One of the biggest complaints I've seen (and I've experienced firsthand) is that because Vivaldi is using a completely custom UI for their browser chrome, it's much slower than other other chromium-based browsers. For me, it takes 2-3 seconds from starting the application to being able to use it, thanks to the rendering is has to do.
Though I still use Vivaldi thanks to all the customization it offers.
Isn't a browser something you always have running? Genuinely curious. Yes, Vivaldi takes a couple seconds to launch, but how often do you launch your browser? For me a browser is one of those applications I'm always running and I rarely shutdown my computer except when applying updates so the launch time doesn't really affect me. Just wondering what you're doing different than I.
The slow startup applies to new Vivaldi windows, too, unfortunately. This affects me because I use windows instead of tabs for the most part. Tabs open quickly, but opening a new window is a 2-second lag.
Interesting! Yes, I rarely open new windows, I'm more of a "keep a thousand tabs open" kinda guy. I can see where that would be a real drag for your workflow.
I have a 2012 MacBook Pro and use GarageBand and track guitar - all while running Vivaldi. Mind you I'm not doing anything crazy - my projects only ever have a few tracks and I prefer to record via an amp and microphone, but even when I use the amp and pedal sims my "virtual pedal board" has never had more than six pedals on it and I'm not using many plug-ins. If I did start having problems Vivaldi would be the first thing I'd shut down!
I'm into the realms of syncing video via SMPTE, a 500+ track template, clocking external synths and converters. Given how unstable computers used to be in terms of jitter, I daren't even have a file sync app open unless I need to sync a file. I'm sure they're capable of doing it these days with the number of cores available, just what you get conditioned into over time... :- ) Sometimes it's hard to believe technology could have possibly moved on as much as it inevitably has.
I don't get this. 3 comments (so far) from people claiming slowness. I've been using Vivaldi for my "time wasting" browser (Hacker News, Reddit, Techmeme etc.) for quite some time and never see any slowness. I launch it dozens of times each day. I have a 2+ year old i7-9750H with 16 GB of RAM and I always have Chrome with 4 tabs min, and Firefox with 2 tabs min open simultaneously with Vivaldi.
Perception is reality. One commenter above felt that the "2-3 seconds" it took Vivaldi to start up was intolerable. Every post about this browser is always flooded by people whose main benchmark is that if a browser does not match Chrome on subjective performance, it's shit. I don't get it either.
For me, tab tiling is an absolute killer app, unique to Vivaldi, and the somewhat slower UI performance than Chrome is well worth it just for that.
I think the people complaining about speed use new windows instead of tabs. I love Vivaldi but new windows take that 2-3 second load time meaning I don't even consider opening new windows outside very specific situations. Tab tiling alleviates this but then I have to remember different focus/bind schemes from my window manager.
Suggestions?
The interfaces are pretty customizable, so it's surprising to find that this is a particular problem--unless there's something specific.