firefox slow on a mbp??

[zblaxberg]

So I have a brand spankin new macbook pro with 2.33ghz, 2gb ram and 160gb hd. I just can't figure out why it takes firefox so long to launch. On my compaq (5 year old) pc it still launches in like 2 seconds but on my macbook pro it takes like 10-15 seconds just to have a window popup when I first start it. Any ideas on whats goin on here??

 

[bmcgonag]

So I have a brand spankin new macbook pro with 2.33ghz, 2gb ram and 160gb hd. I just can't figure out why it takes firefox so long to launch. On my compaq (5 year old) pc it still launches in like 2 seconds but on my macbook pro it takes like 10-15 seconds just to have a window popup when I first start it. Any ideas on whats goin on here??

I've had the same issue ever since I got my MBP...I switched to Camino, which is pretty much the Mac version of Firefox! Works much better, much smoother, much faster.

Brian

 

[mkrishnan]

In case you don't like Camino (I don't), then you may also wish to go here:

http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/2007/03/29/firefox-2002

And download a processor-optimized build of Firefox. It's not *necessary*, and I believe it will prevent you from being able to use automatic updates, but it can be much faster.

Note that these get posted in blog fashion, and so this link is only for the version of Firefox that's current at the time of me writing this post. If anyone comes and reads this message later, go to the top level of that blog and look for the latest Firefox entry.

 

[justG]

I have a Mac Pro (2x3GHz, 2GB RAM). Firefox is just slow on the Mac, regardless of your specs, I think. I've been pretty appalled by its performance compared to my ancient XP system with 512MB RAM. Ymmv, but I tried the processor-optimised version and it didn't really make a difference; or if it did, it wasn't perceptible enough to make the speed tolerable. I love Camino, and it's a great recommendation, but there's the issue of not being able to use Firefox extensions in Camino (or rather, being able to use much fewer, because of the whole non-XUL thing). It hurt, but I gave up my extensions in order to be able to use a different browser.

 

[miniConvert]

I also use Camino. I think it's awesome, in terms of fitting OS X beautifully and being fast and lightweight.

However, Firefox shouldn't be that slow... What do you have as your homepage? I always have mine as blank. Also, it's definitely running Intel-native I presume - not a PPC version running under Rosetta somehow?

Still, once it's loaded you can just leave it running in the background and open new windows instantly - right? I don't really mind how long anything takes to load in OS X, because once it's there I leave it open for the rest of the day for instant access. Mmmmm, RAM

 

[MarkR]

Please don't be insulted by this question, but do you have Firefox properly installed?

I had a similar issue and finally discovered that I had not actually installed Firefox in Applications, but placed the unstuffed contents of the install package there. I realized that every time I started Firefox, it would create a 50MB virtual drive on my machine that took most of the startup time. Once I properly installed the software it starts much quicker (still a little slow, but much better).

 

[zblaxberg]

Yes it is properly installed. It is the correct version...not the ppc one. I think maybe i'll try camino because it seems that firefox is just slow on macs. Thanks for the help but if anyone sees reason for me to dig deeper into the issue (considering i'm going to college in the fall and need this to work 100%) please let me know

 

[Dolorian]

Funny fact: Firefox takes longer than Photoshop to launch


Evo

 

[aristobrat]

Any ideas on whats goin on here??

When I launch FireFox for the first time, right when the FireFox dock icon starts to bounce, something else briefly opens on the Dock for a second or two, then the FireFox window will pop up.

I wonder if whatever the second process is doing is what causes FireFox to launch slower on OS X than Windows?

Doesn't FireFox show you a special "You just upgraded" page after you upgrade it? Maybe it's checking for a flag file on your HD to see if you're running it for the first time after an upgrade?

Below is a Dock shot of what I'm talking about. You should see FireFox starting to bounce towards the left of my Dock, and some weird document that briefly pops open immediately to the left of the Dock separator thing.

