turn off my computer and have the updates install next boot. You can even cancel if you are in a rush! And since it's Linux, it's a fast update, unlike other OSes.
If you haven't checked it out yet, I strongly recommend OpenSUSE Tumbleweed for KDE. They roll out the latest Plasma at the same time as the KDE team and it comes with some very cool defaults (BTRFS and snapshots already setup, Firewall GUI through YasT...)
KDE user from version 3.5 For conservative and traditional point of view, KDE offers best user experience. Some say it looks very similar to windows. Honestly, it does and it is good. One of the best feature from KDE is fractional scaling. KDE has had the most mature fractional scaling in Linux.
I run KDE Plasma on Arch linux on my PC and have liked it, just don't mix desktops on the same machine because that creates problems. I recently installed Parallels on my M2 Macbook pro and installed Windows 11 Pro and then Ubuntu which comes with Gnome. I did not like Gnome as much, it has problems with X11 so I installed KDE Plasma desktop and it now works great. I also had problems with disappearing cursor on Gnome. Brave does not run on this setup though.
Ciao, i'm using KDE since Version 2 in the early 2000's, in 2003 i've used Gnome 2 for a while, but after Gnome 2 it was horrible for me, so Gnome right now is no option for me personally..i'm still waiting for KDE Plasma 6 in early 2024.. many greetings from brunswick in germany and please stay safe 🙃
I see in plasma 6 they give up using X11, on wayland screensharing isn't just working out of the box, that's why I switched to KDE from Gnome (also it supports screen cloning only on 1 device like a tablet), I hope they can fix it till all the LTS plasma 5 distros are no longer supported
I really like how you try to show different perspectives. What you said at 5:42 is exactly the same for me and that why I've been using Plasma for 4 years now. I had some buggy experiences in the past with older Plasma versions but nowadays I'm happy with my desktop. The only thing I had to change recently is to switch to a Plasma panel instead of Latte Dock because it was discontinued. I used to have a macOS like layout. Now I have a mixture between Windows and macOS layout and it's also growing on me. What I wanted to know what you didn't share in the video is your opinion on Plasma's default apps compared to GNOME's. For me I can't stand especially Nautilus compared to Dolphin. I wouldn't use any other file manager than Dolphin right now.
I personally like the looks and feels of Nautilus (Gnome) more than Dolphin, but man if you have several drives or network shares mounted in /etc/fstab then Dolphin is just so much better
I definitely prefer Dolphin over Nautilus as a file manager. Even Cinnamon's Nemo is better than Nautilus. I wish Nautilus had a toggle to switch from "basic" to "pro" or "extended" mode so it would have functionality like Dolphin. That being said, overall I find Gnome easier to use. It's more consistent.
I have been playing with hyprland on a separate install. It more complicated but one day I hope to get away from DEs all together if I can make it work for me... Although, Cosmic is shaping up to looking very promising.
im the sameway but with i3, been using Cinnamon and xfce for years but now im a full time WM user. i dont even have a DE installed on my laptop anymore, i just keep Plasma on my desktop for gaming reasons
I'm thinking about switching to KDE for the same reasons. I really do like the the workflow of GNOME., the look and feel, the (to my opinion) good integration of Evolution and Online accounts. I gave KDE a try several tries in the past, but I was not really happy with the workflow and stability. On my system GNOME was more reliable. I'm following the way KDE goes and it seems promissioning. I think I'll wait until KDE 6 to give another try.
6:37 UGH THAT THING I have to Alt+Enter to exit the full screen mode, move my mouse to the top left corner, do it again because I opened activities and Alt+Enter again every time I open a full screen game after restarting. Still, I'm too lazy to try Plasma lol
I'm not even sure who's fault that is. Yeah, Gnome messed it up, but CS:GO itself has issues like crashing when opening the new Overlay. Could be a mixture of both
I came lloking for a KDE review... but I was almost hypnotized by how handsome Michael is. That took me by a complete surprize on a Linux video. Good job breaking neckbeard stereotypes, man!
Great Content! You always are so convincing, and give great information in your video. Thanks so much you have been a great time saver for me choosing a desktop environment for debian. ❤😊🎉
I am switching to arch at the moment and am being confronted with having to choose a desktop environment, in order to use any GUI in the first place. This was a really nice comparison video. I think I will stick with GNOME for now because I am so familiar with it and don't really use Linux for anything besides development so gaming won't be an issue for me (I will game on windows xD).
I want to game on Linux but being a flight sim fan there are third party software that won't work. Always thouthg MS should release a stripped down version of windows workstation for gamers. Just the basics, file manager and a control panel.
I also set about re-creating the GNOME environment/workflow in KDE Plasma and I *love* it. My only complaint is that I can't get my display hot-corner to work on my main monitor (KDE seems to only recognize the corner on the farthest monitor). I recently switched to KDE (Fedora) from GNOME (Pop!_OS) because I was curious about V-sync inconsistencies and stutters I saw in games. But now that I can control literally every single aspect of my desktop experience... I can't imagine giving it back up.
I used gnome for more than a year, mostly vanilla. A couple of days after discovering some of the Gnome extensions that actually make it better for my use, I switched back to KDE, and is has everything I wanted out of the box. No need for the extensions. I configured a few bits (double click to open files), and was ready to go, fully productive. Deep inside me, I like KDE more. But Gnome is awsome, specially with Gnome 40+, it was really pleasant to work on it for that year+.
I love kde activity. Its so much better than anything gnome has. Activity allows you to have a set of virtual desktops to be separate with different taskbar if you want. Swap between personal and work quickly. I can have as many virtual desktop I want and instantly switch to work that has their own set of virtual desktops plus having discord being shown on all my activities. btw activities is not virtual desktop that everyone compares to when talking about gnome.
Gnome is *really* good, but there are some things that made me return to KDE rather quickly: 1. the MASSIVE headerbars that make me think Gnome devs use vertical monitors, exclusively. Even when the window only needs a title bar (e.g.:games) , gnome wastes so much vertical space on it. 2. It's so much easier to apply themes on kde (so I can apply KvLibAdwaita to them, so qt apps match gtk apps) 3. I was starting to have some input issues on games, because for some reason, I can't press both mouse buttons and the spacebar at the same time (maybe it was just a bug, or only happened to me)
Agreed. Let me add Dolphin to the list. I know, you can usw Dolphin with GNOME, but the integration in KDE is way better. GNOME hasn't had tray icons at all. Now they're back, but not for all applications. And I have to install less extensions for my workflow under KDE. I like GNOME but I love KDE.
@@QDSGames I love Dolphin. The split view function is so much better when you just want to move a selected bunch of files around. And it lets me create symlinks the easy way without having to fire up the terminal.
I like the look of gnome desktop GUI, but yes KDE Plasma is beautiful in mobile edition, I've already tried it via pinephone pro and it appeals to me because of how similar looking to Android it is.
Great video as always! I LOVE both KDE and GNOME. I use GNOME basically because, at this point in my life (my age) I just enjoy it's simplicity and workflow. But both desktops are fantastic, as you pointed out, for very different reasons. I hope you have a blast with the KDE DE, it is undeniably a BEAST at what it does.
I think KDE is the best option for laptops ATM. My favorite one is XFCE but they are gonna need a bit more time to migrate to wayland. Also KDE has quite good support for workspaces, while on XFCE the keybindings you are allowed to use are kinda constricted.
1:57 These are the exact "features" of GNOME that make me not want to push my non-techy dad (who only ever used Windows) into using it. He would get so frustrated with the GNOME way of doing things, and once he found out he couldn't "change them back" he'd stop using it altogether.
Dude, I have a new ssd arriving tomorrow and I'm planning to change mine from 512gb to 2tb in my laptop, this is pushing me to choose 1. Transfer the system and stay use KDE plasma 2. Install new system and try gnome After this video, I decided to stay using KDE!
“Refine it to your personal needs.” Exactly why I stick to Plasma. Once I get everything _just so,_ I get very frustrated when it changes on me. And heck, gnome doesn’t even let me get to that point since I can’t really customize it to be as I want. I have something akin to MacOS’ system tray and menu, but…ya know…not terrible…and I know it won’t change out from under me at someone else’s whims.
So you’re telling us that Plasma is now stable? Great! I’ve had so many issues with Plasma in the past that I just stopped trying to use it. Gnome has it’s issues though so I’ll give it another try.
I've tried KDE many times, but I always come back to Gnome. Even after tweaking and themeing I always find it ugly, font rendering, padding and margins it's just...frustrating. Maybe i'll give a 8th chance one of these days ...but I find aesthetics important, and even though I now it's personal opinion. So far i haven't run into any issues with gnome to make me want to change. I'm looking forward to cosmic !
