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Good question, but you should definitely install both and try them out! Just in case you didn't know since you're new to Linux, you can install as many desktop environments as you want. You pick the one to use at the login screen. All your programs and files will still be there.
To answer your question: I prefer Gnome because I find it simpler and less distracting, but I've since moved to i3, then Sway, and now Hyprland.
I did not know that I could install more then one and pick that easy, that’s really good to know. I figured if I installed more than one there’d be conflicts or something but that’s really nice I’ll have to do some experimenting. Thanks for mentioning that!
You could just do a live install on a USB, and you don't even have to install to your machine to try it out. Debian has live installs available for both KDE and Gnome and should be perfectly fine for just checking out the DE (and most distros have a live option, check to see if your preferred distro does), just know that it will be slow and you won't see that in a proper installation.
Edit: just saw further down thread, Mint can do a live USB but you'll probably just want Cinnamon with that. Bazzite does not have a live boot, and from my cursory glance at possibly running both DEs it seemed to be a bit more of a headache on Bazzite than other distros. Trying Gnome on a Debian live install will at least tell you if you like Gnome.
XFCE
I use KDE atm I'm really new to Linux at the moment though and I will switch at some point to see the other side. But KDE seams really good after just coming from Windows.
gnome since 2.x, consistent, simple and customizable
very interested in cosmic
KDE, mostly as that is what I first used in 2000 in Mandrake. in saying that my laptop is a M2 mac with macos on it
I love GNOME and the way you just open everything in a full screen window and just switch workspaces easily.
I find it so much better than just switching windows the way I have to do on Windows 10 at work.
I might be tempted to try to have the same workflow on KDE one day as personnalisation might a bit too limited on GNOME. Does anyone know if you can do it?
KDE since I hand compiled a 2.0 beta.
I'm OK with GNOME.
I prefer GNOME on my Microsoft Surface because I fine it much better than KDE for touchscreens. And GNOME's dynamic workspaces are amazing to use for my screen.
I prefer KDE on my desktop and laptop. Highly customizable and works great. I wish it natively had dynamic workspaces though
I use a window manager on my desktop, and gnome on my laptop. Gnome's gestures are amazing with a touchpad
Agreed, Mutter's 2 finger and 3 finger swipes (similar to macOS) are one reason why I haven't jumped from Gnome yet
I use GNOME and I enjoy it a lot. If you decide to go with GNOME, imho try to install as few extensions as possible so that you can experience the desktop environment the way it's intended by the developers. Of course, if it's not for you, then with the help of extensions you can adapt it to your liking.
Pros:
Cons:
🚧⚠️ That said, there's currently a really annoying bug in GNOME that causes HUGE (or even - INSANE!) disk I/O! I don't know when it is going to be fixed, but for the first time in two years this made me consider trying other desktop environments.
KDE - Was Gnome, but I switched for a reason. I, uh, forgot the reason.
KDE. Historicaly I was using Gnome (1 then 2) but Gnome3 was just .... So I switched to KDE and never looked back since, it so customizable that I can set it just right for me. No shade to the great work made by the Gnome3 team but I am a KDE guy now...
I use KDE as I can set it up just how I like it. I never got on with Gnome at all. The truth of it is that the only way to know if you prefer Gnome to KDE is to give it a good try out. Don't forget Cinnamon, Xfce, and Mate also!
I recommend GNOME from a purely security perspective. Currently, "GNOME is the only desktop that secures privileged wayland protocols like screencopy." It also has a nice permission system for (dis)allowing microphone, camera, and location access. I wish the developers were more open to encouraging customization of the certain GUI elements, like KDE. KDE Plasma does not protect against screen capture, though it is on their radar.
I'm using Cinnamon, I find it better when using a customized Cinnamenu applet (instead of the default app launcher).
GNOME because it just works better with network shares. Really wanted to use KDE but I use a lot of network shares and it just annoyed me.
In KDE I open a network folder in the file browser, double click a video and VLC can’t see it because it uses a different sharing protocol.
On GNOME it just works seamlessly.
I know I can fix it in command line, but I don’t want to. I tried the KDE fuse plug in but that had other issues.
KDE with Polonium for Window Management because I want tiling but still looking for a better way to get tiling into KDE. If someone knows.
I started on gnome. Used gnome for most of my linux life. However, after some memory and performance issues, I decided to try KDE. That was about 3 years ago and everything that handles it well and I use a GUI with has been moved to KDE.
Five years of Mate (which is essentially Gnome 2 on life support) replaced by a couple years of KDE Plasma.
Mate treated me well enough, it was mostly stable, capable, and competent. But it was a bit crusty around the edges, and being so niche meant search-engine-visible help resources for anything than went wrong were virtually nonexistent. In hindsight, using it as a beginner's DE was probably a mistake. I suppose in being so austere and devoid of resources it taught me to develop more of a "get to the bottom of it yourself" attitude to debugging and have humbler expectations about form versus function, but that's a pretty rough sell to most people. Mate is definitely better as a drink than a desktop environment.
I don't need to talk about KDE Plasma at all because the rest of the thread already has. I have nothing new to add beyond the comment that I like their mascot character.
I have no informed opinion on Gnome 3. All I've gleaned about it is that it's supposedly "my way or the highway" by design, and the "my way" in question is controversially counter-grain to a lot of established expectations (e.g. it's literally why Mate exists). Which is neither here nor there to me, objectively. But I will say I have no interest learning a new way of doing things, even if it's theoretically superior, when a conventional system still exists, is viable, is highly polished, and is kept sharp-edged. Hence, KDE Plasma.
Gnome user here.
Plasma on the desktop with the 40" 4K screen with lotsa windows and desktops. Gnome on the laptop, each app full-screen and swipe left-right to switch between them.
To be clear, these are not the only two options, just the biggest and most new-user-friendly.
I got started in gnome, but am currently using Hyprland (and QTile if I need X)
Yes
Gnome on my work notebook, KDE Plasma on my own machines.
I like KDE Plasma better overall but Gnome was a little bit more stable for me so far. I don't mind UI differences that much, I'm not very much reliant on the GUI and can deal with pretty much any UI paradigm.
I don't really like Gnome as I like to tinker with everything, so I use KDE. I also have a laptop with Cinnamon, which is also pretty good.
I tried a lot of desktop environments and I think KDE is the best one, games runs much better than GNOME while the desktop is so smart and many features... I really tried so hard GNOME but the UI sucks, it is slower running games, there are missing options very important for me that KDE has, so for me GNOME is a NO for working/gaming purposes.
Unless you're barely meeting the minimum specs for a game, on a properly configured system any impact on game performance between the two should be a rounding error.
I use KDE Plasma on my desktop and GNOME on my laptop — though, by my experience, GNOME has been mildly annoying. I just find it too "restrictive" when compared with KDE. I'm also not super fond of how some apps seem to integrate rather poorly with GNOME. I do think that GNOME's interface works well with a laptop, but the UX hasn't been the best for me. I have few, if any, complaints regarding KDE.
Been using KDE for 2 years and love it. Only weird issue is my old desktop i am running Arch with KDE headless to stream to the steam link in the kids room and plasma shell crashes a bunch. Still haven't figured out why.
No, I don't