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cado dalle nuvole

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 27, 2021
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Do you know a lightweight browser, with the ability to add addons? I prefer with the Chrome engine if possible.
 
I don't think there's such a thing as a lightweight browser for a Mac running Sierra. At least I still have a 2011 MBP running High Sierra, where Safari, Chrome and FireFox all make the fan spin like a jet engine. I can probably also fry an egg on it, if I wanted to. I'm now using only Safari on an M1 Air running Big Sur, yet the entire machine remains completely cool to the touch, without a fan, and the battery gives me at least 14 hours browsing time, with extended Netflix binges included.
 
Do you know a lightweight browser, with the ability to add addons? I prefer with the Chrome engine if possible.
I've compared a few browsers recently on a MBP2012 , and would recommend Firefox: fast and not consuming much resources e.g. battery , RAM etc.
AFAIK the latest version of Firefox is compatible with Sierra.
 
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How do I know if it is light? I always based on the ram.

I consider a browser light the less battery power it uses. For example, my 2011 MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM runs Chrome for about 4 hours on a newly fitted battery, if I'm lucky. Chrome on my M1 Air with 8GB RAM runs for over 10 hours, Safari goes significantly longer. The speed of say Chrome between the M1 Air and the 2011 MBP seems similar. What can make any browser heavy and where more RAM is necessary is when you have many tabs open. If I'm done with a tab, I close it. I can always consult the history list if I want to go back to a particular page later.
 
@EuroChilli : You're comparing 2 different OSes with completely different Safari versions , on 2 devices with a difference in age of 10 years...
 
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Yep, my mac is 10 years old. I am now trying Firefox for longer. I've used Firefox and Sea Monkey for a long time in the past. I read a lot of articles in English and having an automatic translator would be useful. Some sites malfunction if I use Google Translate to translate links.
 
@EuroChilli : You're comparing 2 different OSes with completely different Safari versions , on 2 devices with a difference in age of 10 years...

That's exactly what I'm doing. So the point is, if you're looking for a lightweight browser, it depends on what machine and with what OS you plan to run it on. Basically, in my experience, Chrome runs better than Safari on a 10 year old machine, but Safari runs better than Chrome on a brand new M1.

No, these 2 devices don't run the same OS, you can be convinced a 2011 MBP does not run Big Sur ;-)
 
To stop the fans from making that deafening noise.
1) don't have so many tabs open
2) use uBlock Origin with a browser that supports uBlock Origin

I'm using the latest Firefox with uBlock Origin on a 2011 MBP and Sierra.
 
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