Look and Feel, Elementary OS vs Manjaro, a better opinion for Elementary OS

 UI and system is a Personal Preference but what matters is, does it fulfil it's undying search for better user experience and functionatity?

There always be a 'Home' or Primary Operating system you will prefer

If you are a Linux enthusiast like me and many others, distro-hopping isn't a new concept, according to master Google, Distro-Hopping is a term that refers to the activity or hobby of Linux users to switch between distros frequently, exploring them and trying several distros out in an attempt to find the one that best suits their needs. But there always will be a Linux based system or maybe even Mac OS or Windows 10, you will install again and feel at home. Don't lie to yourself, nothing bad in declaring what you love.

In my case, I dual boot Windows 10 with Elementary OS. I switched from Manjaro after 3 years of usage to now Elementary. Yes, you read that right. Some arch and manjaro community may think, what the hell? Haha! But hear me out, comrades. I have a valid reason. I am not paid, Ok? (but I wish I was sponsored 😢, soon! soon enough!)

arch and manjaro community to me

To be honest, I have 1TB HDD, if I had 250gb more I would have kept all three OS, windows, manjaro, and elementary because I also consider space taken by an OS and its application both included and user-installed.

System Specification used for review

MSI GF63 9RC Core i5 9th Gen - (8 GB Ram/1 TB HDD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics/NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1050/HD Display). This should summarize that this an above-average specification and performance issues won't be a problem. But I also had,

Sony VAIO Core i5 2nd Gen - (Upgraded to 8 GB Ram from 4 GB/320 GB HDD/512 MB Graphics/NVIDIA Geforce 410M) in which I also used tried hopping with ubuntu and Manjaro and will include my experience with it.

Manjaro is Good but, my personal annoyances...

Manjaro is a very good distro based on arch also highly customizable. But a newer version comes with kvantum theme manager which is annoying as when you try to install a new desktop environment you may get an unstable or improper environment that can be fixed after uninstalling it. Since it's based on arch you get the advantage of AUR repository. But packages can get difficult to maintain, can break, even repository can. But if you use normally you won't face any issues. It definitely is great if you constantly like to tweak something, when you install an arch based system, you feel like there is so much to do(in a good way). But play around too much carelessly and you end being frustrated, haha.

When you play around too much in arch Linux

My upcoming redemption to Elementary OS

Coming to elementary, recent version Hera is based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS(long term support), means app support for a longer, but most importantly latest and greatest applications also all stable developer apps are there too. Ubuntu-based system or some may say Debian is more mature than the current arch in terms of applications, releases, and stability. Elementary OS is one of the most stable distros I have ever used, even felt snappier than Ubuntu nowadays itself. Window management and its shortcuts are also good in this OS.

Look and feel

Manjaro - Deepin

Manjaro Deepin control center

Look and feel, to be honest, it's all about personal preference but, to explain further by the options available to download to Manjaro, it's official versions are Xfce, KDE, gnome. Rest are community version, but the deepin version isn't available official yet. Also, almost all desktop environments are like Linux mint theming. Deepin desktop is more like minimal and flat design, can imitate both windows and mac, also maybe be heavy on some system, but is clean and elegant. Every distro of manjaro like KDE, KDE has a lot of bloatware. Deepin side panel or control center is like windows. But you can easily set icons, themes, and cursor from there and manage settings from there. Deepin has a more modern approach. It's a modern UI pleasing to the eye. No ugly old UI like feel, really modern.

An open window deepin

Elementary OS

Pantheon Desktop

Elementary OS, UI, or desktop environment(de) also called pantheon on the other has a charm of simplicity. It's aesthetic and more appealing to simple users. It's beautiful and lightweight. It has a snappy feel. It's very straight forward. It has a dock too. If you have a hobby for coding or opening a lot of application windows like me, I would recommend pantheon, window management is fun and easy. Pantheon is so simple yet very efficient and clean even than deepin. And there isn't any bloatware. (Psst! Though I have read somewhere there is a community version of Manjaro that has Pantheon)

Terminal And File Manager Window Open

Few Problems with Pantheon I faced but easy tweaks

I couldn't create desktop files, folders, and shortcuts because developers didn't intend that way. There is an easy fix though, just install an app named "Desktop Folder" from AppCenter, which include extra features like creating notes and panels. Also, it has limited customization but can be improved from here.

    Another problem was there were no system-tray icons, but can be enabled through this solution on StackExchange.

My final conclusion

I love the simplicity and productivity that elementary os offers. It's fast, stable, and light but at the same time is efficient and beautiful. Elementary OS is a clean and simple approach to the user interface in Linux.

Bonus read: My experience on the lower-end device (Sony Vaio)

I used Manjaro for a longer duration in this device and also tried ubuntu in between, but not the elementary OS. Manjaro Customized cinnamon desktop environment runs way smoother than its ubuntu counterpart. The matte appearance of UI reminded me of mint was a lot cleaner and minimal and less clunky. It was very fast and responsive and customization doesn't affect the system performance.