14 DAY TRIAL // It’s not a secret Internet Explorer has often been described as the best browser to download a real browser, and its first successor, the original version of Microsoft Edge, followed in its footsteps, letting many users hoping for more.
To become a more powerful player in the browser market, Microsoft announced a decision that took many by surprise: the company migrated to the Chromium engine, the same one that powers Google Chrome, and thus embraced a world that already proved to be successful.
However, the company promised to make the new Edge work just like the legacy version of the browser, essentially mixing the original Windows 10 app with the magic of Google Chrome.
At some level, the company managed to do this very well, and now after several months of using Microsoft Edge as my daily driver, I can finally say this is the best browser. Period.
On Windows 10, Microsoft Edge provides a native experience that’s better in so many ways as compared to what you get from the likes of Google Chrome. Just imagine that you get nearly the full Google Chrome feature package, all with improved performance, better speed, and bolstered security, all thanks to the deep integration into the OS.
I know, Microsoft’s method to push the new Edge on Windows 10 hasn’t been received very well by everybody, but right now, this is without a doubt the best choice for everyone running the company’s latest operating system.
Microsoft has long pledged for building a faster browser and improved security for its browser. A September announcement, for example, highlighted some of the efforts in this regard.
“When you open your browser, you have a goal in mind, and we want to help you achieve it as quickly as possible. We look at each step in the most common browsing scenarios to help reduce the time from start to finish. In March 2020, Profile-Guided Optimizations (PGO) shipped in Microsoft Edge 81 Stable Channel, followed by Link-Time Optimizations (LTO) in Microsoft Edge 83. These changes improved browser speed as measured by the Speedometer 2.0 benchmark by as much as 13% as compared to previous versions of Microsoft Edge,” the company said.
“We know people don’t like the amount of memory and CPU modern web browsers use. And we’ve heard your concerns that when memory and CPU usage is high it slows down your device and slows you down too. We’re reducing the amount of memory and CPU required to power your browsing habits, while providing more information and control to meet your needs. With the Windows 10 May 2020 Update, Microsoft Edge leveraged Windows segment heap memory improvements available for Win32 applications to manage memory more efficiently and reduce overall memory usage. Internal testing showed memory reductions of up to 27%.”
At this point, Microsoft Edge is available on all major platforms out there, including both the desktop and mobile, so you can install the browser on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Linux, macOS, Android, and iPhone.
And Microsoft keeps working on refining the experience with the browser even more, and the best way to track all the progress in this regard is to install the testing builds shipped as part of the Canary, Dev, or Beta channels.
Microsoft becoming so committed to its browser is one of the reasons the adoption of Microsoft Edge improved so fast. At this point, Microsoft Edge is the second most-used desktop browser out there after Google Chrome, as it already managed to overtake Firefox.