Google to 'Dramatically' Improve Chrome Impact on Mac Battery Life

[ian87w]

The reason to ditch their own rendering engine was to become compatible with more of the web and the way to achieve that is to use the engine that currently defines that compatibility, Chromium. It was the overwhelming base before and is now solidified. As a Safari user I frequently run into things that work fine in Chrome but not in Safari because almost all of the web developers work on Chrome. That means every other browser has to fall in line with Chrome's quirks which I agree is disappointing. At a former company they used to have Firefox Friday to encourage the web devs to use Firefox for a day to see how their code worked not in Chrome.

Yeah, this is sad. Chrome is turning like the old IE all over again.

 

[biziclop]

Use safari.
If you really need a chromium browser; Use Brave, it's Chrome without the Google spyware.

If you really need a Chromium-based browser, use Ungoogled Chromium, it's Chrome without the Google spyware and without another bunch of crap added.

Google Chromium, sans integration with Google

A lightweight approach to removing Google web service dependency.

ungoogled-software.github.io

 

[W2u7Yw4HaD]

I know a lot of people say ‘just use Safari’ but one of the best and most important features of Chrome for me is multiple accounts and syncing. I have my personal Chrome, business accounts and even my partners account for quick access for her. Rather than having to constantly log out/re login on various websites I can just switch to a different Chrome account without closing or effecting my other account etc.

This is my #1 reason for using it also.. I still need flash for some obscure corporate things, so I prefer that to then installing full flash for sure...

 

[EditorsKeysUK]

I've switched my MacBook Pro and iMac to Micosoft Edge... it's honestly incredible. So far, no lag and my battery life is loads better.

I've got a 16" MacBook Pro with TouchBar and starting at 9am, using Chrome for work my battery would be dead by lunch time.... now I get a full days battery life and best of all, its exactly like Chrome as it's built on Chromium.

 

[0111587]

Netscape for browsing and Eudora for email

 

[macness]

Great... now work on the RAM management

 

[MacBH928]

Chrome is slowly turning into Microsoft Explorer. Maybe soon it will be just a wrapper for WebKit or Gecko ?
I feel sorry for those who use Chrome, Brave is an exact replica, Safari is much more effecient, and FireFox is more privacy oriented. 0 reason to use Chrome except if you like to report to Google your daily behaviour.

They got scared by this
View attachment 933297

Why is FireFox to the power of 3?
[automerge]1594638638[/automerge]

Netscape for browsing and Eudora for email

I personally prefer Juno /s

 

[boss.king]

It’s literally Chromium. It’s the exact same browser engine, just with your data sent to Microsoft.

Yes, that’s why I said “it’s chrome”. Except that Microsoft has done a great job at making it not destroy your battery or set your laptop on fire.

it does report back to MSFT, but if they’re coming from Chrome it’s not like that’s a big change, they just get a good browserout of the deal now.

for thise with massive privacy concerns, there’s Safari, it just has a lot of trdeoffs that make it a much worse way to browse the internet.

 

[joiwomcow]

I would generally prefer Safari but... it seems Google is very creative in disabling ad blockers on Safari.
Youtube is riddled with a constant stream of ads whatever blocking software you use on Safari.
Adblock on Chrome works perfectly.

 

[Leet Apple]

I've used safari for maybe the last 5-6 years, I don't really understand the need for chrome especially with all thenegativity that I've heard.

Can someone fill me in?

 

[BulkSlash]

I do web development and I've never really had any issues with the dev tools in Safari. That said I mainly use Safari Technology Preview which often has a few extra bells and whistles. I'm not using it at the moment though as there appears to be a bug causing it to hammer the CPU and run the fans in my MacBook Pro at full tilt. So I'm back on regular Safari for now.

 

[MacGizmo]

Google says this every year... it never happens.

 

[ghostface147]

I only use Chrome to log into Kinja based websites since they no longer work in Safari. Either that or troubleshoot issues that end users have in the office.

 

[phillytim]

If I come across any website, or service, that does not play nicely with my standard Firefox (or my fall-back to Safari), I seriously evaluate whether I need any information or service provided by that website and look for alternatives.

I will not be held hostage by Google's engine, just as I refused to be hostage to Microsoft's engine back-in-the-day.

We broke IE's grip before, and we can do it again to Chrome* - if necessary.

 

[charlesdayton]

Safari has supported FairPlay longer than Google has peddled Widevine. Google has been far from inclusive and has rejected Widevine licenses to many individuals and even those it does end up deciding to work with, such as Philips PicoPix Max, reported multiple issues waiting for Google's approval.

