Google Improving Chrome for OS X Performance to Better Rival Safari

[deannnnn]

I prefer Chrome for tab management. The tab interface on Safari is just not a good experience in my eyes.

 

[deannnnn]

Outside of Gmail it's difficult to think of a single product Google has done right. nothing they do is really taken to the point where it just works. I include search in that statement. But the problem is that they stifle innovation in the long run since they crush competitors throughout the web and mobile space. We would all be better off with a diversity of players rather than these huge monster companies, especially ones in the business of mining your data.

You feel that Google doesn't do search right? What on earth do you use then? Yahoo & Bing don't even compete.

Also, while I don't disagree that Google can, at times, crush competitors & stifle innovation, Apple does the EXACT same thing. That's the problem with people comparing Apple vs Google, iOS vs Android, Mac vs Windows, one is always the angel and one is always the devil. They all have their strengths and they all have their weaknesses but they ALL help shape the world we live in and the future of technology.

 

[bn-7bc]

This will go away when apple closes the door on all third party applications and only allows approved api as iOS already requires. Then only apple applications will use custom code.
We'll probably see this in the OS X that will run on the A12 desktop computers when they drop Intel.

Hmm I think not, this wil lock out things like Creative cloud (love it or hate it it's still important to many) which will not be good pr for Appla

 

[horsebattery]

I like Chrome well enough, but at least on my computers, it is a RAM hog. Within a few hours of having it open (a full day), I see my available RAM drop from 18GB to 3 or 4GB. I need to use several different applications throughout the day, some of which need lots of memory to process files. The only way that I can free up RAM and keep my system speedy is to close Chrome entirely and reopen. I hate to do this, because I often have lots of windows/tabs with items in progress (and even closing all tabs prior to shut down does not free up the RAM).

Have you tried the Great Suspender extension? There's also OneTab. See if they'll address the issue of memory not being freed after closing a tab. I haven't had a need to use them anymore, so I'm not sure if they still interfere with Chrome's tab sync across devices functionality, if you need that.

 

[Oletros]

I knew it! I wasn't just imagining things, Safari was faster than Chrome (in many aspects)! I always thought the two must be the same since they're both webkit and all, but I always felt that Safari was faster and assumed I'm just being stupid.

Both used webkit but they used different javascript engines

 

[damnhandy]

I've been a long time Chrome user and things have been getting worse recently. If being a battery hog wasn't enough, Chrome started getting more unstable since about Chrome 41. Every now again, the entire UI would lock up. And since Chrome 43 hit, I have been seeing constant GPU Panics over the last couple of weeks. It reliably happens whenever I watch video in Chrome sans Flash. It's REALLY annoying when you're day job involves creating web apps. Since going back to Safari, not a problem.

 

[ardent73]

All browsers have pluses and minuses but Safari has too few of the former and too many of the latter. My code always works on Firefox and Chrome, but on Safari look like crap. Is <embed> that hard to do right? What good is speed if it's wrong?

 

[Michael Goff]

I've been a long time Chrome user and things have been getting worse recently. If being a battery hog wasn't enough, Chrome started getting more unstable since about Chrome 41. Every now again, the entire UI would lock up. And since Chrome 43 hit, I have been seeing constant GPU Panics over the last couple of weeks. It reliably happens whenever I watch video in Chrome sans Flash. It's REALLY annoying when you're day job involves creating web apps. Since going back to Safari, not a problem.

Something must be wrong with ... I don't know, but those are extreme things that never happened to me on any of my Chrome installs.

 

[bladerunner2000]

If Apple bought Chrome and stuck their logo on it, suddenly everyone here would love it.

100% true.

 

[SteveW928]

So... does this mean they will get rid of Flash? The battery drain is probably due to having Flash built-in.

I've never really understood the love for Chrome, aside from extensions... especially on Windows. Heck, they just started *finally* supporting Google Fonts a few months ago! (Yea, Google's own browser didn't support their own web fonts until recently.) Was it that the other options were even more horrible?

Anyway, at least Chrome and Firefox allow me to have multiple browsers on my machine so I can be logged into the same site as different users for testing. Aside from testing and a few sites that aren't happy with Safari, I'm not sure why anyone would use anything else.

 

[Michael Goff]

So... does this mean they will get rid of Flash? The battery drain is probably due to having Flash built-in.

I've never really understood the love for Chrome, aside from extensions... especially on Windows. Heck, they just started *finally* supporting Google Fonts a few months ago! (Yea, Google's own browser didn't support their own web fonts until recently.) Was it that the other options were even more horrible?

Anyway, at least Chrome and Firefox allow me to have multiple browsers on my machine so I can be logged into the same site as different users for testing. Aside from testing and a few sites that aren't happy with Safari, I'm not sure why anyone would use anything else.

No, they're just working to make sure that flash only runs when you want it to and/or it's important. Having flash in doesn't make it drain power, running bad flash things is what causes huge power drain.

