I've gotta second kde. I went through a bunch of different DE's and window managers and stuff. KDE was the one I eventually settled on and haven't looked back.

I've gotta second kde. I went through a bunch of different DE's and window managers and stuff. KDE was the one I eventually settled on and haven't looked back. It's easy to customize and setup everything just the way you want it and after that it stays out of your way. The default qt apps like you say are all great pieces od software. Going back to windows explorer after using dolphin is like jumping back in time 20 years. Kate's been my favourite text editor for years. It's got just the right balance of being light, but full of useful things. I wanna throw in KDE connect too, honestly, the best and easiest way to work with an android device from a PC hands down.