One of the things that Gnome did that makes it absurd to use was the removal of the "system tray" paradigm which I think set it back significantly, in addition to the lack of a minimise it's just so unfamiliar. One of the things I think KDE has needed is a "RESET ALL" button for the UI and also some base elements to make it 'look' like other experiences (have a Windows XP look, Windows 10 look, Windows 11 look, OSX look and Gnome look) and maintain them as it would be super beneficial for people to be able to select the elements they're used to, and then base their own customisations based on those already established defaults. We can only dream I guess.
From what I've heard, Gnome removed the System Tray icons because it wasn't stable for Gnome 40 and Gnome, being Gnome ... the process takes an immense amount of time
My issues with KDE : Slow startup apps, customisation can break things like the bottom panel, Why do they need virtual desktop (workspaces) and activity desktop at the same time? In tiling mode the windows disappear either behind the bottom panel or the or close button disappears front the frame. No good tiling options
I liked GNOME, like 20-ish years ago. I thought it was pretty cool, even if I liked KDE more. Over time KDE just got better, and never lost any functionality I use, while GNOME got worse.
I don't think that the form factor was a deciding factor, since Gnome works way better on touch devices. Even on smaller ones like the Steam Deck. Their reasoning was most likely just the default "Windows look" since it is recognizable
The main reason why I prefer KDE Plasma is because it handles multiple displays better. Each monitor can have its own independent task bar, which is a huge benefit for me. I only wished they added invisible cursor boundaries at the corners of the screens though.
Of all the DEs I used, plasma is the one I stick with. I really like it since it is straight forward and simple in design. What I dont like about Gnome is that it seems like the work flow more aims at touchscreen devices, same mistake that Microsoft did in windows 8. Gnome just dont fit to my work flow, I dont really like workspaces and I pretty much think it is useless when you have multiple monitors since you can just move a window to a different monitors anyway simulating a workspace. I when I have to recommend someone a DE to a person that came from windows, I always recommend plasma since it's UI and feel is kinda simalar to windows so it is easy to get used to it....
Steam chose KDE for the steam deck, gnome is great but it seems like a kiosk operating system that you want locked down. I would use gnome for a new user like my grandma.
Fellow KDE user. I set up things to mimic Windows 10, but with the taskbar and menu at the top, a Mac dock at the bottom, and the GNOME style task switcher... I'm weird and like to make heterogenous experiences constructed from the best balance of comfort from what I'm used to, and efficiency from the newest of the new innovations. I love to deconstruct and recombine, and that's what draws me to KDE. I used to be a Cinnamon guy, and after that I loved Ubuntu's Unity interface. Speaking of, some distros have preset configs for plasma that make it closly mimic Unity. Otherwise, I'm a fan of the way MX Linux and Manjaro configures their XFCE experiences, but not so much the breakage of Manjaro, in particular.
I hope you maintain that "like new things" attitude until you're past 70 like I am. That attitude sure served me well in my working career, and helps me not get stagnant after retiring.
I feel like Linux Mint's Cinnamon DE strikes an extraordinary balance between GNOME's simplicity and KDE's customization, and it's very stable as well !
@@folksurvival I agree with MATE/XFCE being nice alternatives to Cinnamon, tho I have to say I've gotten really used to the niceties and polish of Cinnamon (eg. somewhat nice design, animations, touchpad gestures, online accounts) vs MATE (very lacking IMO) and XFCE (old school menus and somewhat dated UX even with custom theming) They're nice as lightweight alternatives tho, for sure
I used to be a KDE only user - about 10 years ago. Then I got pissed off with every new release having tons of bugs and glitches, the desktop generally often being unstable when doing things like large file transfers etc... and switched to Gnome systems ever since. But I've always missed the versatility and cool look of KDE. Seems like it may finally be time to go back.
I usually recommend a gnome based desktop for most users because it's settings panel is setup to be very simple. Meanwhile KDE the setting while not complex is very overwhelming and you can easily get lost. There is a very simple solution and advanced drop down and only present users with the basics on the forefront. This eases them into the advanced features. Or allows them to be ignored if the user doesn't want to touch them.
I agree. Many users struggle to change basic settings, since they don't even know what they are exactly looking for. Exposing too many menus and submenus by default just leads to a trial and error frustration
I absolutely love KDE Plasma! I used to be a GNOME user for many years just because Plasma was so buggy, but with the latest release they have all been worked out as far as I can tell. I've been using it as my daily DE since 5.27 was released.
I like visual look and ability to customize Plasma. But it's just too overwhelming with all those customization options. It's easy too get lost and mess up the layout if you're not careful. The other thing that I dislike about KDE that it comes with lots of bloatware. Standard installation comes with 10+ apps and tools that I never use and even don't know what they do. They really should be optional installs.
