LXDE is Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment which works for Linux operating systems like Fedora, Ubuntu and OpenSUSE. LXDE is the standard desktop environment in Knoppix and Lubuntu which are both CD based operating systems which you can run off of a CD, or install onto your computer hard drive from a CD. LXDE uses very little RAM, CPU, and hard drive resources compared to Windows 7 in my experience, so I can use more of my system resources for more important tasks like Linux gaming, video editing in Kdenlive, image editing with Gimp image editor, or just play flash games like CityVille faster on Facebook, and other websites. I been using LXDE theme in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on a computer with a 1.9GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 320GB hard drive, and onboard video, and it has been running very fast. LXDE theme lets me run apps I run in Ubuntu, but with a faster cleaner theme which uses less system resources then Gnome theme.
If you search Ubuntu Software Center for LXDE , you can find LXDE and install it. The next time you login to Ubuntu pick the LXDE theme instead of Gnome.
LXDE also claims to use less electricity, so you have longer battery life, and a slightly lower power bill. According to LXDE website, LXDE can run on some slower computers like the Pentium II 266MHz and 192 MB of RAM which is very low speeds compared to a modern computer.
The user interface is simple to use in my experience since its user interface, and file folder manager is similar to most other desktop operating systems. I like the user interface in LXDE more then the default Gnome desktop theme in Ubuntu 11.10 with the Unity sidebar, or the older version of Gnome with 2 toolbars on the top and bottom of the screen.
I also like that it is easy to remove things I don’t really need from the Taskbar like the Clock, and other items which I don’t need.
LXDE theme is a great theme choice for your Linux based operating system if you plan to install Linux on a low end computer like a Netbook, old Laptop, older computer made in the mid to late 90s, or if you just want a computer which use most of its system resources for running tasks instead of making things look good. LXDE is also good for specific tasks like a web browsing computer, e-mail, cloud computing tasks like using a web browser like FireFox to edit files in Google Docs, ZOHO Office, etc. This means you can have a desktop operating experience while using Firefox, Google Chrome, or other web operating system to use Google Docs, YouTube, Blogger, and not need to buy a ChromeBook with ChromeOS loaded to it which is just a cloud operating system which is also very fast, but limited to only online web browser apps mostly.
Using LXDE is one of the best alternatives to using a lightweight operating like Linux on a computer without using command lines, command prompts, and commands to do simple tasks like copying, cutting, pasting files, hosting files/websites to share on a network or via the internet via bittorrent, FTP, and other file sharing and hosting programs.
If you want to try out the LXDE theme, visit lxde.org to find links to Lubuntu, Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE, and Knoppix which can all use the LXDE theme.
The electricity-saving element of this seems like a real bonus. Battery life can be a real problem on the move.
I agree battery life can be a real problem when you are using an aging laptop which battery does not hold as much power after a few years.