Advice Request I am starting to not dislike Microsoft Edge (a Dedoimedo review)

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Conclusion:
There you go, my first test drive with Edge proper on a desktop, with some real usage and not just for-review impressions. Well, it took Microsoft only about 15 years to remedy the Internet Explorer 6.0 fiasco. Not bad. I like the illusion of having choice, and Edge could be a reasonable secondary browser. At the moment, I am inclined to say that I find it more suitable to my needs than Chrome. It's got cleaner settings navigation, it feels a tad sprightlier, it hides fewer things, and it would seem it also chomps through fewer resources for common tasks. Privacy wise, I don't know just yet, but hey!

And so I intend to play with this browser for a while to see what gives. Perhaps in three or four months, it will be a permanent fixture on my panels and task bars and whatnot - wherever it is you pin your icon shortcuts and such. I might even allow this browser to run on my Windows machines. The old version was totally useless, but this one actually seems to have some decent merit. On that mildly optimistic note, we're done for today.

I am starting to not dislike Microsoft Edge

Review of Microsoft Edge, A Chromium-based browser, tested on Linux as a potential secondary browser, covering installation and setup, New Tab page layout, settings and configurations, telemetry, privacy tweaks, ease of use, address bar and URLs, HD desktop scaling, media playback...

www.dedoimedo.com

Discussion possible here:

This is what the new Chromium-based Edge looks like

Microsoft Edge 90.0.818.46 Released (April 22, 2021) Release notes Download and deploy Microsoft Edge for business

www.wilderssecurity.com

 

[Templarware]

Yesterday's news. Great browser. The only one that from my point of view can justify replacing it, is Opera GX, for the gamer folks. I miss having a Side Bar when using Edge.

 

[Ink]

The only one that from my point of view can justify replacing it, is Opera GX, for the gamer folks. I miss having a Side Bar when using Edge.

If sticking with Chromium-based, other alternatives are better where they are available on Android and iOS. Opera GX has too many bells and whistles that don't serve any real purpose, other than appearance and limited to Windows and Mac.

Modern browsers support PWA.

Microsoft Edge can mimic the sidebar with Vertical Tabs and Pinned Tabs.

Image: Pinned Discord.com, Youtube.com and Facebook.com with Vertical tabs enabled.

 

[Templarware]

If sticking with Chromium-based, other alternatives are better where they are available on Android and iOS. Opera GX has too many bells and whistles that don't serve any real purpose, other than appearance and limited to Windows and Mac.

Modern browsers support PWA.

Microsoft Edge can mimic the sidebar with Vertical Tabs and Pinned Tabs.
View attachment 257734
Image: Pinned Discord.com, Youtube.com and Facebook.com with Vertical tabs enabled.

Not true, the features of Opera GX are actually useful. And the convenience is there. Like the built in Spotify player that automatically stops and resumes when you watch a video. The Video pop-out, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger. And the CPU and Ram limiter for people who want to keep the browser opened while gaming.
For people who own a Razer Chroma keyboard, things get crazier.

What's the point of having a Side Bar if the functionality isn't there? If you click on those icons, it will just open the website in a new tab, it's just like the bookmark bar.

You can't say that Opera GX is limited to Windows and Mac. The "regular" mobile versions of Opera have sync/flow functionality with GX. There's just no point to having a GX version on mobile. I use Opera GX on PC and Opera Touch on Android, also a great different browser.

 

[forgottenuser79643]

What's the point of having a Side Bar if the functionality isn't there? If you click on those icons, it will just open the website in a new tab, it's just like the bookmark bar.

It is quite literally that, if you use it with pinned websites or "apps" as Microsoft likes to refer them too. All it does is move the tab location bar from being fully horizontal tabs to a vertical one. Where you can pin websites, minimalize it to make it look like icons or straight up hide it from sight. It has no features to it besides that, though given the targeted audience I suppose it doesn't have to.

I think, I can be wrong here, that pinned sites are permanently loaded and do not load into a new tab when selected.

 

[Templarware]

Yes, pinned sites are permanently loaded. But you can also pin sites in Opera, that's not exclusive to Edge.

 

[Local Host]

Yes, pinned sites are permanently loaded. But you can also pin sites in Opera, that's not exclusive to Edge.

Opera doesn't allow you to install websites as APPs, which is extremely useful for WhatsAPP, Discord and even Spotify which are mostly based on web clients.

Honestly, the majorly of gamers couldn't care less about Opera GX and that includes myself, just take a quick look around the common websites and communities about their opinion.

 

[Templarware]

Opera doesn't allow you to install websites as APPs, which is extremely useful for WhatsAPP, Discord and even Spotify which are mostly based on web clients.

Are you serious? You're listing the services that are much better in the Opera's Side Bar. They're built in.
Spotify in a Edge APP won't automatically stop and resume when you listen to other media. WhatsApp and Discord aren't nearly as conveniente.

 

[Templarware]

Honestly, the majorly of gamers couldn't care less about Opera GX and that includes myself, just take a quick look around the common websites and communities about their opinion.

The common websites are full of the same small portion of people like us, who have accounts in most of them, repeating the same things to get likes, as "Avast had major privacy issues", "Opera is owned by chinese company".

Many "normal" people are using Opera GX, it's getting quite popular. From what you said, you probably didn't check it out properly. Or you did it quite a while ago already.

