I just swapped from Linux Mint KDE which has the Plasma desktop to Kubuntu which also has the Plasma desktop.
Gnome Ubuntu is installed on my daughter's and wife's touch screen laptops and also on a rugged tablet I have because the Gnome desktop is about the best Ubuntu compatible one for touch capabilities.
Since then, Ubuntu has started using Gnome as their standard desktop and the people that make Gnome, no longer make their own version of Ubuntu. That means eventually I'll have to swap three systems over but it's a very easy thing to do without losing anything. All documents AND settings are kept in your Home folder. Back that up, reinstall another Ubuntu and all your programs and restore the backup.
I have one other laptop with Xubuntu which is Ubuntu with the XFCE desktop, which is a lightweight desktop.
I like the Plasma desktop because it's very customizable and has bells and whistles.
The clock and system stats are called Plasmoids and I used to have a To Do List plasmoid up top but I use a program for that now. Evolution, email/calendar/tasks/notes.
Left hand side is favorite programs. Bottom, L to R is Apps, Power button, 6 virtual desktops, running programs, task bar/indicators and date/time. With the virtual desktops, I can have a program or two open in each one and hit Ctrl+Alt+Left or Right arrow keys to cycle through them and it looks like a cube rotating when I do so. The penguin's name is Tux and he's the Linux mascot.
Startup time is just as fast as windows and shut down time is less than 5 seconds. Installing updates can be done while working/surfing and there's hardly ever a restart required and it also does not affect that <5 second shut down time. My wife got back on windows yesterday after not having been on it for a while and it took a good 20 minutes to shut down. She was actually doing a restart to go back to Linux which made it pretty aggravating.
This whole thing about Linux plus a desktop is confusing to newbies. The base of Linux and later Debian, Ubuntu, Cent OS etc does not have a GUI aka Graphic User Interface aka Desktop. Linux/Ubuntu/CentOS run the internet for the most part and those Server versions have no GUI. You use them like the old MS DOS, typing commands in. Eventually, they added a GUI to Linux but decided to add it as a layer on top of the non-GUI version. That allows multiple GUI/Desktop versions to run on Linux. I'm running Kubuntu which comes with the Plasma desktop but I could simply install the Gnome desktop or XFCE or quite a few others and choose one when I log in to Ubuntu. Plasma does tend to get buggy on occasion so I've been meaning to install Gnome for those times.
