Microsoft Edge is still problematic

[Michael Goff]

Note: Not going to focus on battery issues. I have a Surface Pro 3 and haven't checked if it's a Simplo issue. But know that battery life is an issue on my tablet. I just don't want to blame the browser if it ends up being something else.

I've been giving my Surface Pro 3 another shot ever since Anniversary Update came out. A coupl days ago I ran back to the safety of my iPad Pro. There are a few issues that the tablet has as a tablet, but I'm going to focus on what I think is one of the biggest:

Browsing the internet.

We all do it with our tablets, phones, laptops, etc.

My issue started when I went to some of my normal sites. iMore, Windows Central, Android Central all failed spectacularly. I had problems getting posts on there or responses to articles. The problem was that it had a hard time registering that I was clicking the input box at all. Even when I did get it to, the text came in spurts. Lagging keyboard wasn't just software, but hardware as well.

Then we have other sites, like MacRumors. The content will load first, but I still have to wait because the ads haven't loaded yet. If I go to click too soon, I will have clicked on something else.

Performance was a mixed bag as well. It was fast when I let the processor go up to 100%, which turned on tg dan obviously. When I used features to cut it back, that's when I got the bad lag on almost all pages.

I know there is going to be at least one person who says the people should code better sites. They're probably right. But Safari on iOS gives me a better experience, and that's all people should have to care about. Should be, could be, fails when it ruins the experience.

 

[gotluck]

I'm still using regular ie over edge on my windows pcs, but I don't have a surface or touchscreens.

Using chrome on desktop, probably half and half on laptop

Not too surprised but I honestly have never given it much of a shot. Was waiting on extensions which are soon?

 

[Andres Cantu]

How strange, the newer version should have worked better.

What they should also work on is decreasing the size of the toolbars, or allowing you to move them wherever you want because they take up too much vertical space.

 

[spinedoc77]

Note: Not going to focus on battery issues. I have a Surface Pro 3 and haven't checked if it's a Simplo issue. But know that battery life is an issue on my tablet. I just don't want to blame the browser if it ends up being something else.

I've been giving my Surface Pro 3 another shot ever since Anniversary Update came out. A coupl days ago I ran back to the safety of my iPad Pro. There are a few issues that the tablet has as a tablet, but I'm going to focus on what I think is one of the biggest:

Browsing the internet.

We all do it with our tablets, phones, laptops, etc.

My issue started when I went to some of my normal sites. iMore, Windows Central, Android Central all failed spectacularly. I had problems getting posts on there or responses to articles. The problem was that it had a hard time registering that I was clicking the input box at all. Even when I did get it to, the text came in spurts. Lagging keyboard wasn't just software, but hardware as well.

Then we have other sites, like MacRumors. The content will load first, but I still have to wait because the ads haven't loaded yet. If I go to click too soon, I will have clicked on something else.

Performance was a mixed bag as well. It was fast when I let the processor go up to 100%, which turned on tg dan obviously. When I used features to cut it back, that's when I got the bad lag on almost all pages.

I know there is going to be at least one person who says the people should code better sites. They're probably right. But Safari on iOS gives me a better experience, and that's all people should have to care about. Should be, could be, fails when it ruins the experience.

Make sure you check for viruses and such. I use a SP3 as my main work PC, in addition to driving it's own display it's also driving two external 4k monitors. It usually has Edge open with 5-15 tabs open, 3 or 4 file explorers open, multiple PDF's open, EHR software, MS word, etc open all at the same time. I do have adblocker stuff on though, so maybe that's part of your slowdown. Adblock plus extension on Edge and I also have Adguard running in the background. I also have my SP4 as my personal computer and no issues there either.

With that said, IMO Macrumors is a piece of crap, especially the last few weeks. Every time I switch a page it loads up VERY slowly. This happens in Edge and Chrome on several PC's I've tested it with. The worst is when replying sometimes when typing in the reply box everything slows down, once again in Edge and Chrome.

 

[Michael Goff]

I'm still using regular ie over edge on my windows pcs, but I don't have a surface or touchscreens.

Using chrome on desktop, probably half and half on laptop

Not too surprised but I honestly have never given it much of a shot. Was waiting on extensions which are soon?

Extensions came with Anniversary Update.

Make sure you check for viruses and such. I use a SP3 as my main work PC, in addition to driving it's own display it's also driving two external 4k monitors. It usually has Edge open with 5-15 tabs open, 3 or 4 file explorers open, multiple PDF's open, EHR software, MS word, etc open all at the same time. I do have adblocker stuff on though, so maybe that's part of your slowdown. Adblock plus extension on Edge and I also have Adguard running in the background. I also have my SP4 as my personal computer and no issues there either.

