ya i also use gnome and kinda just wish the customizations were built in. but i have to say idk what it is but gnome just seems to feel so much smoother. Like its animations, and app switching experience. I think its way of doing things is perfect for a laptop, and i prefer closer to the typical windows layout for a desktop. On a laptop the screens a bit small so i auto hide the dock, and hide the top bar and just run everything in full screen. If i wanna check the time or access top bar menus i just tap the super key real quick then tap it again when im done. I use pretty few extensions, but i do worry sometimes ill get fucked by an update lol. So far so good tho for me.