FWIW you omitted the my mention that Conky is not fully functional in spectrwm and that there are no plans published re: future developments (Wayland etc.)... which in truth are big deals to me. Otherwise, I agree with your critique. ==> If you wish to see the article with several new revisions.... it has been updated. Thank you for the constructive critique.

Have you tried using the Fluxbox implementation version MX Linux makes available? They have put tons of work into their Fluxbox implementation. Perhaps it will provide you with some useful ideas/ help. Their Forums are also quite responsive & helpful. FWIW . I am not a paid announcer ;) ...

I have no idea why this link did not appear... here is a retry on the material.

https://eirenicon.org/2023/12/13/xorg-wayland-transition-thoughts/

I, also, use systemd.... When running Wayland and x11 window managers there are quite a few dependencies on systemd that are easiest ti handle by just using it. ;)

Looks like my cut & paste skills need work.... here are the links I intended to give everyone:

Exodia (dwm, bspwm) Arch Distro: https://exodia-os.github.io/exodia-website/?ref=news.itsfoss.com

CachyOS (gnome, kde) Arch Distro: https://cachyos.org/

XeroLinux (Stable base Arch): https://xerolinux.xyz/

I wish I had a good answer/ solution.

Have you asked on the Arch, Endeavour, Manajaro Forums? Perhaps someone there has an answer. My observation is that Wayland, in general, is a bit wonky and unpredictable with certain x11 tools and their operation. This seems it may be one of those. If you are in need to something similar to Conky, you might try EWW. I have seen that tool behave unpredictably at times as well.... but it's 'supposed' to be Wayland friendly.

Well I use conky on i3wm, dwm, hlwm, openbox (setup and run as a tiler), swaywm ,dkwm.... If you check forums on EOS, ArchLabs, Arch, Debian, BunsenLabs, Gentoo among a few you will find people using Conky on Tiling Window Managers. Here are a few articles and tutorials I have written on the topic, if you wish to read them:

https://eirenicon.org/?s=conky

As for your preference of what is or is not essential, that's your preference; you are entitled to your preference. However, your preference does not necessarily mean that any, many, or most necessarily agree with you...

Are you running 1.19+ of conky? Have you installed conky-all?

As for conky... I beg to differ. I believe it is essential. Just another point of view.

I have no idea... I am one of those who refuse to use nVidia

Another factor impacting memory significantly is the kernel used. My liquorix kernel "updated" this morning and I am using 200MB less memory than yesterday; it must be my lucky day. 😜

Given your observation, I'm guessing you have not used i3wm very much. i3 is extremely flexible and powerful. But as with most Window Managers, i3wm is geared towards those who prefer to build a highly customized environment. If you haven't already, this is a good read. https://i3wm.org/