With that said, IMO Macrumors is a piece of crap, especially the last few weeks. Every time I switch a page it loads up VERY slowly. This happens in Edge and Chrome on several PC's I've tested it with. The worst is when replying sometimes when typing in the reply box everything slows down, once again in Edge and Chrome.

I'll check for viruses tomorrow, but I doubt that is it. Any specific scanner you'd recommend?

 

[spinedoc77]

Extensions came with Anniversary Update.



I'll check for viruses tomorrow, but I doubt that is it. Any specific scanner you'd recommend?

Ive had pretty good luck with malware bytes. Windows defender is also very good.

 

[Michael Goff]

Ive had pretty good luck with malware bytes. Windows defender is also very good.

None found.

 

[Loco Emperor]

Shame you are having such issues. Edge still works nearly perfectly and far better than chrome. I need to try the extensions tbh.

 

[gotluck]

Nice. Going to try the extensions. Been seeing benchmarks that are pretty favorable for edge, but no adblocker was a deal breaker for me. Adblocking is the most effective anti virus

 

[Queen6]

Ive had pretty good luck with malware bytes. Windows defender is also very good.

Another here with that set up, I also have a Bitdefender, however have yet to install it on my Samsung TabPro S, as the former is good enough so far.

Q-6
[doublepost=1470782657][/doublepost]

Shame you are having such issues. Edge still works nearly perfectly and far better than chrome. I need to try the extensions tbh.

Same here had no issue with edge as yet, admittedly early days, am just considering to install the Adblock Plus extension or spring for Ad Guard. Trying to use Edge more to see if anything does crop up, so far, so good.

Generally liking where MS is going with W10. The OS is evolving nicely, as is the OEM`s hardware, so far very impressed with the TabPro S.

Q-6

 

[gotluck]

gotta say I am impressed with edge with ublock origin from

https://github.com/nikrolls/uBlock-Edge

not on the store yet, the nag to reenable developer extensions every restart of the browser is annoying, but hopefully it will be on the store soon

haven't used it long enough to find any quirks but damn it is blazing fast

playing video really consumes significantly less resources compared to chrome

 

[Queen6]

gotta say I am impressed with edge with ublock origin from

https://github.com/nikrolls/uBlock-Edge

not on the store yet, the nag to reenable developer extensions every restart of the browser is annoying, but hopefully it will be on the store soon

haven't used it long enough to find any quirks but damn it is blazing fast

playing video really consumes significantly less resources compared to chrome

Nice will be following that one as always had very good results previously on OS X & Safari with Ublock & Ublock Origin. Will be worth waiting for IMHO as Ublock Origin will stop a lot more of the trash dead in it`s tracks.

Q-6

 

[Michael Goff]

A lot of people with great experiences seem to use Ad Blockers, something I don't do.

 

[spinedoc77]

gotta say I am impressed with edge with ublock origin from

https://github.com/nikrolls/uBlock-Edge

not on the store yet, the nag to reenable developer extensions every restart of the browser is annoying, but hopefully it will be on the store soon

haven't used it long enough to find any quirks but damn it is blazing fast

playing video really consumes significantly less resources compared to chrome

I'll have to check it out, been using Adblock with great results. Another must have extension is Enpass to manage passwords, although it's still in beta/developer and you have to jump through some hoops to get it set up. Extension support is one of the many many reasons I'll never go back to an ipad.

 

[phillyboy82]

A lot of people with great experiences seem to use Ad Blockers, something I don't do.

Yes, you need an adblocker especially on these lower-powered mobile CPUs. You might not see it as much on a quad-core desktop processor, but these mobile ones get hit pretty hard by all the ad scripting that runs on a website. Plus with drive by malware being a thing now it is better for your online security.

 

[Michael Goff]

Yes, you need an adblocker especially on these lower-powered mobile CPUs. You might not see it as much on a quad-core desktop processor, but these mobile ones get hit pretty hard by all the ad scripting that runs on a website. Plus with drive by malware being a thing now it is better for your online security.

Did you really just call an i5 a lower-powered mobile processor?

 

[phillyboy82]

Yes I did. All mobile processors still don't hold a candle to desktop processors when it comes to sustained performance; their burst-y performance has come along way though.