So the issue is on Google's side. Quite unfair considering Firefox is able to use Widevine.
I hope Netflix/Hulu/Prime do something about this as most Mac users use Safari

 

[Gherkin]

I don't buy people who say that Chrome is slow on their Mac. I've been using Chrome since probably 2013 or so and never once thought it was slow (I use other browsers from time to time so it's not just the only browser I use). Never a hiccup on my Mac Mini w/ 32 GB RAM or on my wife's 13" MBP w/ 8 GB.

Battery life may be an issue, not sure as I've been on a desktop for 2 years now.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

On desktops/laptops, Chrome market share is 69%. Safari - 4%. Not much of a battle. The same source has MacOS market share at 9.5% which seemingly indicates that less than a half of MacOS users use Safari.

The breakdown on Windows is something like 75% Chrome vs 20% Firefox vs 5% IE, and on Mac OS it's around 50% Safari vs 40% Chrome vs 10% Firefox.

The fact that Chrome is getting updated to improve performance tells us that there's enough competition going on - Google feels that they're slipping, so they're fighting to stop that.

 

[richpjr]

I have to use a mixture of Macs, iPads and Windows PCs for work so Safari isn't an option. I understand all of the complaints about Chrome but the convenience of using a single browser across all platforms is powerful.

 

[ian87w]

I have to use a mixture of Macs, iPads and Windows PCs for work so Safari isn't an option. I understand all of the complaints about Chrome but the convenience of using a single browser across all platforms is powerful.

Well, luckily there are other great Chromium-based multi platform browsers, like Brave or Microsoft Edge.

Firefox is also multi platform.

 

[riverfreak]

It'll also dramatically improve the data Google is collecting. Can you imagine that 68% of the world is browsing the web using a tool made by a company whose entire purpose it is to track people, sell that data to advertisers who in turn sell things to you. No wonder Google is so huge. I'll stick with Safari and Duck Duck Go.

Not sure if you are referring to Duck Duck Go the browser or the search engine.

I love the Duck Duck Go browser. It’s a great middle ground between Safari and Firefox focus. It will automatically clear your history and data at a frequency of your choice or on demand (similar to FF Focus). And if you have some websites that you want to protect from this purge to save from having to login constantly, you can do that too.

 

[richpjr]

Well, luckily there are other great Chromium-based multi platform browsers, like Brave or Microsoft Edge.

Firefox is also multi platform.

Understand - it was more of a Safari isn't an option comment. Funny that I never think about Edge for OS X or iOS. How times have changed with MS not being the evil empire any more.

 

[mi7chy]

I don't buy people who say that Chrome is slow on their Mac. I've been using Chrome since probably 2013 or so and never once thought it was slow (I use other browsers from time to time so it's not just the only browser I use). Never a hiccup on my Mac Mini w/ 32 GB RAM or on my wife's 13" MBP w/ 8 GB.

Battery life may be an issue, not sure as I've been on a desktop for 2 years now.

Chrome is less snappy than say Edge. It's only noticeable on very slow systems like Intel NUC Celeron J3355 or old systems from ~2008. Still prefer Chrome over Edge for security. Ram usage hasn't been an issue since it runs fine even on 4GB DRAM but I only have adblocker and not a ton of extensions. Memory usage is just sandboxing at work plus memory upgrade is cheap.

 

[phillytim]

Not sure if you are referring to Duck Duck Go the browser or the search engine.

I love the Duck Duck Go browser. It’s a great middle ground between Safari and Firefox focus. It will automatically clear your history and data at a frequency of your choice or on demand (similar to FF Focus). And if you have some websites that you want to protect from this purge to save from having to login constantly, you can do that too.

My only quibble is with the mobile/iOS DDG browser: it seems to always hang up with huge pages such as Facebook.com. I want to use it, but I soon always revert to mobile Brave.

They both are just wrappers for Apple’s Safari engine, but somehow Brave is able handle complex pages better. I do try to checkup on DDG browser, so far no go.

Other then that, Firefox, Brave, or Microsoft Edge are the best multi-platform browsers.

Even if Apple brought the tempting Safari back to Windows, I probably would stick with Firefox regardless.

 

[Bandaman]

I've switched my MacBook Pro and iMac to Micosoft Edge... it's honestly incredible. So far, no lag and my battery life is loads better.

I've got a 16" MacBook Pro with TouchBar and starting at 9am, using Chrome for work my battery would be dead by lunch time.... now I get a full days battery life and best of all, its exactly like Chrome as it's built on Chromium.

I'm able to open 200 tabs in Edge without it freezing and I'm still able to browse. I've never been able to do this in Chrome. Microsoft's memory and CPU management is so much better than Chrome that it's a joke. Whatever they're doing, they're doing it right. And I love their "Collections" feature. I'm on the Developer channel and it's stupidly fast and buttery smooth ... and best of all ... stable.

 

[InnocenceMyth]

Lol do people still use Chrome on Mac?
I abandoned that ship a long time ago...

I feel that people like you are often surprised by other people not doing what they do.