I just switched back to XFCE on my desktop, because panel launchers cannot be properly configured in a simple way. Too bad usability made all the good looks useless. And I feel a renewed assuredness, that XFCE is the most productive DE for me. I had it configured in 10 minutes and it does everything I want in the way I want. Also XFCE these days can also look nicely.

Still, usability (and that includes being able to configure things easily) is king and I cannot stand it, if I cannot configure annoyances away.

Panels are indeed a gigantic pain in the ass to configure. It is possible, but I feel like I have to go to three completely unrelated places each time I want to. And I can never remember which place is the one to go to.

How does XFCE do with high-DPI displays? My only other complaint with Cinnamon is that the window controls are a tad small. It's been a long time since I used XFCE.

Oh, I don't know the answer to that question. I have 3 full HD screens and have not looked for anything more, as it seems completely sufficient to me. Maybe someone else knows. However, I do know, that you can configure icon sizes and font sizes.

Zorin is also beautiful. I installed it on a whim, and it became my daily driver just because it felt so nice to me.

I'm on Kubuntu (so KDE), been using it for over 6 months now. I am the kind of person that loves setting up the desktop and all the apps just like I want, so it has been perfect for me, although the defaults are pretty solid as well. The default Breeze theme also is really pretty, I went through all kinds of themes but eventually settled with Breeze due to how good it looks.