From my last blog post, I am now using KDE as the desktop environment for my gaming rig. The reason is because I want a reasonably easy to use Linux desktop for when my wife needs to use the PC for something other than gaming, and this was the reason why my "traditional" Sway setup was a no-go.
But, after using KDE for a while I am starting to really appreciate how good it is. And no, this is not compared to other Linux desktops, but also with both Windows and macOS (that I need to use often, especially the later since my job gave me a MacBook Pro).
To start, KDE is surprisingly feature-complete. For example, the network applet gives lots of information that in other operational systems are either not available or difficult to access. It is easy to see in the screenshot below:
You can see things like channel, signal strength, frequency, MAC address, BSSID address (so the MAC address of the router). It even includes a handy button to share the Wi-Fi information via QR code, so you can easily setup a new mobile device like Android.
By the way, the crop and blur from that screenshot above? I made everything using the integrated screenshot tool. I didn't need to open an external application even once. It is also really smart, I need to redo this screenshot a few times and it kept the cropping to the exact area I was taking the screenshot before.
Another example, I wanted Steam to start automatically with the system, but it has the bad habit of putting its main window at the top. Really annoying since it sometimes ended up stealing up the focus. However KDE has this "Window Rules" feature inside "Window Management" settings where you can pretty much control whatever you want about application windows. Really useful tool.
KDE also has lots of really well integrated tools. For example, I am using some Flatpak applications and I can easily configure the permissions via System Settings. Or if I want hardware information like SMART status, I can just open Info Center. I can prevent the screen and computer to sleep at the click of a button (something that in both Windows and macOS I need to install a separate program). The list goes on, I keep getting surprised how many things that I used to need a third-party program that KDE just has available by default.
But not only KDE is fully featured, it is also fast. Now to be clear, this is a completely subjective analysis but I find KDE faster than Windows 11 in the same hardware, especially for things integrated in the system itself. For example, while opening Windows settings it can take a few seconds after a cold boot, the KDE's System Settings is pretty much instantaneous. Even compared with macOS in my MacBook Pro M2 Pro (that is of course comparing Apples and Bananas), KDE just feels snappier. I actually can't find much difference between KDE and my Sway setup to be honest, except maybe for the heavy use of animations (that can be disabled, but I ended up liking it after a while).
I will not say KDE is perfect though. At the first launch I got one issue where it started without the task bar because I connected this PC to both my monitor and TV, but the TV is used exclusively for gaming. However, KDE considered my TV the primary desktop and put the task bar only in that monitor, and even disabling the TV didn't add the task bar to my monitor. Easily fixed by manually adding a task bar, but an annoying problem (especially when you're not used to the desktop). There were also a few other minor issues that I don't remember right now.
After using KDE for about a week I can say that this is the first time that I really enjoy a desktop environment on Linux, after all those years. Props for the KDE developers for making the experience so good.
