There are 2 key reasons why I'm not switching browsers:
1. Vivaldi does not have an AI link built in to it's URL address bar
2. Vivaldi does not stop ads inserted by individual websites
Each one of these is reason enough for me to not switch; together there is no question at all that Vivaldi is not the browser for me. I knew about #1 but I decided to test it anyway because I really like Vivaldi's ability to natively host both email and calendar. These are 2 apps I use a lot and I simply found the idea of being able to eliminate the need for Thunderbird quite appealing. But that alone is just not sufficient justification for me to make the switch.
I've found Brave's link or connection to an AI processor is really valuable. I am aware of the various AI apps out there, and I've tried a few of them, but I have no need for their specialized capabilities. What I do need is an easy way to get questions answered. For example, I got a very comprehensive reply by typing this into Brave's address bar: "which US cars have dual clutch transmissions". When I typed that into VIvaldi's address bar I got a list of websites that would have required quite a bit of time to glean the same information Brave provided in one shot. I was just not willing to give up Brave's superior result.
The ads is another biggy for me. About 2 years ago (maybe more) I switched my DNS server to one that strips ads out of transmissions before it sends them out. That process works really well, and I've not noticed any slowdown in overall Internet speed. (Note that my Internet service is fiber optic 500/500.) I quickly discovered that Vivaldi allows ads inserted into web pages by the URL's host company, and that was really annoying for me. I reckon I could have added some ad-blocking extension, but my past experience with these has not been great and I just didn't want to go through the process of finding one that worked OK with Vivaldi.
OF course Vivaldi has some nice features - the Email integration works really well and would be a nice way to eliminate a rather large app from my PC. It doesn't have the ability to arrange individual panels quite as well as T'bird, but that's not a show stopper. Another nicety is it's much easier to turn Dark Mode on or off, which is something I do fairly frequently.
I did find the large number of configuration options in VIvaldi rather overwhelming, but they are all well organized and a bit easier to find and change than those in Brave. It was clear to me that had I switched it would have taken a fair amount of usage time to get everything configured to what I was used to with Brave.
Maybe it's really true that you can't teach old dogs new tricks. Oh well.....
1. Vivaldi does not have an AI link built in to it's URL address bar
2. Vivaldi does not stop ads inserted by individual websites
Each one of these is reason enough for me to not switch; together there is no question at all that Vivaldi is not the browser for me. I knew about #1 but I decided to test it anyway because I really like Vivaldi's ability to natively host both email and calendar. These are 2 apps I use a lot and I simply found the idea of being able to eliminate the need for Thunderbird quite appealing. But that alone is just not sufficient justification for me to make the switch.
I've found Brave's link or connection to an AI processor is really valuable. I am aware of the various AI apps out there, and I've tried a few of them, but I have no need for their specialized capabilities. What I do need is an easy way to get questions answered. For example, I got a very comprehensive reply by typing this into Brave's address bar: "which US cars have dual clutch transmissions". When I typed that into VIvaldi's address bar I got a list of websites that would have required quite a bit of time to glean the same information Brave provided in one shot. I was just not willing to give up Brave's superior result.
The ads is another biggy for me. About 2 years ago (maybe more) I switched my DNS server to one that strips ads out of transmissions before it sends them out. That process works really well, and I've not noticed any slowdown in overall Internet speed. (Note that my Internet service is fiber optic 500/500.) I quickly discovered that Vivaldi allows ads inserted into web pages by the URL's host company, and that was really annoying for me. I reckon I could have added some ad-blocking extension, but my past experience with these has not been great and I just didn't want to go through the process of finding one that worked OK with Vivaldi.
OF course Vivaldi has some nice features - the Email integration works really well and would be a nice way to eliminate a rather large app from my PC. It doesn't have the ability to arrange individual panels quite as well as T'bird, but that's not a show stopper. Another nicety is it's much easier to turn Dark Mode on or off, which is something I do fairly frequently.
I did find the large number of configuration options in VIvaldi rather overwhelming, but they are all well organized and a bit easier to find and change than those in Brave. It was clear to me that had I switched it would have taken a fair amount of usage time to get everything configured to what I was used to with Brave.
Maybe it's really true that you can't teach old dogs new tricks. Oh well.....
My Computer
At a glance
Win11 ProAMD Ryzen 5 5500U16 GBRadeon 2100
- OS
- Win11 Pro
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Manufacturer/Model
- BeeLink SER Mini
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 5 5500U
- Motherboard
- BeeLink SER
- Memory
- 16 GB
- Graphics Card(s)
- Radeon 2100
- Sound Card
- none
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Primary: Phillips 4K; Secondary: LG 4K
- Screen Resolution
- Both 3860 x 2160
- Hard Drives
- C: NVme 500 GB Windows only
D: 128 GB NVme User data + Windows Temp via Junction Link
- PSU
- External
- Case
- Mini
- Cooling
- Internal fan
- Keyboard
- Logitech Wireless Lighted
- Mouse
- Kensington ExpertMouse wireless trackball
- Internet Speed
- 500/500
- Browser
- Brave
- Antivirus
- Windows Defender
