20

Which one is the faster and will I get all the features of Ubuntu on them? I've done a little homework too on it, I think xfce will be the better option. My pc specs aren't good enough to handle Unity, as it hangs very often.

Improve this question
1
  • This is not duplicate question as this question ask to compare xfce and lxde and not other desktops.
    – user690429
    Jun 27, 2017 at 9:54

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
20

Which one is faster?

Obviously LXDE. It is even lighter than XFCE. LXDE uses about 110 mb of ram when idle while XFCE is a little more bloated, taking about 200 mb (based on my experience)

Which is easier to use?

XFCE. It have more GUIs while LXDE requires you to modify configuration files in your own in some cases.

More configurable?

Both are configurable, but it depends on how much you want to play with it. It is less configurable than KDE or GNOME, though.

Can I install them?

Via the software center everything is easier. But I recommend you use lubuntu-desktop for LXDE or xubntu-desktop for XFCE. (Since they've prepared most of the stuff for you)

Improve this answer
5
  • 9
    "A uses less RAM than B" is only an indication of RAM use, not that it's faster. Given that RAM is used to store things to that they don't have to be re-computed (or stored on a slower disk), the opposite is more likely true.
    – Oli ♦
    Aug 5, 2014 at 11:33
  • 5
    LXDE is not abandoned. The link you posted is talking about lxde-qt and the point was that they're going to merge with razor-qt. That has no effect on lxde itself, which put out a release two days ago.
    – deuberger
    Dec 5, 2014 at 13:31
  • 2
    Please Fix the "LXDE is abandoned" part, it is misleading.
    – Hello World
    Apr 15, 2015 at 20:32
  • 3
    Xfce uses more RAM because Xfce caches things aggressively, giving it responsiveness. Their goal is fast and appealing, not low on RAM and appealing.
    – user423626
    May 29, 2016 at 18:10
  • gnome is not customizable at all !! (gnome3)
    – user690429
    Jun 27, 2017 at 9:58
8

With my experiences, Xfce (or Xubuntu), as an older DE, is more polished, provides more "built-in" features, has nicer artwork, and a larger community.

LXDE (or Lubuntu) on the other hand is a newer DE, not that polished as Xfce, it takes several apps from Ubuntu and Xubuntu instead of having it's own equivalent (for example notifications, power manager, disk manager, and window manager (Openbox)). But Lubuntu is much faster than Xubuntu, mainly because it uses lighter applications and hasn't got all the eye-candy (effects, shadows, compositoning).

They both are full-featured. If you are installing Linux on someone elses hardware (friend, parents), who are new to Linux, go with Xubuntu. It's more user friendly, and has a nice settings center. However, if you are installing it on your own hardware, try Lubuntu. Not as nice (although you can fix that), needs a little tinkering, but the speed will fascinate you.

I am was on Lubuntu (actually GNOME on Arch now, hehe), mainly because of the speed, but I just installed Xubuntu into my cousin's computer yesterday, who hasn't seen a Linux yet, because it's easier to operate.

Please note that I was talking about Lubuntu 14.04.1 and Xubuntu 14.04.1.

However, with 15.04 (maybe 14.10 but that's unlikely) They still haven't swapped it but it looks like the plans are after 16.04, Lubuntu will swap the now abandoned LXDE with LXQt, on which 2 teams (LXDE and RazorQt teams) will be working on, and will get much more polish and be more like Xfce, and Xfce will be ported to Gtk3, which is not exactly lightweight, so the difference will be much larger between Lubuntu and Xubuntu.

Improve this answer
3
  • 4
    1) LXDE is not abandoned. Your link references a merger of two LXQt branches. LXDE (with Gnome) is still the default standard. 2) Lubuntu still has not swapped LXDE with LXQt because LXQt (merged with razor) is still under development.
    – dhj
    Jan 31, 2016 at 16:33
  • @dhj: yeah, I know, but it basically is, there are almost no updates no, all the work (or most of it) is focused on LXQt. But I'll update the answer.
    – Juraj Fiala
    Apr 13, 2016 at 15:17
  • 2
    @fiala From the user perspective no one should be treating LXDE (or Lubuntu) as abandonware. LXDE is continuing as LXQt -- If you look at the wiki page you see the current LXDE release is LXQt 0.10. They merged the two projects and are converting to Qt as the "engine". I just wanted everyone to know that "LXDE" the Desktop Environment is alive and strong and it is still called LXDE.
    – dhj
    Apr 20, 2016 at 13:47

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .