Web Browsing Faster on Windows?

[lorkp]

I have a recent windows computer that I built (AMD64 3200+) that I use for music (programs like foobar200 and EAC), and then an older Power Mac G4 Dual 800. I run 10.4.2 and use Safari. How come web browsing feels faster on the windows computer (firefox)? Could it be because of the age of the Mac?

[edesignuk]

Could it be because of the age of the Mac?Yup, probably. Your dual 800 is what, 4 years old? And your PC is brand spankin' new, Windows or not, it ought to be kicking your Macs ass.

[lorkp]

Even though it's something unassuming like web browsing?

[edesignuk]

Even though it's something unassuming like web browsing?Sadly, it wouldn't surprise me. On a good PC (not bogged down with browser "plugins") web pages - particularly those with any animated content, be it DHTML, gifs, flash, shockwave, java etc - have always seemed a bit snappier at the best of times. So when comparing a relatively old Mac to a new (I assume well maintained) PC, I would expect the PC to be faster.

[lorkp]

Sadly, it wouldn't surprise me. On a good PC (not bogged down with browser "plugins") web pages - particularly those with any animated content, be it DHTML, gifs, flash, shockwave, java etc - have always seemed a bit snappier at the best of times. So when comparing a relatively old Mac to a new (I assume well maintained) PC, I would expect the PC to be faster.
Faster than a comperable (new) Mac?

[wrc fan]

Faster than a comperable (new) Mac?

I hate to admit it, but even an old Athlon XP 2500+ feels faster than my dual 2GHz G5 in web browsing... though the text smothing on the Mac is much nicer making it more pleasant to use the Mac.

[dmw007]

Web browsing on windoze has to be faster than on Mac OS so that it can download viruses without slowing down your online experience. ;)

[Heb1228]

I think web browsing is faster on a PC but the web pages look so dang ugly I can't even stand to look at it. There is not a huge difference in speed, but man does windows make webpages look terrible.

[jeremy.king]

Granted my PM is still on panther, but I notice very little to no difference in browsing speed between my work PC (P4 3.0Ghz, 1GB) and my PM (DP 867, 1.25GGB). I use safari on the mac (some FF) and only FF on the PC.

[dmw007]

I think web browsing is faster on a PC but the web pages look so dang ugly I can't even stand to look at it. There is not a huge difference in speed, but man does windows make webpages look terrible.
Isn't it amazing how Windows manages to make everything terrible!?! :rolleyes:

[wide]

anyone here (besides me) who thinks that IE 6.0 is the best? i've used IE for mac..didn't like it much. safari feels too slow for me, and firefox is just terrible. I really don't know what all the hype is about FF except for people being jealous of microsoft.

[Heb1228]

anyone here (besides me) who thinks that IE 6.0 is the best?

Probably not :cool:

[dmw007]

anyone here (besides me) who thinks that IE 6.0 is the best?

NO.

[DHagan4755]

A report on AppleInsider says that the internet on OS X Intel developer boxes is just as fast as it is with Windows.

[ghostee]

anyone here (besides me) who thinks that IE 6.0 is the best?

You spelled crap wrong. :D

[mad jew]

anyone here (besides me) who thinks that IE 6.0 is the best?


I agree... Almost...

Behind, Safari, IE 6.0 is my favourite browser simply because I love the integration with the OS. Plus, I never really experience any direct problems with it albeit some of the other problems with my PC may be a result of it... Who knows. For the record, I hate Firefox and pretty much anything from the Mozilla group. Not much rational thought has gone into this, just a pet hate, mainly of the way it creates duplicates everywhere.

As for PCs being faster to browse with, sorry, but I have to agree. My 1.8GHz P4 with 512MB of RAM (if it's even relevant) is a little faster than my 1.8GHz iMac G5 with 1GB of RAM. Not by much though, only noticeable side-by-side.

[mkrishnan]

You spelled crap wrong. :D

Nicely done. *shakes hand* :D

Firefox on Windows is fast, but I also think that fonts tend to render in a fairly ugly way.... :( MSIE makes less ugly renders, sometimes, but that wouldn't make me use it. :(

[macktheknife]

No, difference in surfing speed has nothing to do with the age of the PowerMac. Safari and Firefox have gone a long way to close the gap, but PCs generally render webpages faster than Macs. My old Rev. B TiBook crawled like slug loading simple pages on Safari while my crappy PII Compaq tower at work running Windows NT loaded pages just fine. Even now, my brother's old Toshiba Satellite laptop running Windows 98 and an even crappier Celeron processor loads pages faster than my girlfriend's new iBook running Panther.

[homerjward]

i have noticed that. i also tend to download things *much* faster on my pc or my xbox than on my mac. also asp sites and such are much better on a pc. try shopping at newegg in safari :eek:
oh, and the "speed up firefox" tricks really do work

[mad jew]

i also tend to download things *much* faster on my pc or my xbox than on my mac.


I haven't noticed any differences in flat-out downloads. Just that the page rendering in Explorer is slightly faster. Weird.

[macktheknife]

I haven't noticed any differences in flat-out downloads. Just that the page rendering in Explorer is slightly faster. Weird.

IE on the Mac just sucks, but everyone probably already knows that. IE runs pretty snappy on the PC. People say Firefox runs faster, but the difference really isn't noticeable unless you have spyware slowing IE down to a crawl.

I think this is one area that Apple really needs to work on. I know that web surfing isn't necessarily an indicator of processor speed, but this is one function that users can compare on a cross-platform basis.

[iWillard]

oh, and the "speed up firefox" tricks really do work

hmm... what are these tricks...? Are they ironic or literal? :D

[Xephian]

anyone here (besides me) who thinks that IE 6.0 is the best? i've used IE for mac..didn't like it much. safari feels too slow for me, and firefox is just terrible. I really don't know what all the hype is about FF except for people being jealous of microsoft.
IE is the worst browser for Mac and PC.

[mad jew]

hmm... what are these tricks...? Are they ironic or literal? :D


Little help please, what's an "ironic" trick?

[homerjward]

hmm... what are these tricks...? Are they ironic or literal? :D
How to Speed up Firefox (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1299854/posts)

[iWillard]

Little help please, what's an "ironic" trick?

meaning i couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not....

[mad jew]

meaning i couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not....


Okay, thanks. :)

[iWillard]

How to Speed up Firefox (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1299854/posts)


Bang! Thanks! :D