One of the things about going minimalist on mobile computers is you en up having to solve problems a DE has already done for you. Is it worth the effort? I don't know. I really like I3/Sway but config is a *bear*, same with cwm. Sometimes I just think 'fuck it' and go back to a full DE, but then I feel dirty.
Sort of surprised they didn't opt for KDE, as QT does well with this kind of environment, as seen on the default Pinebook Pro Manjaro image.