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Plasma 6.4 Wayland vs X11, processor and power benchmarks
Quoting: Plasma 6.4 Wayland vs X11, processor and power benchmarks —
Now, I could keep on benchmarking and benchmarking. I could also throw in other devices into the mix, with Intel graphics, Nvidia graphics, hybrid graphics, and then some. Except, I have only so much free time and so much appreciation for a good mystery. I could also tell you that I'm pretty certain, without having conducted any additional benchmarks, that whatever you see in Plasma, this is probably better than what you'll see in other Wayland and X11 sessions in other desktop environments. After all, my Plasma 6.4 review findings very nicely and predictably align with years and years of testing.
Does these results point to any cardinal showstopper bug in KWin or Wayland or anything else, something that would explain the 100% GPU spikes? Alas, not. In fact, the more I test, the more I realize that the suboptimal numbers are a result of suboptimal software, not anything broken in the hardware or the drivers. I am quite sure no developer out there uses a lowly 2019 laptop for their work. Most probably have 32-core top-of-the-line systems, and so what may look like rounding errors on blistering-fast monster rigs is actually badly optimized (Wayland) code. But we can't blame just Wayland. Most modern software is badly optimized. There's frivolous use of system resources, as if money grows on trees and everyone's a rich Californian who can buy expensive hardware every couple of years.
Once again, what I'm showing here is a troubling trend. "Heavy" code that will make Linux run badly on older systems, or at least, not as good as they could run. MX Linux is the best example of spartan, a proof that it can be done. Wayland not being stable enough. Wayland not being as fast as X11. Arbitrary decisions that force the user's hand. All of these are manifestations of a self-defeating pattern that is slowly spreading through the Linux world. And it will, without any help from Microsoft and alike, reduce the chances of the Linux desktop actually becoming a sound, healthy alternative to Windows. So, keep X11 around. Not for my sake. Not for us grumpy dinosaurs. For the sake of the Linux desktop future. Bye bye now, fellow nerds.