I mostly agree with you! 
It reminds me of the Discourse Central Theme (not released yet) that separates the notifications and account, and it feels more natural. I kind of like it:
(On a side note, if you know what you’re doing, the modifications in this theme are explained here and could be used in a theme component for another theme.)
There is also this handy component worth mentioning to add a log-out icon at the bottom of the menu:
As for the search, you might be interested in this component: