4 ms·

Zed's main selling point over VSCode for me is the lack of a slight delay between when I press a key and when the character appears. VSCode has always felt eve

Zed's main selling point over VSCode for me is the lack of a slight delay between when I press a key and when the character appears. VSCode has always felt ever so slightly sluggish to me, and I find it maddening as I type.

pmg101 1y ago
So glad to hear I'm not alone! I continue to use SublimeText for this reason. Yet it doesn't seem to bother others.
- WD-42 1y ago
  I think a lot of people forget how long ago Electron/Atom were released, and the subsequent Cambrian explosion of Electron based apps and editors like VSCode. There's probably a huge amount of developers that haven't used anything else.
  - RussianCow 1y ago
    Ironically, I used JetBrains products for years before switching to VS Code because the latter felt so much faster. So it definitely depends on what you're used to. Zed feels significantly faster than VS Code, but it also doesn't feel as polished and "complete" as an IDE, so I'm going to stick to VS Code for now for the same reason I stuck to JetBrains IDEs for so long.
- pkorzeniewski 1y ago
  Same here, still using Sublime Text due to its general snappiness, but can't wait for Zed to be released on Windows, it feels like a modern successor to ST that just keeps getting better.
IshKebab 1y ago
Weird, I tried it recently and found it actually a bit laggier than VSCode. The rendering is much worse quality too. Are you using Vim mode or something like that?
- mikeocool 1y ago
  I begrudgingly gave up vim mode in vscode a few years ago, because that seemed to make it so much more sluggish.
  - IshKebab 1y ago
    Yeah it hooks into some blocking event that gets called on every keypress. At least that's how it worked last time I tried it many years ago. Very sluggish. Fortunately standard editing shortcuts like Ctrl-D, Ctrl-left/right, etc. replace 99% of Vim "magic" and are way easier to remember and use.
    - Fraterkes 1y ago
      No offense, but if you think ctrl-shortcuts are easier to use you don’t really get the appeal of vim
diabllicseagull 1y ago
vscode started to intermittently freeze my whole desktop on arch linux recently. I rage deleted it. imho, it’s a valid compromise to choose a snappy lightweight editor over vscode with all available extensions. sadly it reminds me of how visual studio used to be and and how much of a sluggish mess it is today. I don’t think the community can fix it either. it’s an uphill battle when MS is known to lose care as soon as they reach a critical mass of users.
- zorked 1y ago
  VS Code is sluggish for me as well and crashes. I have minimal expansions, this is just a poor excuse for a lousy editor. Zed is much better, neovim is much better. My only real concern with Zed is what bait-and-switch is awaiting for us when they decide to make money. But it's a fantastic editor, no question about that.
jkkola 1y ago
This is why I cannot switch to neovim despite my attempts. I love the workflow, but the delay is too noticeable for me, and nothing helps. It's not a long delay, but long enough for me to feel like I have to wait for hours compared to Zed.
- throwaway314234 1y ago
  May be Helix editor will be fast enough? In my opinion it feels considerably faster then vim with addons
veber-alex 1y ago
Strange. I just opened the same project in Cursor and Zed and started typing around, and I can't tell any difference. I am usually very sensitive to this stuff; for example, I can detect when my Mac drops below 20% battery because ProMotion is disabled and the screen refresh rate drops to 60Hz.

pmg101 1y ago

So glad to hear I'm not alone! I continue to use SublimeText for this reason. Yet it doesn't seem to bother others.

WD-42 1y ago
I think a lot of people forget how long ago Electron/Atom were released, and the subsequent Cambrian explosion of Electron based apps and editors like VSCode. There's probably a huge amount of developers that haven't used anything else.
- RussianCow 1y ago
  Ironically, I used JetBrains products for years before switching to VS Code because the latter felt so much faster. So it definitely depends on what you're used to. Zed feels significantly faster than VS Code, but it also doesn't feel as polished and "complete" as an IDE, so I'm going to stick to VS Code for now for the same reason I stuck to JetBrains IDEs for so long.
pkorzeniewski 1y ago
Same here, still using Sublime Text due to its general snappiness, but can't wait for Zed to be released on Windows, it feels like a modern successor to ST that just keeps getting better.

IshKebab 1y ago

Weird, I tried it recently and found it actually a bit laggier than VSCode. The rendering is much worse quality too. Are you using Vim mode or something like that?

mikeocool 1y ago
I begrudgingly gave up vim mode in vscode a few years ago, because that seemed to make it so much more sluggish.
- IshKebab 1y ago
  Yeah it hooks into some blocking event that gets called on every keypress. At least that's how it worked last time I tried it many years ago. Very sluggish. Fortunately standard editing shortcuts like Ctrl-D, Ctrl-left/right, etc. replace 99% of Vim "magic" and are way easier to remember and use.
  - Fraterkes 1y ago
    No offense, but if you think ctrl-shortcuts are easier to use you don’t really get the appeal of vim

diabllicseagull 1y ago

vscode started to intermittently freeze my whole desktop on arch linux recently. I rage deleted it. imho, it’s a valid compromise to choose a snappy lightweight editor over vscode with all available extensions. sadly it reminds me of how visual studio used to be and and how much of a sluggish mess it is today. I don’t think the community can fix it either. it’s an uphill battle when MS is known to lose care as soon as they reach a critical mass of users.

zorked 1y ago
VS Code is sluggish for me as well and crashes. I have minimal expansions, this is just a poor excuse for a lousy editor. Zed is much better, neovim is much better. My only real concern with Zed is what bait-and-switch is awaiting for us when they decide to make money. But it's a fantastic editor, no question about that.

jkkola 1y ago

This is why I cannot switch to neovim despite my attempts. I love the workflow, but the delay is too noticeable for me, and nothing helps. It's not a long delay, but long enough for me to feel like I have to wait for hours compared to Zed.

throwaway314234 1y ago
May be Helix editor will be fast enough? In my opinion it feels considerably faster then vim with addons

veber-alex 1y ago

Strange. I just opened the same project in Cursor and Zed and started typing around, and I can't tell any difference. I am usually very sensitive to this stuff; for example, I can detect when my Mac drops below 20% battery because ProMotion is disabled and the screen refresh rate drops to 60Hz.