I switched from VSCode to Zed • Hacker News Board

Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed

#221

Post by EnPissant » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 11:05 PM UTC

julik wrote: post #134

veidr wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is interesting to me, because I see this kind of comment on almost every Zed post. I haven't used a low-DPI monitor for like... not sure, but more than a decade, I'm pretty sure, so for me the weird blocker I have with Zed is the "OMG YOU HAVE NO GPU!!!! THIS WILL NOT END WELL!" warning (I run a lot of Incus containers via RDP, and they mostly have no GPU available). But what kind of monitors are you low-DPI peo…

Mine is 2560x1440 which is a pretty nice "sweet spot" size. A comparable 5k to 6k display still commands a substantial price, and - given that I work at two locations - would need me to have two of them. The screen I use as my current (a 3x2 BenQ) also has some amount of subsampling going on, because running it at 2x ("Retina native HiDPI") all the UI controls are too damn big, and space is not enough. Running it at…

It depends on your OS.

Linux and Windows are significantly better for both 1440p and 4k monitors. Both Linux and Windows have subpixel rendering and configurable font hinting for 1440p. And they both have fractional scaling UIs for 4k. macOS on the other hand only really looks acceptable on a 5k monitor.

Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed

#222

Post by pshirshov » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 11:12 PM UTC

bpasero wrote: post #131

We maintain a single VS Code setting that allows you to opt out of the AI features provided in VS Code: "chat.disableAIFeatures" (see also: https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_104#_hide-and-disab... ). If you can still find AI features appearing after you have configured this setting, then please report an issue at https://github.com/microsoft/vscode and we are happy to take a look. It is possible that from time…

[flagged]

Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed

#223

Post by kristianp » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 11:16 PM UTC

julik wrote: post #134

veidr wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is interesting to me, because I see this kind of comment on almost every Zed post. I haven't used a low-DPI monitor for like... not sure, but more than a decade, I'm pretty sure, so for me the weird blocker I have with Zed is the "OMG YOU HAVE NO GPU!!!! THIS WILL NOT END WELL!" warning (I run a lot of Incus containers via RDP, and they mostly have no GPU available). But what kind of monitors are you low-DPI peo…

Mine is 2560x1440 which is a pretty nice "sweet spot" size. A comparable 5k to 6k display still commands a substantial price, and - given that I work at two locations - would need me to have two of them. The screen I use as my current (a 3x2 BenQ) also has some amount of subsampling going on, because running it at 2x ("Retina native HiDPI") all the UI controls are too damn big, and space is not enough. Running it at…

When people says things like "mine is 2560x1440" on HN, are they talking about the mac scaled resolution? I feel like some context is always missing from resolution discussions, and it's a topic non-technical people can weigh in on as well.

Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed

#224

Post by g947o » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 11:20 PM UTC

KronisLV wrote: post #214

g947o wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I use coding assistants every day, just not the one that came with VSCode. Because I want to decide if/which coding assistant I want to use, not whatever VSCode forces upon me. In fact, at many companies, GitHub Copilot is explicitly forbidden. Not the smartest argument to brand this as anti-AI.

I really like the Copilot autocomplete across multiple symbols in the file (e.g. predictive edits that you can tab through). For most other stuff I prefer Cline/RooCode/KiloCode, but sadly it doesn’t seem like any of those offer similar autocomplete (Continue.dev did with even Ollama support for local models but the whole plugin was a buggy mess and it didn’t work well). Oh and sometimes Claude Code or Codex is nice…

> as long as it’s easy to turn off or uninstall

That's the issue here.

The "disable all AI features" option isn't really easy to find.

Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed

#225

Post by steve_adams_86 » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 11:21 PM UTC

pshirshov wrote: post #222

bpasero wrote: post #131

We maintain a single VS Code setting that allows you to opt out of the AI features provided in VS Code: "chat.disableAIFeatures" (see also: https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_104#_hide-and-disab... ). If you can still find AI features appearing after you have configured this setting, then please report an issue at https://github.com/microsoft/vscode and we are happy to take a look. It is possible that from time…

[flagged]

Couldn't this be asked with more kindness on GitHub in an issue or something?

Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed

#226

Post by steve_adams_86 » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 11:24 PM UTC

cjk wrote: post #203

Zed has been one of the most consequential changes to my dev tools in years. It's noticeably faster in day-to-day use than VS Code (launch time, input latency, etc.), is way less of a resource hog, and has the best Vim mode of any GUI editor I've ever used.

I agree. It's a joy to use, and feels like it was built by people who care about it.

Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed

#227

Post by intern4tional » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 11:30 PM UTC

colbythrowaway wrote: post #215

bpasero wrote: post #131

We maintain a single VS Code setting that allows you to opt out of the AI features provided in VS Code: "chat.disableAIFeatures" (see also: https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_104#_hide-and-disab... ). If you can still find AI features appearing after you have configured this setting, then please report an issue at https://github.com/microsoft/vscode and we are happy to take a look. It is possible that from time…

Hey, Ben. I recently (less than 2 months ago) did an in-depth analysis in the area of license compliance that suggests that Microsoft and many other companies that are shipping Electron apps aren't in compliance with the LGPL. (By all signs, it looks like the Electron project might not even be aware that Electron is subject to the LGPL, though they are. Even Slack, which isn't violating the license appears to be in c…

Assuming this is real and you have the authority to share your work from previous location; you should reach out and contact Microsoft Legal directly.

A random engineer on Hacker News is not the proper channel.

Link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/compliance/sbc/report-...

Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed

#228

Post by unethical_ban » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 11:31 PM UTC

Does anyone else have issues wrapping their head around the UI and configuration of VSCode? Or is this a symptom of my losing touch with how IDEs work vs. my old habit of solo coding in Vim and running scripts?

Everything is monocolored, everything feels like it's an add-on, and settings are in weird different places rendered as json or a web page feel.

Last time I used a "real" IDE was 2008, so I may be the problem here.

Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed

#229

Post by cmrdporcupine » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 11:33 PM UTC

mark_l_watson wrote: post #57

This article struck a personal chord with me: I bought a new MacBook a week ago and installed minimal software on it, specifically I did not install VSCode and I don’t miss it. I use Emacs exclusively on my new laptop. I have about 40 years experience with Emacs and except for a treemacs automations, I am using my regular setup. VSCode is a great project but I just didn’t feel “happy” while I was using it. I feel hap…

I've been Emacsing for 30+ years at this point, but I'm frustrated at its performance in the 21st century.

By which I mean both startup time (yes, I know real Emacs people never leave the editor. I'm Not That Guy) but its single-threadedness leading to painful blocking pauses when using eglot + rust-analyzer, etc.

Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed

#230

Post by intern4tional » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 11:36 PM UTC

fingerlocks wrote: post #202

bpasero wrote: post #131

We maintain a single VS Code setting that allows you to opt out of the AI features provided in VS Code: "chat.disableAIFeatures" (see also: https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_104#_hide-and-disab... ). If you can still find AI features appearing after you have configured this setting, then please report an issue at https://github.com/microsoft/vscode and we are happy to take a look. It is possible that from time…

Would love to know what happens in perf review for MSFT employees that flip this switch.

Nothing. This isn't something that is even tracked. AI usage is obviously encouraged but HR has far better things to do than go gather this kind of data.

Internally, depending on what product is being worked on teams will have different development flows and different usage points of AI. For things like VSCode, teams have freedom on how they use it completely.