I’ve heard there are some desktop environments that use less resources like XFCE and LXQT, and I wanted to try them out, but I’m worried none of them will have something like the GNOME Shell Extensions, especially my favorite so far, Vitals, which I use to pin my computer temperature, memory usage, and free disk space onto the top bar to make sure I don’t get too close to the limit. Is there anything similar to this on XFCE, LXQT, or other lightweight desktop extensions?
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Welcome to the community @joeisnotmyname
You’ll be fine on either desktop. XFCE has xfce4-sensors-plugin and xfce4-systemload-plugin that you can add straight to the panel for temps, CPU, and memory.
LXQt has similar built-in panel widgets for system stats and sensors once you have lm-sensors installed.
Not as all-in-one like Vitals but they cover the same info.
If you want something that works on any desktop, Conky is worth a look too. It’s super customizable! Andthere are tons of premade configs out there.
What distro are you planning to try?
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I’m planning to try OpenSUSE, now that I’ve practiced with Ubuntu for a couple months.
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Nice, openSUSE is a solid pick. Everything I mentioned above works the same there. If you go with XFCE you can grab those panel plugins straight from zypper. Same with conky if you want to go that route.
Also see 10 Best Linux Desktop Environments in 2026 (My Picks) which your input today about Gnome extensions helped me to realize a bit more clearly my bias towards Gnome when scoring and ranking 2 days ago.
When considering OpenSUSE, also take a look at Tumbleweed and Slowroll.
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The more portable, and capable, tool is
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Always good to provide visuals, in order to properly assess potential before pursuing.
This post offers 2 specific examples of conky implementations.
With conky, the thing to keep in mind is that it takes a very disciplined approach, creating “simple” building blocks … one at a time … because the code cannot be “cut+paste” back and forth within the “conkyrc” or config file.
So, it takes time, but, if your goal is a very complex layout, discipline and persistence gets you there!
A “catalogue” of conky configurations, with snapshots, is available.
If you want fancy weather-related conky, this is the reference page!
For some discussion about issues and challenges, you might want to review the conversation here.
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Conky looks very interesting, full-fledged config running on any DE no matter what. Thanks also to eric for the link to some visual examples on their GitHub, it definitely seems like a fun ricing project to try after getting the most out of XFCE and LXQt.
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