There is a place for graphically gorgeous distro’s, but when it comes to ease and speed, Xfce is just the best for me.
I started using Xfce when Xubuntu first came out and I switched to Linux Mint Xfce when that started. I did try other distro’s when others recommended them, but always switched back to Xfce.
I have an old Eeepc that runs so smoothly on the latest Mint Xfce despite being a senior in computer years.
And that’s why it was about time I gushed about Xfce on here 😀
i3 will have lower requirements, since it’s just a bare window manager. XFCE is about as lightweight as a fully featured desktop environment can get, whereas with i3 you have to bring your own tools.
Incidentally, you can use i3 as the window manager portion of XFCE if you want.