Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

TSE

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jun 25, 2007
4,077
3,725
St. Paul, Minnesota
This is probably the most satisfied I've ever been with a web browser. It has all the compatibility of Chrome, with improved functionality, performance, and uses much less resources. Also, it uses Chrome Extensions AND Themes! I love that I changed the color of my UI to my favorite color - right in between orange and yellow.

It's the best web browser I've ever used, and this is a man that has used them all! Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Safari, Chrome. Opera and FireFox I haven't used in years, but I have no reason to now.


Good job Microsoft!
 
Edge still offers no OS integration. Not even the share menu is available. Also, using gestures is very limited and that ruins the experience of having a Mac. People that do use Windows a lot though and want to have something very familiar on their Macs, can do no wrong by using Edge. It’s definitely a good browser, but I still prefer Safari. Edge doesn’t offer the same smooth scrolling as Safari and its text rendering is not as good as Safari’s. I hate that it uses Times New Roman by default, which is an awful typeface for Web pages.
Anyway, we all have different opinions and it’s good that there is a choice out there.
 
Chromium based Edge is definitely a huge leap over the old Internet Explorer. Edge is (was) my primary browser on all platforms, even on my Android phone.

However, if privacy is the focus, Edge apparently is still lacking. I am now transitioning to Brave. I was going to switch to Firefox, but apparently Firefox on Android doesn't do well on tablets.

Nonetheless, anything that can replace Chrome is good in my book. Chrome has become the IE of today. Bloated, intrusive, but since it has the largest marketshare, webdevs are coding their sites for Chrome. It's so mainstream that even a lay person will know to download Chrome.
 
Beauty of competition!
Competition for browsers, sure.

But competition of rendering engine, not so much. The fact Microsoft is going with Chromium means that Chromium rendering engine is considered to be the "standard." This is no thanks to proliferation of Chrome. It is actually not good for web standard, as this means websites are being tailored to specifically be compatible with Chrome/Chromium instead of the actual standard. It's like the old days when websites were tailored to be compatible with just IE.
 
Competition for browsers, sure.

But competition of rendering engine, not so much. The fact Microsoft is going with Chromium means that Chromium rendering engine is considered to be the "standard." This is no thanks to proliferation of Chrome. It is actually not good for web standard, as this means websites are being tailored to specifically be compatible with Chrome/Chromium instead of the actual standard. It's like the old days when websites were tailored to be compatible with just IE.

Very true.

That is why I still use Firefox!
 
WOW. When did this happen? I originally downloaded Edge for Mac probably around a year ago and it just seemed like yet another browser. I ended up deleting it.

I'll be giving Edge a good run this time. I'll be splitting time with Firefox.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ethanmenzel
This is probably the most satisfied I've ever been with a web browser. It has all the compatibility of Chrome, with improved functionality, performance, and uses much less resources. Also, it uses Chrome Extensions AND Themes! I love that I changed the color of my UI to my favorite color - right in between orange and yellow.

It's the best web browser I've ever used, and this is a man that has used them all! Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Safari, Chrome. Opera and FireFox I haven't used in years, but I have no reason to now.


Good job Microsoft!
In macOS, Edge is my secondary, fallback browser behind Safari. I like it because it syncs with Windows PCs, isn’t Chrome but has the same core website compatibilities, and gets frequent feature updates.
 
The Chromium-based Edge is my favorite web browser under Windows. I have used Chrome for years, but I switched to Edge and I found it to be far better. It is way lighter and integrates well into Windows. And now Edge even allows for tabs to be vertical as a built-in feature.

As for macOS, I have used Safari for years now. It is way lighter and feels better than Chrome for macOS. I have not yet given Edge a try on macOS. But it is so good under Windows that I will give it a go.
 
Please excuse my ignorance on this, what generally makes great browser?

I have mainly Apple devices along with a high end PC which does have Edge on it.

My usage for a browser is mainly for search, so I don't honestly know what differentiates browsers, I use Safari across the board as it integrates with my iOS devices, guess I use apps more so.
I've used Chrome on Macs and found it to be a resource hog and I've kind of "de-googled" of late, I have used Firefox (limited) and it seems pretty fast, I'm happy with Safari as it seems to suit my needs.

Looking forward to your thoughts on this.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ethanmenzel
Please excuse my ignorance on this, what generally makes great browser?
Its based on the Chromium browser but without the bloat and I believe to some extent less telemetry that is being sent back to the mothership.

I've been using chrome mostly, but I've been transitioning to Edge and Brave, both are good browsers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ethanmenzel
This is probably the most satisfied I've ever been with a web browser. It has all the compatibility of Chrome, with improved functionality, performance, and uses much less resources. Also, it uses Chrome Extensions AND Themes! I love that I changed the color of my UI to my favorite color - right in between orange and yellow.

