for a start, zed doesn't work on Windows. I'm not exactly a fan of MSFT but at work, I must use Windows...

It does work.

Automated builds are here: https://github.com/deevus/zed-windows-builds

Builds are there, but they don't work. At least on my laptop.

Memory footprint, startup times, overall responsiveness. At the end of the day VSCode is still Electron app.

In my experience, the electron overhead is relatively negligible compared to the ressource usage of the language servers. And zed seems to use the same language servers.

It is certainly true that the language servers have the same speed in Zed, but there is something to be said for just never suffering from any UI delay for any reason.

Though I'll admit a LS that takes three seconds to respond is kinda indistinguishable from UI delay.

What kind of codebases do you work with? Other than with multi-MB files or thousands of multi-cursors, I've never had any performance issues with VS-Code. It's actually one of the fastest Electron apps, I would say. If I notice a delay, it's usually the language server or some support package's background command taking a bit of time.

If all you know is VS Code it probably feels fine and you should definitely not try Zed - "one of the fastest Electron apps" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement.

I have used both unbearably slow IDEs like Visual Studio, Android Studio, Atmel Studio and very fast and lightweight editors like Notepad++ and Sublime Text.

I don't have any issue with the speed of VS-Code on my machine and it feels the same as Sublime Text used to.

Sublime is faster still. If speed is your main concern.

How old is your computer? Some people have longer upgrade cycles than others.

Granted, all of my machines are pretty new and powerful.

Maybe performance is a lot worse on >5yo machines.

I remember that my computer in 2016 was already fast enough.

How does LSP affect the core editing functionality like "startup times, overall responsiveness"?

VSCode does not necessarily require Electron.

Unlike Zed, VSCode can actually run on a server, and Google Chrome can be used as a client.

You can even take advantage of all VSCode features and plugins using Google Chrome Mobile.

Main and often repeated argument against Electron is that it has a browser embedded inside, and that's why it's so bloated, slow and taking up so much memory.

Yet you give counterexample of using... a browser as a client/frontend to vscode. Well it doesn't remove the exact main problem with Electron, does it?