Well, I use Arch Linux with X. No problem so far.
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I’m sure that’s true. But if your preference is an atomic distro with KDE Plasma, things become trickier. Heck, any distro running Plasma will be a problem. 
Running on Zorin OS 18.1 with KDE Plasma as DE. Have not had any issues with DT that is OS or DE related. Have release 5.6.0, but prefer using the Nightly builds. Only issue I had thus far was gpu related due to insufficient VRAM (2GB) that I experienced on Windows 11 as well.
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I recommend MX Linux KDE.
It’s a fast and stable system with excellent fractional scaling support on 4K monitors.
I used ZorinOS and Kubuntu for a while, but I’ve gone back to MX Linux KDE. Kubuntu was nice too, but I was put off by those Snap packages. I like the Firefox browser from the DEB repository, as it blends in nicely with the system’s colour scheme 
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I would say that for most users, the desktop environment makes more difference than the actual distro. KDE provides a very smooth experience, I would recommend it to everyone who does not have a special need (like a tiling window manager etc, but those users usually know what they want anyway).
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Why would you use kde on zorin os instead of using a native kde os like kubuntu , mx linux kde?
Zorin comes with Gnome and KDE, I prefer KDE to to Gnome.
Agreed.
I’m still trying COSMIC because it feels refreshing and has all the elements where I want them. But it is a little buggy, like when the laptop wakes up from sleep and the cursor goes crazy like someone has remoted in.
I might go back to KDE at some point, but it was feeling a little too like Windows for my liking, same with Cinnamon.
Does GNOME still prevent you from putting the system tray at the bottom?
Install Gnome extension Dash to Dock and you’ll have something nice like on Mac OS. Or Dash to Panel to be closer to Windows.
I have totally 3 Gnome extensions installed and this is much faster than going through myriads of KDE settings.
Just because they exist doesn’t mean they need to be changed. Base KDE needs 0 configuration to be very usable nowadays.
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It is all personal, I prefer to have a DE that is productive and comfortable for me. Gnome is easier to reach that goal than KDE.
Overall I like minimalism and efficiency, that’s why I mostly use ART and not DT.
Snap is less horrible now than it was initially. But for me, the damage is done: I will hate snap for life.
Regarding Ubuntu, I quite like how they have configured Gnome. A little while back, I installed another distro with Gnome, and its configuration of Gnome was almost unusable (to me).
I recently fired up Fedora, and found that the KDE setup on it was quite nice, although the amount of $h!t that they included was overwhelming just like in the old days.
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Thank you!
As someone who is fairly new to this, it helped immensely for expanding my understanding of how everything is tied together with linux.
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How much of this is down to Fedora, rather than KDE? Personally, I block stuff I don’t need at installation time, rather than leaving it to clean up afterwards.
I think KDE is great because it implements more or less the desktop concept that people got used to since Windows 95. It is not for everyone (personally I use swaywm), but it works for 95% of users who just want to get work done on their computer without learning about new GUI concepts. Yes, desktop UIs have improved a lot, but most of that has been really subtle. KDE implements the kind of desktop that anyone who has ever used a computer (even with Windows, or OS X) can figure out in minutes.
I salute Gnome for experimenting with new desktop arrangements and metaphors. I think people should keep doing this, as it leads to new ideas that trickle to mainstream desktops if they are viable. But at the same time I appreciate that not everyone wants to use a desktop that gets fundamental redesigns every few years.
Sometimes I want to go to a restaurant that surprises me with a novel take on a dish. But sometimes I just want a well-implemented version of a dish I know since childhood.
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It’s fedora. Arch linux has two package groups for kde, plasma-meta and kde-applications-meta. Fedora includes a lot of extra applications that might be useful for the average user, hence the supposed bloat.
I agree, and I use sway as well
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Sorry for the lack of clarity. I meant Fedora.
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As does openSUSE. Unfortunately, the installation system isn’t smart enough to allow the user to easily select only the applications they need.
I don’t think it should allow the user to select only stuff he needs. We need distros to be approachable and serve the lowest common denominator, currently only Ubuntu does this IMO. Fedora, Suse, etc, installing more default software is gonna cost you what, 600MB to 1GB? It’s not like it’s installing Candy Crush or something like that.
If the user wants a curated suite of software, he should use Arch, NixOS, or some other more hands on distro.
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To pull in another contentions thread, an AI guided installation would (IMHO) be better than the current, rather ancient, procedural menu system that openSUSE uses. But there again, that is easy for me to say since it wouldn’t be me designing and implementing such a system 
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