 

[Oletros]

So... does this mean they will get rid of Flash? The battery drain is probably due to having Flash built-in.

I've never really understood the love for Chrome, aside from extensions... especially on Windows. Heck, they just started *finally* supporting Google Fonts a few months ago! (Yea, Google's own browser didn't support their own web fonts until recently.) Was it that the other options were even more horrible?

Anyway, at least Chrome and Firefox allow me to have multiple browsers on my machine so I can be logged into the same site as different users for testing. Aside from testing and a few sites that aren't happy with Safari, I'm not sure why anyone would use anything else.

Perhaps because people use devices other than iOS or OS X devices

 

[SteveW928]

100% true.

No, they're just working to make sure that flash only runs when you want it to and/or it's important. Having flash in doesn't make it drain power, running bad flash things is what causes huge power drain.

That would be good, as when Flash runs, the battery goes. So, good control over that would help for sure. Currently, if you have Flash installed (and don't have a plugin, etc. to control it) your fan will run a lot.

 

[SteveW928]

Perhaps because people use devices other than iOS or OS X devices

I suppose... on non-Apple platforms, the bar is just that low.

 

[Oletros]

I suppose... on non-Apple platforms, the bar is just that low.

I think I have missed the sarcasm tag, because you're sarcastic, aren't you?

 

[AlecZ]

I suppose... on non-Apple platforms, the bar is just that low.

Yeah, I find that even the quality of third-party software is much lower in Windows, especially if you're trying to torrent something or open a disk image.

 

[happydude]

Hmm, you should insert Opera somewhere above Chrome as well.

actually thought about that but decided was too much to pile on to poor google. they're trying so hard...kinda cute, really.

 

[SteveW928]

I think I have missed the sarcasm tag, because you're sarcastic, aren't you?

Heh, no sarcasm tag. That's why I've been a Mac user for over 25 years now. (I've professionally worked with Windows and Unix, but have personally always used Macs. And, no, it's not because I don't know the others or, fashion.)

 

[SteveW928]

actually thought about that but decided was too much to pile on to poor google. they're trying so hard...kinda cute, really.

I think Opera is built on Chrome, right? But, yea, IMO it's a better browser. Google's great at core code stuff, they just don't seem to have a clue about design, UI, etc.

 

[Oletros]

Heh, no sarcasm tag. That's why I've been a Mac user for over 25 years now. (I've professionally worked with Windows and Unix, but have personally always used Macs. And, no, it's not because I don't know the others or, fashion.)

Then we'll agree on disagree. But yap, how it is possible that people won't use Apple hardware and software. It is sure because they don't know or they are Apple haters

 

[Oletros]

Yeah, I find that even the quality of third-party software is much lower in Windows, especially if you're trying to torrent something or open a disk image.

actually thought about that but decided was too much to pile on to poor google. they're trying so hard...kinda cute, really.

I think Opera is built on Chrome, right? But, yea, IMO it's a better browser. Google's great at core code stuff, they just don't seem to have a clue about design, UI, etc.

I don't know what quote is funnier or so out of reality.

You people are amazing, I never know if people really believes that or are just trying to win a comedy award

 

[SteveW928]

Then we'll agree on disagree. But yap, how it is possible that people won't use Apple hardware and software. It is sure because they don't know or they are Apple haters

There are good reasons to use non-Apple stuff. But, often, those aren't the reasons such decisions are made.

And, among consumers, it's often just based on price. My in-laws are now on their 4th 'bargain PC' in like the last 7 years, while my parents just purchased their 2nd Mac in about that same time. And, they wouldn't have even had to, except that due to their age and home setup, it made more sense to get them a laptop and my sister now uses their older iMac.

I've been an IT consultant for over 20 years, and worked for about 7 of that in a Fortune 100 IT dept. I can certainly tell you that decisions about Macs in big companies aren't typically made based on good knowledge of the IT staff or decision-makers.

 

[SteveW928]

I don't know what quote is funnier or so out of reality.

You people are amazing, I never know if people really believes that or are just trying to win a comedy award

Please, do tell.

 

[linuxcooldude]

Its funny talking about Chrome, but I recently have a formatting problem with the arrows, refresh button being different sizes. I prefer Google Chrome interface over safari though.

 

[SteveW928]

Hmm, you should insert Opera somewhere above Chrome as well.

And, I forgot the biggest reason in my last posts... no Flash! Opera doesn't embed Flash, which makes it a better browser for most purposes. That said, it's handy to have Chrome w/ Flash for testing or stuff like my son's Youth Digital course that requires Flash, so I don't have to install it system-wide. So, it has it's uses, I guess.

But, I suppose the main reason I've used Safari is that it has generally rendered websites better... in other words, they just look better on Safari. For web-development, that can be misleading though, so you do have to test in others. Like I noted in another post, I was quite shocked when I discovered that Firefox and Chrome didn't render Google Fonts until recently on Windows. That's one of those nearly unbelievable kind of discoveries.