 

[zblaxberg]

When I launch FireFox for the first time, right when the FireFox dock icon starts to bounce, something else briefly opens on the Dock for a second or two, then the FireFox window will pop up.

I wonder if whatever the second process is doing is what causes FireFox to launch slower on OS X than Windows?

Doesn't FireFox show you a special "You just upgraded" page after you upgrade it? Maybe it's checking for a flag file on your HD to see if you're running it for the first time after an upgrade?

Below is a Dock shot of what I'm talking about. You should see FireFox starting to bounce towards the left of my Dock, and some weird document that briefly pops open immediately to the left of the Dock separator thing.

I've never had anything like that open up. It just takes a really long time for the program window to pop up

 

[aristobrat]

The only time I notice it doing that is when I'm remote-controlling my Mac mini at home while I'm at work. The delay in updating the screen via VLC makes that thing visible for a brief second.

 

[mattscott306]

Strange, I haven't had that problem on my MBP. I run Bon Echo so that may have something to do with it...

 

[clevin]

how many extensions/themes do u have?

 

[Veritas&Equitas]

I also love Camino, it seems to be the fastest of the major browsers, and I've really taken a liking to it

 

[Dolorian]

Firefox is my favorite browser but I am seriously rethinking my position on it as of late and have been thinking about switching to Safari. I have Firefox running with only two tabs (no videos or Flash in any of them) and it is using 200mb of RAM!! What the hell????


Evo

 

[localoid]

Firefox is my favorite browser but I am seriously rethinking my position on it as of late and have been thinking about switching to Safari. I have Firefox running with only two tabs (no videos or Flash in any of them) and it is using 200mb of RAM!! What the hell????

Ack! Here currently, on a PPC G4@1.6GHz with six tabs open Firefox is only using ~94MB of "real" memory.

 

[TheBobcat]

Yeah, I second the fact that Mac FireFox sucks balls. I really love FF on Windows, but it just takes forever to load. It's ridiculous. Hopefully they fix it in the next version.

 

[clevin]

Firefox is my favorite browser but I am seriously rethinking my position on it as of late and have been thinking about switching to Safari. I have Firefox running with only two tabs (no videos or Flash in any of them) and it is using 200mb of RAM!! What the hell????


Evo

im sorry, but if memory consumption is our goal, safari will not help, try opera

lol, that is true, i have tested

I suppose you mean photoshop CS3?

 

[Dolorian]

im sorry, but if memory consumption is our goal, safari will not help, try opera

Have tried Opera, don't like it. I think it has an annoying interface. Firefox using 200MB does not really causes me problem, it is just that I find it odd, the program is clearly not optimized for OS X. Safari may consume more RAM than Opera, but it remains in the 60-70MB range.

I also uninstalled some extensions and Firefox is now down to using 100mb with 8 tabs (5 of which are picture galleries).


Evo

 

[spork183]

Yeah, I second the fact that Mac FireFox sucks balls. I really love FF on Windows, but it just takes forever to load. It's ridiculous. Hopefully they fix it in the next version.

It didn't use to take as long to load on the mac. Also, I've noticed that I can't stop a page loading. It gets into this loop and when the beachball starts spinning, it won't allow me to stop it, close a window, etc. Highly annoying. I'm using a c2d 2.16 w/2gb of ram. Shouldn't be a resource problem.

I thought it was just me until I came across the thread.

 

[zblaxberg]

It didn't use to take as long to load on the mac. Also, I've noticed that I can't stop a page loading. It gets into this loop and when the beachball starts spinning, it won't allow me to stop it, close a window, etc. Highly annoying. I'm using a c2d 2.16 w/2gb of ram. Shouldn't be a resource problem.

I thought it was just me until I came across the thread.

Check what type of program...whether its universal or ppc...I was almost 99% sure I had downloaded the universal firefox and i go to look at it the other day and sure enough someone called it. it was the ppc version.

 

[Telp]

I second camino over firefox, but i use Safari and love it.