One thing I'll mention is that hitting the "Activities" after a cold boot is still just as fast (if not a bit faster) as the beta, but "Show Applications" is now faster than it was in the beta or before it (even 13.1). On the Dell, the "Show Applications" problem I had is fixed.
While I'm here, I might as well point out the new graphical effect when you click on "Show Applications" (assuming hardware is able to support it). The icons and labels for each application floats outward from the "Show Applications" button in a similar way as the "Genie" minimize/restore effect in Mac OSX; the attached screenshot only shows the beginning part of it, as the graphical effect is pretty fast and isn't easy to capture, but I'm sure it helps make the effect a bit more understandable.
In the top-right menu, another button is added (presumably for laptops, as it did not appear on the Dell), which I haven't any clue what it's for, besides that it changes to have a lock on it when you click on it. With it being only for laptops, it doesn't really help to figure out what it is or is for. I'll see if I can find something on it later.
Confirmation dialogues are a bit different now: the pop-up greys the corresponding window (which I don't really remember from 13.1), but the most noticeable aspects is the pop-up itself - which now has no window decorations (the "x" for the close or a grab-able title bar is no longer present), and the buttons are much larger. It looks much cleaner and simple, which is a nice change.
YaST2's Software Manager also got a pretty large graphical update, which now has several tabs instead of the drop-down menu. The package info section also has tabs, which makes it easier to get to the respective section (say you're trying to get to the versions to install a specific version from a different repository). With how it's changed, the layout seems a bit more aesthetically pleasing than Synaptic.
As I had mentioned in the beta, some of the buttons have been moved to the top of the dialogue instead of being on the bottom. This was done (presumably) to utilize the extra space in the title bar, which makes the windows that much smaller.
Gedit was really graphically overhauled - some buttons placed into the title bar. Tabs appear when you click the new tab button, though there might be a preference to have tabs always shown (I didn't really look at the preferences). The "Save" button is decently large, which is nice, though I'm sure most of these changes were to accommodate touchscreen-based users. As you can see with the save dialogue, the "Cancel" and "Save" buttons are in the title bar and make the window smaller vertically. The menu button has the rest of the other functions and has the same look as Firefox's menu button. Gedit's menu on the GNOME bar is very desolate, seeing that it's something that's not going to be accessed very often.
YaST2's Boot Loader also was revamped graphically (this change can also be seen when installing RC1).
Also, the theme I've been using for 13.1 is now broken and incompatible. Mainly the radio buttons, checkboxes do not appear correctly when selected, rather they just show up empty. Luckily the "Oxygen Neon" cursor I've been using isn't broken, so that's at least something. The default dark theme isn't bad, but I prefer pink instead of blue - I may have to go looking for another dark/pink theme.
It certainly looks like everything is moving in the right directions and I can't wait to see how things turn out for the release.
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