Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to Safari
This distro, based on the Ubuntu LTS with a custom desktop environment called Pantheon, is a turnkey OS with a focus on user experience design and system efficiency.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Lightweight & fast
Runs well on limited-resources hardware, including netbooks or chromebooks.
Pro Fast and reliable
Runs well on limited-resources hardware, including netbooks or chromebooks.
Pro UI design consistency
Excellent uniformity between all the stock application and an overall extremely clean design with simple animations.
Pro Extremely user-friendly
This distribution promises you a very tailored user experience and it does deliver on that promise. The developers provide you with a custom desktop environment and a set of neat programs. And the whole desktop looks simply gorgeous.
Pro Customizable Terminal
You can change the Look and Feel of the Terminal, don't just accept what you're given.
Pro Constantly being updated
Contrary to what people think, running the latest kernel and nothing changed, no weird updates.
Pro A fast and reliable version of Ubuntu
Taking out Customization means resources are evenly spread and not hugged by apps or extensions.
Pro Paired with Geary email app
You're always ready to work and receive your emails immediately.
Pro Ubuntu guides can be used
As this is based on ubuntu. Most ubuntu guides work with elementary. Try using this guide.
Pro Consistent development practices
All Elementary apps are written in Vala and hosted on Launchpad, and there are standard APIs such as contractor for applications to interact with one another. This is different from most distros, in which apps are written in a variety of languages. This design decision makes it easy to get started developing for Elementary and to understand how the various pieces fit together.
Pro A dedicated StackExchange site
Elementary OS has a dedicated StackExchange site where users can easily find answers to common questions.
Cons
Con Problems with basic functions
Problems often arise with functions like keyboard layout and touchpad.
Con Doesn't support 32-bit hardwares anymore
One can install pantheon DE from new ubuntu's repo but Elementry OS is not making new ISO's nor is it supporting them. It makes confuzzled to new users.
Con Very slow development cycle
Elementary does not offer any release date for their stable releases going more with an "it's done when it's done" attitude. Making depending on newer apps a difficulty as well as a poor choice for those that need consistent release schedules for their OS.
Con Old base and applications
The slow release schedule makes the applications outdated. It drags behind Ubuntu LTS (on which it's based) which itself drags behind Ubuntu which is often still quite far behind Arch for example.
Con Poor Linux community reputation
The devs of ElementaryOS feel anyone not paying for their Ubuntu respin are not worthy of using it. Which upset a good bit of people. Obviously, the core dev team have issues with their community outreach and PR.
Con UI doesn't let you change anything
Every installation of elementaryOS looks exactly like the same.
Con Upper panel requires extra spaces
The upper panel in Elementary OS requires more space. This can be a problem for computers with small monitors.
Con Window control button placement may be unintuitive to some
Elementary OS has window controls on the left side of the window. It may be less intuitive to users coming from other operating systems that put window controls on the right.
Recommendations
Comments
Flagged Pros + Cons
Out of Date Pros + Cons
Pro Active Google+ community
There is a place where elementary users can ask their questions and usually get answers pretty quickly. Not only by the other users, but the devs are pretty active themselves, often engaging in the discussions on the hows, whys, and plans for the OS.
