Which do you prefer: Cinnamon or XFCE?

[Jonmo1]

I definately find Cinnamon the more attractive and complete DE.


Just an observation about the responses to this poll..
Many responders are saying that they have XFCE on their laptop because it's an older/slower laptop.
But their desktop is more powerful, so they put Cinnamon on it.

That speaks volumes.

If the desktop is more powerful, then surely it could run XFCE as well.
But they 'choose' to put cinnamon on it instead.

Doesnt' that mean that they actually do prefer Cinnamon?
But they use XFCE because their laptop can't handle Cinnamon.

I'd 'prefer' to have a Corvette
But since I don't have enough money/resources to buy one, I'll stick with the Camaro.

[Ginsu543]

If the desktop is more powerful, then surely it could run XFCE as well.
But they 'choose' to put cinnamon on it instead.

Doesnt' that mean that they actually do prefer Cinnamon?
But they use XFCE because their laptop can't handle Cinnamon.

I'd 'prefer' to have a Corvette
But since I don't have enough money/resources to buy one, I'll stick with the Camaro.

I think you make an interesting argument. I guess I'm one of the outliers because I prefer Cinnamon to such a degree that I decided to put it on my 9+ year-old laptop, which has just enough resources to run it, though not well (I notice some lag under certain conditions). So following your analogy, I wanted a Corvette so much that, instead of buying a Camaro, I bought a used, beat-up Corvette with my limited resources, got most of the dings out, and made it drivable.

But hey, it's still a Corvette!

[mdavies5]

Cinnamon for me, mainly for configurability and Nemo. I like the menu when configured to open on hover. Also it is easy to add, delete, move any items. I like Nemo because alomst all options are available with right-click and the toolbar includes a button to toggle location entry. You rarely nedd to go into any menu.
I tried xfce extensively but didn't like the whisper menu. It seems to include anything and everything that has a .desktop file in /usr/applications.
I have 6 year old dual core 2.7Mhz with 4Gb ram. Speed and memory are not an issue.

[highwind]

I have both Cinnamon and Xfce installed , and I prefer Xfce:
1. faster;
2. more useful applets;
3. Thunar makes bulk-rename easier;
4. Slingscold works in Xfce not in Cinnamon;
5. not for me, but : the vertical panel.
For now, That's it.

[Fixer1234]

I started with Linux when Mint 16 was the current version--wanted a light version to replace Windows XP on an old computer with limited resources and a full-featured, polished version to replace Windows 7 when it started going downhill in preparation for the release of Win 8.

Started with Cinnamon because it sounded like the best Win 7 replacement. However, too many things didn't work well. Cinnamon in 16 was buggy for me. Tried Mate and liked it. However, Mint KDE sounded interesting and I installed that when 17 came out. For me, it wins, hands down. The system applications are just much more functional and useful, and there are many small things that just make it easier to use. Even small stuff like icons in the system tray being big enough to actually see and everything being extensively customizable. Overall, it is what other versions would do well to emulate if they want to attract disgruntled Windows users.

For the XP replacement, I looked for something with a small footprint because the computer has only 1 GB of RAM. I started with Lubuntu because it appeared to have one of the smallest footprints for something backed by the Ubuntu repositories. Unfortunately, it didn't come bundled with a driver for the computer's wifi dongle so there was no way to even install it. I loaded Mint Mate because I liked it on the other computer (and Cinnamon is too big). It worked, but that was a big footprint for such limited resources. Xfce requires the least resources of the Mint variations so I loaded that when 17 was released.

Xfce is probably the best compromise to replace XP on an old machine. It comes with everything needed to work out of the box and is sort of XP-like. It's a bit bare-bones if you're used to a current version of Windows, but it's more than adequate to get the job done. I like it as an XP replacement (it's faster and cleaner than XP was), but I wouldn't choose it over any of the other Mint variations on a recent-model computer. The other variations just offer more features and a more polished environment.

[stratoscar]

XFCE for me
Reasons: Best performance, equal if not better stability, more battery for my laptop, I don't really see any difference in elegance or style apart from minor non-productive variations, I really don't see any prominent reason at the moment to use cinnamon.. maybe used it in order to help it evolve to something better in the future.

