We review the latest Manjaro 24 “Wynsdey” major release, which brings the latest Plasma 6 and more updates.
It’s been a while since I reviewed Manjaro Linux. The latest release of Manjaro 24 code-named “Wynsdey” packs some significant updates across the core Arch Linux base, desktop environment offerings. This is the first release of Manjaro, which brings the latest KDE Plasma 6 version with stunning looks.
So, I am compelled to review this iteration of this easy-to-use Arch Linux derivative.
Table of Contents
Manjaro 24 Review
ISO and Installation
Manjaro 24 comes with its usual three standard desktop environment flavour – GNOME, Xfce and KDE Plasma. All of them are a little over ~3 GB in ISO size. Each flavour offers 4 different kernel versions.
- Full edition with 6.9 Kernel
- Minimal with 6.9 Kernel
- Minimal with 6.6 Kernel
- Minimal with 6.1 Kernel
This is a perfect offering if you want a minimal install system with KDE Plasma, Xfce, or GNOME with Manjaro with prior stable Kernel versions. ISO size of the minimal editions are less than 3 GB.
Manjaro uses the standard Calamares installer to take the pain away from you of installing Arch Linux. Although, the Arch Linux already has the nice archinstall script which is super easy.
That said, the installation went smooth in my test machine without much of a problem. For the test run, I picked up the KDE Plasma edition, since it is the major update in this version.
New features of Manjaro 24
The KDE Plasma edition in this release comes with Plasma 6.0 and KDE Gear 24.02, which brings exciting new improvements to the desktop. The technology stack in Plasma has undergone major upgrades, including a transition to the latest version of the application framework, Qt, and an improved graphics platform when Wayland is used. These changes benefit Plasma’s security, efficiency, and performance, and improve support for modern hardware. You can learn the features of KDE Plasma 6 in this article.
The Plasma edition looks stunning with a newly integrated default theme “Breath” specific to the green tone of Manjaro. This replaces the stock Breeze theme.
Alongside, two variants of new default wallpaper “Foreland” complements the looks of this release.
The XFCE edition includes Xfce 4.18, which features a new file highlighting feature in the Thunar file manager, new panel preferences, and improved grouping of system modules in Control Centre.
Manjaro 24 GNOME edition brings GNOME 46 version. This release has introduced a global search feature in its file manager, which allows users to quickly search for files and documents without having to know their exact location. This new feature also enables users to search the contents of files, filter by file type and modification date, and search multiple locations simultaneously.
The remote desktop experience in GNOME 46 has been significantly enhanced with the addition of a new dedicated remote login option. This allows you to remotely connect to a GNOME system that is not already in use, and configure the system’s display from the remote side, resulting in a better experience for the remote user.
The Settings app in GNOME 46 has been reorganized to make it easier to navigate. A new System section has been created, which contains preferences for Region & Language, Date & Time, Users, Remote Desktop, Secure Shell, and About. The Apps settings have also been consolidated and now include the Default Apps and Removable Media settings.
Key apps in Manjaro 24
Manjaro Linux features a few key applications to make your Arch Linux journey easier.
The Arch Linux package installer Pamac has been ported to libalpm 6.1, which improves download of build scripts from the Arch User Repository and Manjaro binary repositories. In addition, you get the latest Firefox, LibreOffice, Manjaro settings manager and Timeshift for backup management.
The standard edition uses Kernel 6.9, with 6.6 LTS and 6.1 LTS available for older hardware.
Performance
The performance of Manjaro 24 is expected. The KDE Plasma edition uses ~900 MB of RAM at idle, with major resources consumed by KDE-specific packages. This edition uses ~8GB disk space for the default installation.
If you use GNOME or Xfce edition, the performance might be a little lesser in the same range. And as you open more applications or run more service, it should increase significantly from this baseline.
The minimal editions are almost the same in performance; however, it uses a few less disk space because LibreOffice and other apps are not installed by default.
Wrapping up
Overall, the team managed to push out a nice release with major desktop versions. During my test, I did not encounter any major bugs or slowness. Although, it does require a modern i5+ grade machine to operate fairly.
For Arch Linux users, this could be a viable alternative to all the user-friendly Arch distributions, such as Endeavour OS. Furthermore, the multiple Kernel offerings are a great way to enjoy Arch in older hardware.
You can download this version from the official website.
