htop is a terminal application which displays all running processes in an ordered list view. There's just one view of htop which displays everything. This avoids needless navigation through different views which usually is very time consuming.
Unlike the default system monitors found in Ubuntu or Gnome Shell, Glances shows a lot of information all in one place instead of having to click through tab after tab. This makes cursory glances at one's stats a lot easier and less time-consuming.
Due to the way glances lists out all the running programs it can be difficult to find a particular one as you would need to search through the whole list manually. This can be time consuming and frustrating when trying to pin down a rogue app.
Conky is editable to the point that there is almost no limit to the designs one can use to display the type of information one wants. Not only are there thousands of themes available on sites like deviantart and gnome-look, but a user can create any type of look they like with a little bit of know-how and imagination.
Conky has a bunch of sensor stats that the user can choose to display such as CPU usage, memory, uptime, etc. Depending on what the user wants to display, most likely there is a way to display the needed info when using Conky.
Being text based, the config file for Conky can be intimidating for those unfamiliar. Though there are configuration managers out there such as Conky Manager which can make the setup a bit easier.
This program is free to use and distribute. The source code is available to a wide range of developers to solve existing issues and improve the platform.
Very lightweight. But If you have to manage processes end, killetc it's ksysguard or Gnome's system monitor you should use. Both installed is the perfect combination.
Here there may be development options making it easier to grasp at a glance. Maybe a two step approach, graphics showing basics and additional details in the next step, preferably with the graphics still running. Let the user choose.
Users can easily set GKrellM to monitor what they like (depending on what monitors are supported by their PC) such as CPU usage (which can be set to monitor each core individually), as well as temperatures and fan speeds.
The theme that comes by default for GKrellM is not really appealing to the eye and sadly many of the available themes are not that much better with fuzzy text and bad color choices.
Through the settings one can set alarms and warning for each monitor, which allows one to always stay informed if anything is getting above what their set limits are.