It's the best web browser I've ever used, and this is a man that has used them all! Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Safari, Chrome. Opera and FireFox I haven't used in years, but I have no reason to now.


Good job Microsoft!
I've been reluctant to try Edge because I'm so used to Chrome and Safari. I've been tempted by the vertical tabs though. Maybe I'll finally try it and see.
 
Its based on the Chromium browser but without the bloat and I believe to some extent less telemetry that is being sent back to the mothership.

I've been using chrome mostly, but I've been transitioning to Edge and Brave, both are good browsers.

In some way, I totally expect Edge to get more bloated as the updates come in, it gains marketshare, and Microsoft decides it wants more user data. I remember when Chrome first came out and people were saying how lean, quick, and dependable it was. While still quick and dependable, Chrome so bloated that it literally uses the same amount of system resources as some of the 3D CAD suites I utilize.

I hope Edge stays this way.
 
I like Edge for when I’m looking at news sites since I don’t have to open any tabs, but I’ve never seriously used it on a Mac. My one and only is chrome since it has the best Adblock experience out of all of them. Before that (2012-2016) I used Firefox, but I got frustrated with how garbage the scrolling was for basic browsing and YouTube-ing. Did they ever make scrolling smoother? May be worth a look at it again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ethanmenzel
Confirming there's no way to sync iCloud bookmarks on Edge on a Mac, right? Only on Windows (presuming that's because Apple only really wants Mac users to go with Safari, but want to penetrate the Windows user base.)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ethanmenzel
I like Edge for when I’m looking at news sites since I don’t have to open any tabs, but I’ve never seriously used it on a Mac. My one and only is chrome since it has the best Adblock experience out of all of them. Before that (2012-2016) I used Firefox, but I got frustrated with how garbage the scrolling was for basic browsing and YouTube-ing. Did they ever make scrolling smoother? May be worth a look at it again.

That was my biggest gripe with FireFox as well - it had poor performance with any advanced web content. But honestly, I haven't used it since maybe 2012 so I am sure it has improved. I've just never had a reason to go back. I even liked Opera for awhile - it's underrated and some of the features were so cool back in the day.

And also, I haven't used Edge for Mac! Only Windows! I can't speak for the Mac version!
 
In some way, I totally expect Edge to get more bloated as the updates come in, it gains marketshare, and Microsoft decides it wants more user data. I remember when Chrome first came out and people were saying how lean, quick, and dependable it was. While still quick and dependable, Chrome so bloated that it literally uses the same amount of system resources as some of the 3D CAD suites I utilize.

I hope Edge stays this way.
Same here. Until Edge suffers a chronic case of bloated featuritis it's now my go-to browser on Windows and Mac OS. There are a few little niggles that I have to work past (like the lack of support for the Google Keep extension) but it is proving itself to be a cut above Google Chrome.

I don't use Edge on my mobile devices because it doesn't have native ad blocking support nor does it support extensions (to add the missing ad blocking). That is why I use Brave on iOS and Android.
 
I don't use Edge on my mobile devices because it doesn't have native ad blocking support nor does it support extensions (to add the missing ad blocking). That is why I use Brave on iOS and Android.

Edge mobile has Adblock Plus when I tried it. I still flip flop between Samsung and Chrome mobile browsers since they feel lighter.

On desktop, primary is Chrome since I have a custom extension that turns my scroll bar from annoying white for dark theme to darker grey that Edge nags me about having a custom extension otherwise Edge is a close second with the pen markup support.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sracer
Edge Dev + ProtonVPN on everything. Android, iOS, Windows and Mac.

Web and html will turn 30 in near future.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SamRyouji
I've been reluctant to try Edge because I'm so used to Chrome and Safari. I've been tempted by the vertical tabs though. Maybe I'll finally try it and see.
Almost the same for me (Safari & FF) but had to finally give in and take Edge out for a spin today after reading some of the positive feedback here.

The vertical tabs are a game changer. Jeez. So convenient! Jump in and give it a go! lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: antiprotest
This is probably the most satisfied I've ever been with a web browser. It has all the compatibility of Chrome, with improved functionality, performance, and uses much less resources. Also, it uses Chrome Extensions AND Themes! I love that I changed the color of my UI to my favorite color - right in between orange and yellow.

It's the best web browser I've ever used, and this is a man that has used them all! Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Safari, Chrome. Opera and FireFox I haven't used in years, but I have no reason to now.


Good job Microsoft!
Edge is the safari equivalent of PCs. I like edge, too!
 
I've also been transition from Chrome to Edge slowly mainly because of the lack of availability of an ARM64 version of Chrome for Windows ARM. It does the job and I like it.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.