Michael:
In the last few years I have been using gnome, launched with "startx" "gnome-session" when I needed it. However, going back to pre-"startx" conditions, much memory was no more available. Therefore I tried Xfce as provided with testing. In fact, when preparing a system for molecular dynamics on the mainframe, there is frequent need of graphical programs, such as VMD.
Now I am looking for a notebook with USA keyboard (something extremely difficult to get in Italy, where all is sold with the local keyboard) for a present to a 10-year boy to bring him away from the mass and let him understanding that there must be a reason why the mainframes I am using are all driven by linux, not by the mass OS. I'll try Windowmaker for the notebook on your suggestion.
By the way, is there a list of (fully) successful installations of debian on recent (such as i3 CPUs), non-expensive notebooks? Although my aim is to let my boy understanding what he is doing, everything should work on the notebook, including sound. Otherwise the boy will be defeated in the comparison with friends.