I like that this article paints VSCode as bogged down by too much AI tooling and the first thing I see on the Zed website is how create it is with Sonnet 4.5 and there’s a subscription plan for AI features.
I switched from VSCode to Zed
291–300 of 440 posts
Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed
#292I've been using vim for 20 years. It's gotten me through all the evolutions of programming, from ctags, to language servers, to AI with copilot. There's something extremely satisfying about having a dependable free software editor, available on all systems, and not having to change every time a new fad comes in, or a VC decides it's time to make money.
The more advanced AI related workflows are the reason I finally switched away from neovim as my main coding IDE - for now.
The existing AI plugins for neovim aren't great.
Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed
#293I would have switched in a pinch if Zed had their low-DPI font rendering in order. At the moment it just looks bad.
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…
> But what kind of monitors are you low-DPI people using?
They’re still pretty common in enterprise. So cheap. At this point most desks probably cost more than the PCs on top of them.
TBF, enterprise probably still has to deal with ancient apps that can’t handle higher resolution well.
Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed
#294Just tried this out for the first time and found their implementation of the "Outline Panel" (Ctrl+Shift+B) to be very useful, at least for the C++ code base I tried it with.
Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
Zed doesn’t need to run a web browser so I kinda doubt it will ever have “as much to do”
Zed still has to implement a rendering engine, if anything they miss out in several ways by not sharing the same rendering engine but I mean actual features you see people here asking for because they are missing, those will require CPU cycles and memory
What kind of rendering engine and why Zed has to build it?
Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed
#296We 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…
I actually moved to Zed for AI, Claude integration is seamless and the IDE is so fast and crisp. I can use what ever agent I want, when I need them instead of being asked to use Copilot. Except for few language related extensions, I don't have any other extensions on Zed. Which means I worry less about which of those extensions will be sold off to a malware developer. I had more issues with official extensions on VSC…
Could you provide some detail on how you use it (the AI features)?
Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed
#297This 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 bought a new basic laptop last year, with enough RAM, and little do you know, the VS Code did not feel faster on the new device. So last week, when I noticed that Zed for Windows is "stable" now, I've uninstalled VSC.
VS Code is still the better tool (imho) but I can't stand it.
Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed
#298Earlier quoted context omitted.
Zed still has to implement a rendering engine, if anything they miss out in several ways by not sharing the same rendering engine but I mean actual features you see people here asking for because they are missing, those will require CPU cycles and memory
What kind of rendering engine and why Zed has to build it?
not sure, they do something with the GPU for sure, and because how are you going to draw anything on a monitor or screen without a rendering engine? Surely in their code base they have multiple levels of abstraction for rendering, drawing, and layout in their code base. You can see these kinds of things in other comments here and on their github without reading code.
The browser engine is itself an abstraction point that many people find agreeable on both sides, for those of us that don't have a problem with chromium/codium/electron as a technology, seeing it more so as useful and enabling
In my mind, sharing a common engine across chromium/codium/electron is like how so many things use the linux kernel. To me, the more eyes, devs, and consumers of the code makes it better in the long run
Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
You should really look in to the difference between opt-in and opt-out. Opt-in respects the user; opt-out is for foisting features that the user might not need or want.
Flip it around: a new user might be confused why the AI features that all their friends told them about are not available. It's a tradeoff
If it is opt-in for everybody, then their friends would also tell them that they have to opt-in to get it.
Re: I switched from VSCode to Zed
#300We 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…
I appreciate this intent. I do wonder: do any of your team use this setting? I, too left VS Code after having to disable Copilot for the umpteenth time in a fit of frustration. I was aware of this setting and had it to disable all AI, alas.
The frustration for me is that it turned my editor into a 2000s-era popup extravaganza (not necessarily anti-AI). Every line of my editor was constantly throwing a new popup or text to the side of my cursor. I know that VS Code's design philosophy has moved toward trying to make the editor have as many pop-ups as possible, but there are still a lot of us that don't think that's a good way to focus on the work. It is beyond frustrating when every week or so your editor decides you're wrong about that.