WetGeek Next, I'm going to just use Neon for a while, to get an idea how it works for me.
It's about time for this story to come to a close. It's been interesting and entertaining, despite all the problems obtaining the .ISO file (and not knowing for sure how I actually did that).
In my opinion, as a veteran Plasma user, Neon indeed provides a good example of that DE, as one would expect, coming from KDE. I noticed some features that I hope will show up in Solus soon. For example, by the time my setup was finished, I had used Neon to create a duplicate of my main laptop -- ten workspaces, email, browsing, three games, terminology, etc. With the VM at full-screen, it would have been hard to tell the difference.
When I had a reason to reboot the system, everything came back automatically, just as it was before. Every application in its own workspace, as if I'd never left. With Solus (and other distros), after a reboot I need to restart everything individually. I liked the default theme, too. Everything was crisp and clear.
Would Neon ever tempt me away from Solus? Nah ... that's not why I explore these distros. If I had never met Solus, though, and never experienced a curated rolling distribution, I might have been very happy with Neon. I'm glad I've taken another look at it.
So long now, until whatever comes next. Suggestions welcome.