 

[Local Host]

The common websites are full of the same small portion of people like us, who have accounts in most of them, repeating the same things to get likes, as "Avast had major privacy issues", "Opera is owned by chinese company".

Many "normal" people are using Opera GX, it's getting quite popular. From what you said, you probably didn't check it out properly. Or you did it quite a while ago already.

Opera is so popular even the Samsung Internet on mobile devices has higher market share, Opera hasn't reached nor passed the 3% market share ever, and is not showing any sights of gaining any popularity in the last 2 years.

Safari and Edge have been the only two browser to gain popularity recently, with even Chrome losing market.

So I'm clearly not the one out of the loop, Opera average is 2,50% and that includes Opera GX (which has an even smaller share), so much for gaining popularity like you claim.

 

[Templarware]

Opera is so popular even the Samsung Internet on mobile devices has higher market share, Opera hasn't reached nor passed the 3% market share ever, and is not showing any sights of gaining any popularity in the last 2 years.

Safari and Edge have been the only two browser to gain popularity recently, with even Chrome losing market.

So I'm clearly not the one out of the loop, Opera average is 2,50% and that includes Opera GX (which has an even smaller share), so much for gaining popularity like you claim.

And how old are those numbers? Also, how accurate?
"It's getting quite popular" implicates not being there yet. You can't expect a "gaming browser" to have a big market share, gamers are much less than the general population. And most gamers are console gamers who aren't much acquainted with PC.
Opera is a browser for "hardcore/internet enthusiast" who know about it. It's not owned by Google or Microsoft, otherwise it would have as big market share, because it's at least as good as the other chromium browsers.
It's pretty clear that you just don't like Opera, and that's fine.

 

[blackice]

A gaming browser has always seemed like a gimmick to me.

 

[Templarware]

A gaming browser has always seemed like a gimmick to me.

Yes, that's' the first impression. Use it and explore it for a few days. If you regularly use Spotify, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter, Discord and the other stuff featured in the Side Bar, it becomes hard to go back.
Even the VPN, people can say what they want, but it's better than any other free extension. Being only at the browser level doesn't take away its value, since that's exactly what you want if you game on PC, a VPN that doesn't affect Steam neither games, to increase latency while gaming. You just need it when browsing.

 

[forgottenuser79643]

If I remember it right, it had the "gamer" slogan for the pure reason of communication chat applications like Discord and the now lesser used options for a lot of people with CPU and RAM limiter. Mostly those communication apps integration was what made it more appealing, though it's hard to compete with Edge, Chrome or Firefox on that front.

I don't use it myself, but I could definitely see a niche market group interested in its functionality. Though they could use a better marketing strategy, rather than the "Gamer"-slogan.

 

[Templarware]

If I remember it right, it had the "gamer" slogan for the pure reason of communication chat applications like Discord and the now lesser used options for a lot of people with CPU and RAM limiter. Mostly those communication apps integration was what made it more appealing, though it's hard to compete with Edge, Chrome or Firefox on that front.

I don't use it myself, but I could definitely see a niche market group interested in its functionality. Though they could use a better marketing strategy, rather than the "Gamer"-slogan.

The communication apps integration is much better Opera's Side Bar than on Edge and Chrome... You can just click the Side Bar and use them over any website that you're currently visiting, without opening new icons/windows in the task bar. Specially the Spotify integration is quite unique. Apps as in Edge are useless if you ask me, just use the website.

But many of these features that we're talking about are also present in the normal Opera. The "Gamer" slogan doesn't implicate many of them as being exclusive to GX.
We also need to take into consideration that Opera GX is constantly receiving new features. It even says Early Access.

 

[blackice]

Yes, that's' the first impression. Use it and explore it for a few days. If you regularly use Spotify, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter, Discord and the other stuff featured in the Side Bar, it becomes hard to go back.
Even the VPN, people can say what they want, but it's better than any other free extension. Being only at the browser level doesn't take away its value, since that's exactly what you want if you game on PC, a VPN that doesn't affect Steam neither games, to increase latency while gaming. You just need it when browsing.

Maybe it’s because I don’t use any of those apps or a vpn regularly, which is fine. I can see the value if you use those regularly.

 

[Templarware]

Maybe it’s because I don’t use any of those apps or a vpn regularly, which is fine. I can see the value if you use those regularly.

Classic VPN stuff... buy games for cheaper, region locked content, hide IP... I don't use it daily, but it's there and performs great. Or encrypt your traffic if you're browsing on a public wifi, in case you have a laptop. Laptop gamers are people too, not smart people, but people

 

[TairikuOkami]

If you regularly use Spotify, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter, Discord and the other stuff featured in the Side Bar, it becomes hard to go back.

Do they include all features or are they limited? Like Discord rich presence?

 

[Cortex]

Edge is my main browser having had some issues with Brave, will give Brave another try soon - Installed Opera last week & it's certainly not for me, far to much unwanted stuff on it - I don't use 'Spotify, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter, Discord' at least on a PC, disliked it strongly, it's everything I dislike in a browser

 

[Soundwave]

Yeah it's nice, was thinking about toying around with some bookmarks and sites i visit frequently.But imo it's hard to match the easy and fast FF bookmark menu.Either that or i just got used to FF...since 2006.