Chrome vs. Firefox vs. Safari

ZBoater said:

Is it just me, or is Chrome like super crazy fast compared to the other two?

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It is faster, but it lacks the Lion features, so it's a no go for me until that happens.

Yes, Chrome really is super fast..
But The new version of safari running on MBA also has a huge performance improvement. I was using Chrome on snow leopard on MBP.

But after migrating to MBA, I'm ok with safari.

Firefox seems pretty slow to me in general compared to Chrome or Safari. I really love the new features in Safari and want to migrate to it from Firefox, but until I find something like Rikaichan, Firefox it is.

The only browser I notice being slow is IE when I have to use it.

I use Firefox, only because of familiarity.

Though, the two finger swipe back not working on FF is really making me reconsider using Safari.

Is Safari as customizable as FF? I'm honestly completely in the dark when it comes to any other browser besides FF.

Couldn't leave FireFox because of some add-ons.

Firefox seems to be the only one of these 3 that allows the user to block cookies.

Safar would be perfect were it not for the speed issues.

Yep, that stress test was cool. For anyone interested, it's here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1214497/

Anyway, since you did that, I've basically decided to prepare myself for my new MBA by getting used to Chrome. As soon as you did that test, I quit Safar and immediately freed up almost a third of my RAM on the pice chart in Activity Monitor. And undoubtedly, Chrome feels much smoother with less lag and stalling.

It disappoints me to say it though because I really liked the other native touches of Safari; the two finger swipe back and forth, the two finger tap to zoom, the three finger double tap to translate, the Reading List, the Reader function, etc. Add to that the fact that safari on OSX would be tightly integrated with Safari on iOS with iOS5 and iCloud, and Safari really was the only choice.

But it seems like it only works well with 4-5 tabs open. Any more beefier sessions that with multiple tabs and windows, and Safari just starts to eat memory and stumble.

Until the speed issue is resolved, I will have to stick with Chrome.

withoutyou said:

Couldn't leave FireFox because of some add-ons.

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That's why I use Firefox (but currently on Windows). Anyone know if Lion's new TapTapZoom feature will ever work on Firefox and/or Chrome?

Tootles said:

Firefox seems to be the only one of these 3 that allows the user to block cookies.

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Actually its very simple in safari, its in preferences, right under security and click accept cookies "Never" all done

I'm not a chrome user (Except on windows... just because it makes it seem fast... windows is ridiculously slow at everything ) , but its there too, more convoluted but it only takes a few seconds to find Preferences> under the hood > content settings > COOKIES!!!!

... i never use FF. memory hog... well so is the new safari. I'm still using 5.0.5 i upgraded but it didn't run smooth at all so i reverted to the old version. I really love safari, uses very few resources compared to the other browsers (newest version sucks though)

sorry... i don't know why it only attached one file

EDIT: i don't know why it wont upload the chrome picture.. but either way jsut follow my directions and its there.

Recently Chrome has some great new extensions, and the ones that aren't new have been revved. Now I greatly prefer Chrome as my browser of choice. For even more lightning like speed, download Canary, it's a rocket. Best of all I've found it very stable and smooth.

ZBoater said:

I just ran a informal stress test on another thread to see how the MBA ran with a lot of stuff, and I had the chance to run Safari, Firefox, and Chrome at the same time.

Is it just me, or is Chrome like super crazy fast compared to the other two?

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I didn't install Flash on my MBA, so when I need to watch a video or use a site that needs Flash, in Safari on the toolbar I click on Develop- Open Page with- Google Chrome, then watch the video.

PeterKG said:

I didn't install Flash on my MBA, so when I need to watch a video or use a site that needs Flash, in Safari on the toolbar I click on Develop- Open Page with- Google Chrome, then watch the video.

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I installed clicktoflash extension for Safari. That stops flash from appearing on pages until you allow it by clicking on it. Youtube videos usually now end up as HTML5 which is excellent and far more smoother than with Flash.

respectabilia said:

I installed clicktoflash extension for Safari. That stops flash from appearing on pages until you allow it by clicking on it. Youtube videos usually now end up as HTML5 which is excellent and far more smoother than with Flash.

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Thanks man! I will try out this extension.

Firefox for me on the MBA. I tested all 3 browsers with respect to battery life and FF was the clear winner. Chrome was close behind. Safari a distant third. If you want the results click my username and you'll find my thread about it.

Speed wise I see little difference between FF and Chrome. I know others will disagree, but I'm speaking from my experiences.

I do use Chrome however on my Mini where battery life is not an issue.

Also I changed a trackpad setting that now allows me to go back and forward using a 3 finger swipe with FF on the MBA.

I was about to ditch Chrome on OSX because of the lack of Lion's two finger swipe gestures but then I found out that Chrome's Canary version already has this update in it. I know its a DEV channel but I've had zero issues so far. Its far faster than Safari, or FF on my machine.

Perihelion said:

I was about to ditch Chrome on OSX because of the lack of Lion's two finger swipe gestures but then I found out that Chrome's Canary version already has this update in it.

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Why do people keep complaining about the lack lion gestures? If people use "bettertooltool" gesture support would be a none issue.

I'm using Chrome Canary and it has no problems with the touchpad movements for fullscreen, back/forth etc. I use BTT for flicking between tabs and the like. Canary has a more 'Mac' like feel to it. I have never used Safari as Google syncs all my passwords and made it easy to migrate from Windoze.

This Chrome incarnation even fixes the Hotmail bug that PC Chrome does not.

A happy customer indeed!

The Firefox alphas perform much much better on OSX. If you are a Firefox fan but are tired of the general sluggishness of the browser compared to Chrome and Safari, give it a shot.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/channel/

smokedog said:

Why do people keep complaining about the lack lion gestures? If people use "bettertooltool" gesture support would be a none issue.

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There are some Lion gestures that are specific to Safari and that can't be replicated or mimicked by apps like Bettertouchtool. E.g. Double tap two fingers to auto zoom, double tap three fingers to get definition on a word...

respectabilia said:

There are some Lion gestures that are specific to Safari and that can't be replicated or mimicked by apps like Bettertouchtool. E.g. Double tap two fingers to auto zoom, double tap three fingers to get definition on a word...

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Oh... thanks for that, they are cool gestures. Hope BTT updates the gestures.

tsdeng said:

Yes, Chrome really is super fast..
But The new version of safari running on MBA also has a huge performance improvement. I was using Chrome on snow leopard on MBP.

But after migrating to MBA, I'm ok with safari.

Click to expand...

+1, yes Chrome is super fast. But...I'm okay with using Safari for now. I enjoy the Lion support also. Not to mention this is my first Mac in many years. I felt drawn to Apple's browser.

One thing about Chrome. I did notice it uses far less memory, even with Flash video playing, than Safari does.

iphonsteve4ajob said:

+1, yes Chrome is super fast. But...I'm okay with using Safari for now. I enjoy the Lion support also. Not to mention this is my first Mac in many years. I felt drawn to Apple's browser.

One thing about Chrome. I did notice it uses far less memory, even with Flash video playing, than Safari does.

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Most of the new features in Safari have been added to the Canary build of Chrome. The only feature that has yet to be added is the OS-like zoom.

HelloPanda said:

Most of the new features in Safari have been added to the Canary build of Chrome. The only feature that has yet to be added is the OS-like zoom.

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Yes I know. However, I've used Chrome for so long that I thought a change of browser would be fun. And so far I'm really enjoying the look of Safari.