Zorin OS 15 - Is this the best GNOME 3 desktop ?
2,040Zorin OS 15 was released a few days ago, and while I don't usually cover many linux distros releases, seeing a few screenshots of Zorin made me want to take a look at what it has to offer. So here is a tour of what Zorin OS brings to the table, and why I think you might want to give it a try.
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The Basics
Zorin OS is an Ubuntu-based distribution. Its first version dates back to 2009, and the distro released 15 Major version, culminating with the release of ZOrin OS 15 the 5th of June. Zorin markets itself as a distro for newcomers, and tries to emulate a familiar interface with layouts inspired by Windows and Mac OS X. It comes in 4 editions. The base one everyone should try is the Zorin Core edition, available for free, shipping with a windows like layout based on GNOME 3, and with a reasonable set of GNOME default applications. For older computers, the Zorin Lite edition ships with XFCE, and the education edition adds class management and educative applications.
The last one is Zorin Ultimate, which is the only one you have to pay for. For 39€, you get pre-defined layouts to look like Windows, Mac OS X, regular GNOME 3, Ubuntu, or even a touch specific layout.
Installation experience
The installer is the same one as what Ubuntu uses, and it does the job nicely, with simple configuration steps, and a minimal install option. It also allows you to install graphics drivers for Nvidia hardware to avoid an extra step after the installation is done, and this option allowed me to boot with my RTX 2060 and without any display issues (CHECK IT). User creation is done during the installation, as is the case with other distros using this installer.
Internals
Zorin OS 15 is based on Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS, with the hardware enablement stack included, so you won't be missing out on too much hardware support. It does mean that apps available in the repos will be a bit behind, though. Most notably, Zorin ships with GNOME 3.30, missing out on the great performance improvements brought by GNOME 3.32. It does come with its own PPA's and repositories, for more recent app versions, drivers and patches, and supports flatpaks and snaps as well.
Look and feel
Zorin OS 15 looks beautiful by default. Transparent panel, stark white theme and blue accents make it look a lot like a regular GTK version of Deepin. Its default layout, inspired by Windows 10, uses a custom menu with applications, search, shortcuts, and system actions, coupled with an icon only shortcut / taskbar combo, and the default GNOME indicators.
Applications look nice, although dark mode fans might think it's blindingly white. They'll be happy to know that a Zorin Appearance app is included by default, allowing to set a dark mode, or, more cleverly, automatically switch between light and dark mode depending on the time of day. This app also allows you to change the accent color quite simply, by picking between 6 different colors.
Zorin Appearance is also where you can pick your layout, between the default one, a more classic windows with text on the taskbar, a touch layout with the app launcher in full screen and padding added to the shell, a default GNOME 3 layout with just a top panel, an Ubuntu layout with a dock on the left, and a Mac OS layout, with the dock on the bottom.
Applications
Zorin comes with a big set of apps. Zorin Core comes with most default GNOME software, including calendar, maps, weather, and all utilities. It also adds GNOME Todo, a nice todo list application that syncs with TodoIst, LibreOffice, GIMP, or Shotwell although they are not necessarily the latest version of each.
Zorin also adds Zorin Connect, a re-brand of KDE Connect, out of the box, as well as its GS Connect extension, so you can sync your android phone with your Linux computer, exchange files easily, and even control multimedia apps or the mouse cursor from your phone.
The Ultimate edition adds a lot of stuff on top of that, mostly graphics and audio applications, such as Blender, Ardour, Audacity, MIXX DJ, Kdenlive, Handbrake, Kodi, and a bunch more utilities.
Performance
Idle, Zorin OS Ultimate uses about 1.1Gb of RAM, and CPU usage seems normal for anything based on GNOME 3. Since it uses a modified version of that desktop environment, without the heavy shell animations, such as the app launcher, the performance enhancements from 3.32 aren't really missed. Everything opens smoothly and nicely, and the system handles itself well under load.
Animations are snappy and smooth, and everything performed without slowdowns. Admittedly, this might also because my machine is pretty beefy, with a ryzen 5 2600, 16gb of RAM, an SSD, and an RTX2060, but Zorin seems to perform as well as any Ubuntu-based distro using GNOME. Users willing to reduce memory usage or running it on older machines will probably want to turn to Zorin Lite, which uses XFCE.