I started as a Gnome user. But lately, I've switch to KDE for my lectures and editing. I'm still using Gnome in one of my laptop with Edubuntu. But in my 12 years old HP15 AMD A6 laptop now runs with Big Linux distro as it is the most lightest and functioning smoother than xfce. I don't know why. I don't have any answers for than now. And also in my 2023 laptop Aspire 7 AMD Ryzen 7 with Nvidia GTX 1650, only run with Big Linux or Manjaro & Linux Mint. But I've settle with Big Linux due to function keys works in both 12 year old and 2023 laptop. There something weird always with Nvidia GeForce video GPU. You'll notice that in my videos too. I think KDE and Arch based distros are suited for Nvidia GPU. In my working laptop the 2020-21 Lenovo ideal pad 3 Intel i5 Iris Xe GPU same goes with all the function keys works perfect. I've also multi boot it with Edubuntu and prior to Ubuntu, function keys are not working completely. Like the brightness, volume control and so on. Gnome and other generic kernel not recognizes other function keys. I hope Gnome &/or generic Linux kernel would fix that function keys. But for now, which will function keys were functioning properly, that's I'll use until another desktop comes to suit my laptop function keys.
I'm gonna keep using gnome until the KDE team releases Plasma 6 as I'm hoping to get full-screen tethering on Wayland and overall better multi-monitor support (Something that already has? I'm not really sure). Plasma 6 is gonna be big, mark my words.
I use KDE and XFCE because I was surprised that KDE has a lower memory footprint than other desktops. I didn't believe it because it has a lot of features. You think Cinnamon or Maté, no, they are heavy. Tiling Managers.... how tired am I of using key commands, it gets old. KDE is a good experience and coded well. Imagine running a base desktop with 500-600MB versus 1000-1600MB just for desktop running. It gets ridiculous. I run Manjaro KDE for programming, and I switched LinuxMint from Cinnamon to XFCE. I don't want to waste 500MB, it adds up.
I started my Linux journey with gnome but the experience was l terrible, extensions breaks everytime you update. You can only use vanilla gnome without issues but with extensions it's a sorry sight. I Iprefer person KDE Plasma because I don't have those issues
Not gonna lie I was so tempted to go back to Garuda for kde , I miss the customization that Kde has 😭 I've always hated the way gnome looks but now I tolerate it,because the work flow of gnome is kind of nice tbh especially the gestures, but yeah Kde will always be my favorite, waiting for blend os kde ver to get updated so I can use it natively, atm I'm using Nobara but testing blend os
I can't imagine the amount of options in KDE scaring anyone coming from Windows. Windows users are literally coming from "dual options", classical Control Panel and the new Settings menu are still a thing since Windows 8. I sincerely believe, the lack of options on GNOME is more dangerous for windows-ditchers. Because 99% of those newcomers miss and ask for a Windows feature at some point during the migration period. When they are told "it is impossible" or "you need to install some additional things for that", they would be much more discouraged than hearing "it's somewhere in this crowded options menu". Because many people prefer knowing that "it is there somewhere" than "oh, you have to do some additional steps".
Gnome superior in usability and design? Since when? Well, if you love button margins I guess. Maybe I just miss some of my features in Gnome, but I always found KDE much prettier and more consistent.
i used plasma pretty heavily customized and i didn't have any of the problems mentioned , i played rocket league , elden ring. as a matter of fact im having a million problems with other desktop environments. Keeping in mind the philosophy of kde might fit my high end specs better than alot of other setups not to mention i have nvidia 3080 which i believe causes issues/and or increased performance on some setups vs others.
I like them both but kde wins for me because of the window manager. I can have 4 windows on 1 screen instead of just 2. It is more a windows feel and more intuitive to use
Gnome has no way to tell the application what size it should render. That alone makes gnome useless on HIDPI. Upscaling is nice to have, but in the end you are upscaling. If you are gonna lose definition, what's the point of having a high resolution in the first place?
GNOME is very simple and good, while KDE is versatile, customizable and rich. I am definitely looking forward to Plasma 6 with QT6 and much better Wayland implementation across the board.
I'm ok with Gnome because I have OCD. This many options will just trigger my OCD and then I will check all the tickboxes in a pattern 10 times in a row even though I haven't changed anything. LOL
Thats why i use Cinnamon... Gnome Basis but much more possibilities out of the box for customizing the desktop without third party extensions, and not so overloaded as kde plasma. Kde and gnome, both are great, but Cinnamon rocks them all.... 😊
