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Chrome, the energy hog

H264

H264

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 21, 2013
17
5
I upgraded to Mavericks without any issues so far.

It's interesting to see the new "Apps using significant energy" info list under the battery indicator, and that it always shows Google Chrome as being quite the energy hog..! The Energy tab in Activity monitor has more details.

I haven't really learned to like Safari yet, but this makes me want to switch, at least when I am on OS X.
 
H264 said:
I upgraded to Mavericks without any issues so far.

It's interesting to see the new "Apps using significant energy" info list under the battery indicator, and that it always shows Google Chrome as being quite the energy hog..! The Energy tab in Activity monitor has more details.

I haven't really learned to like Safari yet, but this makes me want to switch, at least when I am on OS X.
Click to expand...

I've been a huge Chrome fan since it came out but over the last few months I've been forced to use Safari on my work computer and I have to say it's come a long way since I first used it. It is def a huge energy hog. I've started to force myself to use Safari at home as well and I don't know that I'll go back to Chrome. I've grown to like it a lot.
 
MacInTheCrack said:
I've been a huge Chrome fan since it came out but over the last few months I've been forced to use Safari on my work computer and I have to say it's come a long way since I first used it. It is def a huge energy hog. I've started to force myself to use Safari at home as well and I don't know that I'll go back to Chrome. I've grown to like it a lot.
Click to expand...

i am torn between these two as well because i have ditched safari after using it for 3 straight years in favour of chrome not too long ago.

i realised chrome formatted web pages better and i could finally rid my computer of adobe flash. not to mention i find the the overall interface less polluted and easier to use and it syncs with my android device.


however, yes, i am finding that chrome is struggling with this new OS... haven't given safari a go yet in this new version.
 
I just noticed the apps using energy in the battery drop down as well. What are the criteria for excess energy usage? I have an app that controls sound and it is saying it is using excess energy.

As for Chrome, I have just started to use it more recently but have also had to use Safari. I have been an avid Safari fan for ages and used it from the beginning, but it started to drag and become slow, whereas Chrome would fly comparatively. Finally this Safari seems to bring it back to speed. I have to use either Safari, Firefox, or a WM with IE, as I have a few websites for work that require Java for uploads and until Chrome releases a 64 bit that is compatible with Mac Java I am forced to slave between several browsers. Hopefully now I can go back to just one browser again.
 
Safari is saving a lot of battery for me and I'm only using Chrome now for things I can't do with Safari (i.e., Chromecast, make Google Voice calls from gmail).

I'm possibly seeing as much as 40-50% more battery on Safari, if the Air's time remaining figures are to be believed.

The only two downsides are I've already noticed problems with Windows iCloud 3.0 bookmark sync between Safari and my Chrome Windows browser. I saw duplicates this morning in Safari. Hopefully this will get cleared up as this will be a major annoyance and may lead me to have to rethink the Safari/Chrome combo.

Also, why won't safari let you not enter text for bookmarks? I love having just the favicon in Chrome, no text. On Safari that leaves me with an obnoxious 'NO_TITLE' next to every favicon.
 
smileman said:
Also, why won't safari let you not enter text for bookmarks? I love having just the favicon in Chrome, no text. On Safari that leaves me with an obnoxious 'NO_TITLE' next to every favicon.
Click to expand...

Just put a full stop (.)
 
smileman said:
one nice feature that is also making Safari more compelling is the ability to sync your Chrome bookmarks on a Windows machine back to Safari on your mac:

https://www.macrumors.com/2013/09/1...r-windows-to-support-icloud-bookmark-syncing/

i'm very curious to see what the overall battery impact is from using Safari vs. Chrome on the 2013 MacBook Air. anyone seen any research on this?
Click to expand...

It states on that link that it's only for windows. Is there a way to sync bookmarks on a Mac between Safari, Chrome, and/or another browser like Firefox??
 
I noticed yesterday that Chrome was hogging energy with only two tabs open. The only other culprit for me is iTunes when it's downloading something.
 

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smileman said:
Also, why won't safari let you not enter text for bookmarks? I love having just the favicon in Chrome, no text. On Safari that leaves me with an obnoxious 'NO_TITLE' next to every favicon.
Click to expand...
This is what I miss the most in Safari. I have my favorites carefully lined up with no names, just favicon, in Chrome. I have not been able to figure out how to get favicons to show up in Safari's favorite bar, so I have resorted to using very short names, like 'g' for Google.

Your question (answered above, use full stop), indicates it is possible to get favicons in Safari.. How?

EDIT: I get the Favicons to show up in the bookmarks sidebar, but not the favorite bar along the top. I guess perhaps that's what you meant - the sidebar/menu.
 
Last edited:
H264 said:
I upgraded to Mavericks without any issues so far.

It's interesting to see the new "Apps using significant energy" info list under the battery indicator, and that it always shows Google Chrome as being quite the energy hog..! The Energy tab in Activity monitor has more details.

I haven't really learned to like Safari yet, but this makes me want to switch, at least when I am on OS X.
Click to expand...

Is Safari freezing up for you, especially when you swipe forward and back with 2 fingers. That's when it seems to be freezing for me...
 
Off topic from my original post, but I tried to setup bookmark syncing between Chrome on Windows and Safari, using Apple's Chrome extension for Windows and the iCloud Control Panel 3.0 on Windows.

I ended up with all my main bookmarks synced, but the favorite bar is now full of NO_TITLE entries. The alternative, as suggested above, naming them all with a dot, makes the links unusable in Safari, not knowing which is which, and takes too much space in Chrome on Windows.
 
H264 said:
Off topic from my original post, but I tried to setup bookmark syncing between Chrome on Windows and Safari, using Apple's Chrome extension for Windows and the iCloud Control Panel 3.0 on Windows.

I ended up with all my main bookmarks synced, but the favorite bar is now full of NO_TITLE entries. The alternative, as suggested above, naming them all with a dot, makes the links unusable in Safari, not knowing which is which, and takes too much space in Chrome on Windows.
Click to expand...

same problem. this feature needs work.

and while i'm complaining ;), i'll add that safari isn't handling my multiple gmail accounts well. i can only log into one, not my other.
 
"Apps using significant energy"...
Firefox does this to me, as does Chrome, as does Safari... not always, but regularly, Firefox and Chrome more than Safari, though.
Wait for X.9.1 ?
 
I used Chrome yesterday for the first time, I've been using safari since I got my rMBP (just before october). I was honestly shocked at how hot it got and how fast the battery drained. Using safari my laptop saw about 45 degrees max, with chrome it was over 60 and I was only surfing MR and OC. The battery was 75% depleted in under a couple of hours too. Think I'll stick with safari, I actually pretty like it.
 
Why not try Firefox? If you install the Flashblock and Adblock Plus add-ons it will use significantly less resources.

With Flashblock if you want to see specific blocked content you just need to click the icon that looks like a play button that Flashblock puts in as a place holder. On some sites you will need to allow all flash in which case you right click and allow all flash on the site then reload the page.

With Adblock Plus be sure to go to it's "Filter Preferences" and uncheck "Allow some non-intrusive advertising".

Both add-ons greatly speed up browsing, decrease CPU/Energy usage and reduce clutter.
 
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