[teatime]

XFCE - it's stable and gives me all what I want/need (one FreeBSD install for testing/learning purpose). Tried Cinnamon/Gnome3 and went back to XFCE due to the memory consumption - however Cinnamon seems to be the DE what Gnome3 should be and after one year of trying Gnome3 I do not work anymore with it. Another option is MATE - I'm watching it's further development in case I do not like the direction of the XFCE project but at the moment it's a sane one

[SMarais]

Hello all! I am very interested to see which desktop environment users prefer. So my question to you is: Cinnamon or XFCE? Or neither, if your a silly penguin and love to use Unity. . . I would like reasons as to why you prefer one over the other, so that we can get a good comparision of each DE.

If you are a silly penguin and love to use Unity... How can you make a link between the penguin and unity?

My thoughts thus far:
I use cinnamon on my laptop, and XFCE on my desktop.

Somehow you made it wrong. As xfce is a lightweight desktop environment I would have put it on my laptop and cinnamon on my desktop.
Anyway so far I use only Cinnamon and Mate.

[Myrmidon83]

KDE

but if its between cinnamon and XFCE. Well it has to be XFCE by quite a long shot. Sure Cinnamon is really nice and i think one day it might replace XFCE. And sure XFCE does lack some of the nice apps Cinnamon has. But in the end what you want is A.) stability and B.) performance.

XFCE and KDE have this, Cinnamon doesnt. An example is that you have to troubleshoot and restart cinnamon to move the panel to the top, why ?? it all seems so clunky and as if its about to fall.

btw i mention KDE as to me now in the latest versions it feels almost as quick as XFCE even with the effects! and everything is alive and animates where as XFCE is traditional snappy but flat. Also KDE has proper Vsync support and works extremley well for gaming.

I cant choose, but being linux i dont have to, so i have options for cinnamon,XFCE,kde on my desktop and the laptop gets XFCE which i may add apart from vsync missing has been rock solid on my old hardware.

if i really had to pick between KDE and XFCE, it would in the end have to be XFCE as you can trust it (not that KDE has been unstable at all)

I'm practically fully in agreement, as indicated by friend "phill1978". No doubt, at least for my taste, the Best Desktop that exists today it is called KDE. KDE is robust and works very, very well...... KDE its the best desktop that exists today

Cinnamon has very much improved, but the problem here is not Cinnamon, the problem resides in the basis that takes Cinnamon, which is neither more nor less than the bumbling Gnome 3. Although Cinnamon is already independent, there are things that he has inherited the damn legacy of Gnome 3, is still not that stable as if they are KDE, XFCE and Mate.

My choice (removing the KDE environment ) among Cinnamon and XFCE, the truth is that for now I'll stick with XFCE. Although Cinnamon, I see from time to time, and really going well. Have you removed ALL the heritage of Gnome 3 a good time. Best Regards to All.-

great minds think alike

I am running XFCE + KWIN = Best of both worlds. Changed a few effects, set animation speed to fast and its amazing. Its got the performance snap of xfce with the compositing power of Kwin

http://www.thelinuxrain.com/articles/tu ... -with-xfce

also added effect: 'cool effect' for kwin from the kdesettings.

You sir, have just piqued my curiosity tenfold! I never even thought to think of this idea. I really like KDE but sometimes I find it a bit too over powering so I've been looking at more minimal options (eyes on elementary os). I've tried xfce a few times but find it too minimal, however, with kwin and xfce, this is interesting. Very interesting! Does krunner (alt+f2) work with this arrangement? That and plank as the dock might just turn out to be a marvellous idea.

[drv]

Hmmm...
XFCE for stability and speed
Cinnamon for looks and usability (can't live without scale and expo, but don' like compiz; menu is the best out-there, too)

[arranging]

LINUX MINT XFCE is amazing.

Im a noob who pulled my hair out with Cinnamon 13 and 14!

Black screen on start up .. driver issues , software rendering issues... Suspend ,hibernate headaches etc Cinnamon is, was a very bad experience.

Total nightmare but i stuck with Linux Mint Cinnamon but the experience was difficult to say the least.

But

LINUX MINT XFCE is amazing.

OMG LINUX MINT XFCE is amazing.

Just works and does everything easy!

Fast and supports Drivers out of the box on ever computer.

Im so impressed with it!!!

Im so happy Thank you!

[Moonbase]

Well, Cinnamon. Have it on my everday laptop and several desktop machines.

Because …

• It allows for a very easy transition for (ex) Windows users.
• To me, it's just "no hassle": elegant, clean, usable, productive.
• Nemo seems more robust than Thunar, especially with big drives full of folders and files.
• … and with LM17, everything just works.