Do you need further clarification as to why I called a U-series, dual-core, 15-watt TDP mobile i5 processor "lower-powered" versus a 91-watt TDP, quad-core, desktop processor? (comparing i5-6300u vs i5-6600k - the i5-6600 at 65-watt TDP still makes my point)
[doublepost=1471030079][/doublepost]I'm also writing this as someone who owns both a Surface Pro 4 i5 and a gaming rig with an i7-6700k, so... yeah . The desktop is still more responsive than the mobile device hands down.

 

[Michael Goff]

Yes I did. All mobile processors still don't hold a candle to desktop processors when it comes to sustained performance; their burst-y performance has come along way though.

Do you need further clarification as to why I called a U-series, dual-core, 15-watt TDP mobile i5 processor "lower-powered" versus a 91-watt TDP, quad-core, desktop processor? (comparing i5-6300u vs i5-6600k - the i5-6600 at 65-watt TDP still makes my point)
[doublepost=1471030079][/doublepost]I'm also writing this as someone who owns both a Surface Pro 4 i5 and a gaming rig with an i7-6700k, so... yeah . The desktop is still more responsive than the mobile device hands down.

If Edge either needs a quad core desktop processor or Adblock to load a page as good as my phone or tablet do? That's a problem with the browser.

 

[AustinIllini]

If Edge either needs a quad core desktop processor or Adblock to load a page as good as my phone or tablet do? That's a problem with the browser.

Non native browsers just kind of suck. Edge seems to be coded into Windows as though it's a non-native browser that ships by default.

Microsoft releases Windows 10 PCs in the Long term service branch without Edge. The LTSB build runs beautifully on most standard Intel chips.

 

[phillyboy82]

If Edge either needs a quad core desktop processor or Adblock to load a page as good as my phone or tablet do? That's a problem with the browser.

Performance was a mixed bag as well. It was fast when I let the processor go up to 100%, which turned on tg dan obviously. When I used features to cut it back, that's when I got the bad lag on almost all pages./QUOTE]

Sounds like we found your problem... you don't want a noisy fan so you throttle maximum CPU usage and then complain about Edge being slow? I have no issues with Edge being slow here on this SP4. It has already been demonstrated to be one of the fastest browsers out there as it is.

You are conservatively restricting the maximum performance of your machine and then complain about it being slow. We don't know how far you limit the maximum CPU usage but it is not far fetched that you are limiting the performance to below that of an A9 or A9X processor (assuming that is what you mean by your mobile devices).

Have you actually measured the CPU speed to see how much your are limiting yourself?

Also please keep in mind that the ad count tends to be less on mobile browsers then a full desktop one. Go try an article from The Economist sometime... my iPad Pro A9X chuggs through it big time there when it loads the desktop site =/.

 

[Michael Goff]

Sounds like we found your problem... you don't want a noisy fan so you throttle maximum CPU usage and then complain about Edge being slow? I have no issues with Edge being slow here on this SP4. It has already been demonstrated to be one of the fastest browsers out there as it is.

You are conservatively restricting the maximum performance of your machine and then complain about it being slow. We don't know how far you limit the maximum CPU usage but it is not far fetched that you are limiting the performance to below that of an A9 or A9X processor (assuming that is what you mean by your mobile devices).

Have you actually measured the CPU speed to see how much your are limiting yourself?

Also please keep in mind that the ad count tends to be less on mobile browsers then a full desktop one. Go try an article from The Economist sometime... my iPad Pro A9X chuggs through it big time there when it loads the desktop site =/.

I'm going to test it tomorrow or whenever possible, but I still find it problematic that you're saying Haswell processors should have to run full tilt to get reasonable performance. You do know people with older processors are using Windows 10, right? You do know Intel Atom exists, right?

I suppose they shouldn't even bother using the internet because their processors suck.

I'll give you a GB score for my Pro 3 as well as testing the sites in question on IE 11 and maybe even a couple other browsers if you'd like.

 

[phillyboy82]

All good either way. I guess what I am trying to say is that the bursty clock speed for Haswell is what makes it better than your phone, but I'm not sure how you throttling the CPU usage is hampering that. To be fair
[doublepost=1471049637][/doublepost]Did you try like 70 or 80% to see if that is a good compromise for fan noise?

 

[Michael Goff]

All good either way. I guess what I am trying to say is that the bursty clock speed for Haswell is what makes it better than your phone, but I'm not sure how you throttling the CPU usage is hampering that. To be fair
[doublepost=1471049637][/doublepost]Did you try like 70 or 80% to see if that is a good compromise for fan noise?

I'll try 70-80% as soon as possible. I can even include a that in the tests of IE/Edge/etcetera. Even with the speed, though, the rendering issues remain.