Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Chrome Used 10X More RAM Than Safari on macOS Big Sur in Recent Test [Updated]

jdavid_rp said:
I mean, RAM was made to be used. If using more free RAM means you can switch between tabs and they will all keep doing its thing without problems im ok with it
Click to expand...

Exactly. Empty RAM is useless RAM. :)

My question is... will Chrome release the RAM if another application needs it? Or is that something that the OS handles?

If you've got Chrome and Photoshop open... will Chrome be using up all your RAM even though Photoshop probably needs it more?
 
  • Like
Reactions: femike and HansHeino
I will preface this with two statements:
  1. I'm as big a Mac fanboy as anyone on here
  2. I haven't done any research on this topic so IDK what I'm talking about LOL
Having said that, I'm very impressed with the Microsoft Edge browser on Big Sur. I haven't installed Chrome on my Macs for years because I hate the way it secretly embeds its auto-update functionality. Edge at least sort-of plays nice with MacOS. The browser itself looks great, feels super-fast, and accepts virtually all third-party Extensions. (Try the MS Office Online extensions... very powerful and totally free!) Edge works with High Sierra or later. Seriously, if you haven't tried it at least take a look. I still use Safari 75% of the time, but its UI design looks awfully cheap compared to Edge. I'd be interested to know how fares in memory usage compared to Safari & Chrome.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Agit21, scgf, jhwalker and 2 others
inb4 "why Chrome at all?" it's because Safari's dev tools ain't up to snuff.
 
136948624_180462640481726_76488542726407099_n.png

I am able to use over 150GB in Safari if I click on the Show tab overview button, how much would Chrome use?
 
ghanwani said:
I just can't get used to Safari's UI. I keep going back to Chrome. The closest alternative to Chrome for me is Brave.
Click to expand...
I just don't get this at all. Safari feels so much more intuitive and Mac-like to me. It behaves in a natural way that makes sense and does what I expect it to do. I guess if you're coming from Chrome on Windows and want your Mac to feel like that it kind of makes sense. But then why are you using a Mac at all?
 
  • Like
  • Angry
  • Haha
Reactions: rafark, ignatius345, NetMage and 5 others
Can’t help but see that this was on a 2019 Mac. What about on M1 Macs running Big Sur? I’m sure it’s still more but I can’t believe Google has let this RAM joke go on this long. Surely they can’t not know about it’s consumption.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bousozoku
I’ve been a Mac user for over 10 years and I just love Safari. Back when I was on Windows, Chrome was my go-to browser. Before that it was all about Firefox and even the original Mozilla browser. But none of them have been as great to use as Safari for me.

In the early days there was some compatibility issues with certain plugins and video players on Safari and of course the occasional terribly coded websites that only worked on IE but those times have since passed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SuperMatt
djcerla said:
Chrome: the browser you briefly use when poorly coded websites don’t like Safari.
Click to expand...
I had an issue with not being able to edit Squarespace sites. The element controls would appear when you hover over them but remain unclickable. Turned off all ad blockers and still nothing, so I had to use Chrome for that.
 
LeadingHeat said:
Can’t help but see that this was on a 2019 Mac. What about on M1 Macs running Big Sur? I’m sure it’s still more but I can’t believe Google has let this RAM joke go on this long. Surely they can’t not know about it’s consumption.
Click to expand...
Considering that they have Chrome running on iOS and Android, you'd think that a real M1 would be okay with Chrome, even its early releases.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LeadingHeat
jdavid_rp said:
I mean, RAM was made to be used. If using more free RAM means you can switch between tabs and they will all keep doing its thing without problems im ok with it
Click to expand...
Any evidence of that? What no? then why bring it up at all?
 
I used chrome a bit before that wide open security hole they had (not saying I got anything on my MAC) but after the next beta update, Safari would crash. I did a clean install (so easy with the cloud these days!) and fixed the problem, so it wasn't the beta Big Sur build, it was something else. Any event, gone now and so is chrome
 
MauiPa said:
Any evidence of that? What no? then why bring it up at all?
Click to expand...
Evidence for what? They are correct. Unused RAM is bad. Programs should respond dynamically to available RAM. If you launch another program Chrome should reduce usage, but using more free RAM optimizes the experience.
 
4jasontv said:
Without Safari for Windows it’s simply not an option for a primary browser. It’s got to work on all my devices. Performance is second.
Click to expand...
Why? that makes no sense. You are allowed to use different browsers. If you want to use windows, use the one you want. Really not getting your statement
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back