XFCE is my 2nd choice. Mostly for "underpowered", older machinery. Well, and my Ubuntu Studio box …

• it was the default DM on my Ubuntu Studio machine, and I'm a lazy guy, I never changed.
• It is not resource-hungry, relatively clean and "just works".
• It is very customizable (not that I really use that much).
• Unfortunately, Thunar often doesn't respond for several minutes on big drives full of folders and files.
• … and with LM17, everything else just works.

Looks like I love shiny thingies … Especially when there is a real workhorse under the hood, like LM. Which also makes life easy because it has a human-usable install and "just works". The right step towards "Linux for everyone" …

[humturtle39]

I've used Xfce more than any other DE since Unity and Gnome 3 happened, and I adore it. And not just on older hardware; I currently have Mint 17 Xfce installed on a computer that could run KDE several times over, but for me Xfce is just perfection (aside from not being able to deal with screen/video tearing with the Xfwm compositor, but Compton fills that void).

I recently tried Cinnamon for the first time in a while but it just doesn't feel as feature-rich.
There's no option for a vertical panel on the left or right of screen, the settings manager seemed less extensive (though not by much), and there isn't the same wealth of panel applets available, correct me if I'm wrong but I couldn't even find a clipboard applet.

Also, trying to use the Cinnamon menu after using the fantastic Whisker menu felt like a big step back in usability.

[The Dark Side]

Dear: I believe that everyone enjoys freedom of change his mind !!!! The present of Cinnamon Desktop really liking me tremendously ..... So much so, that I now use Linux Mint 17 KDE and Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon versions.... Cinnamon is much improved !!!!

If Now Cinnamon it's recommend over XFCE (but not in old computers). Cinnamon currently has no flaws.... Great Job Really Linux Mint !!!! Greetings.-

[jahid]

I just migrated from cinnamon to xfce. I can tell, XFCE seems at least two times faster than cinnamon and the huge feature and extremely customizable interface is attracting me like magnetic field.

So I change my vote from cinnamon to XFCE..

[JohnBobSmith]

@jahid
NIce! I love XFCE too. Glad to have another XFCE user!

[oldgranola]

Wish I'd seen this topic earlier. Might have saved me some hardware upgrading trying to get cinnamon to work as well as xp did on an ancient p4 machine with unsupported radeon-AGP etc .
Question:
So now I've rebuilt to a modern (still budget) amd quad core APU system that I got LM17-cinnamon to work fairly nicely on (with quite a bit of optimization work), but now I'd like to try XFCE. Is it advisable at all to try to install XFCE from/on top of my current LM17 c? I read one can do that from the program install manager. Of course I will take a look first via live USB but running two desktops is intriguing, nice not to have to totally reboot. I suppose putting XFCE under KVM as I have done with win7 defeats the performance purpose...

cheers and thanks for any input

[RacerBG]

Wish I'd seen this topic earlier. Might have saved me some hardware upgrading trying to get cinnamon to work as well as xp did on an ancient p4 machine with unsupported radeon-AGP etc .
Question:
So now I've rebuilt to a modern (still budget) amd quad core APU system that I got LM17-cinnamon to work fairly nicely on (with quite a bit of optimization work), but now I'd like to try XFCE. Is it advisable at all to try to install XFCE from/on top of my current LM17 c? I read one can do that from the program install manager. Of course I will take a look first via live USB but running two desktops is intriguing, nice not to have to totally reboot. I suppose putting XFCE under KVM as I have done with win7 defeats the performance purpose...

cheers and thanks for any input

In short - It's not a problem.

PS: Usually I use only one desktop per machine.

[jsalpha2]

I'm one of Xfce's biggest fans. I can not believe that less than 5% of Mint users use Xfce. The nicest thing is that I can make it do what I want. Deleting the big ugly Whisker menu and going back to the old menu, no problem. Moving the panel from the top to the bottom, no problem. Some Des make it almost impossible to change things. If you want a flashy, bloated, busy desktop with spinning cubes and 3d thing-a ma-jigs floating around, you can add that. Let us try to get that number up. Tell everyone how great Xfce is. Tell Clem how much we appreciate the Xfce edition. I'm out of breath, but at least I did not use all caps.

[killer de bug]

The nicest thing is that I can make it do what I want. Deleting the big ugly Whisker menu and going back to the old menu, no problem. Moving the panel from the top to the bottom, no problem. Some Des make it almost impossible to change things. If you want a flashy, bloated, busy desktop with spinning cubes and 3d thing-a ma-jigs floating around, you can add that

Yeah... this is called Linux