Pro's/Con's Safari Vs Chrome Vs Firefox

[anupash]

Chrome or Firefox depending on your preference

Firefox

Handling a huge amount of tabs​

Best memory management (You can configure every aspect of it using about:config)​

Extensions. Mind blowing​

Not well integrated with Lion gestures. Absolutely fine for SL.​

Chrome

Fastest. But horrendous use of memory​

Fair number of extensions​

Seamless upgrade​

Safari

********* of all​

Worst tab handling​

Worst memory management​

Getting Extensions is not so convenient​

Very less number of extensions​

Browser performance becomes horrendous after opening more than a handful number of tabs​

Configurability is a big issue​

 

[throAU]

Safari
+ Native
+ Great download implementation (OSX Lion only)
- Slow development, barely any new features between versions
- No address bar search by default

i consider this a FEATURE.. if i want to search i'll use the search box.

best features for me are overflow history/bookmarks and iCloud sync.

 

[kooskoos1814]

i consider this a FEATURE.. if i want to search i'll use the search box.

best features for me are overflow history/bookmarks and iCloud sync.

Just install Safari 5.2 Beta and you're good to go, now you have Chrome's omnibar on Safari ;-)

I use both Chrome and Safari, but tend to use mainly Safari since the 5.2 is out because of it's better integration with OS X (and this 2 finger tap to zoom like iOS, perfect on my 11'' screen).

 

[MacBH928]

I have been using firefox for a long time
while it is a good browser it just doesnt play nice with the mac
* themes dont work well
* gui is meh
* slower than the other 2 browsers
* plugins r ok but I bet its very heavy on it after u instal 5 or more of them
* password remembering is horrible, keeps asking for permission
* needs to be forced quit almost everytime

Safari is best just has missing features like search in the url bar and keyword search, thats about it i guess. wats wrong with tab handling?

 

[Bear]

Another negative for Chrome. How much more information does it allow Google to collect about you.

 

[miknos]

Just a matter of taste based on what you do.

 

[iCaleb]

The only bad thing about chrome is it's issues with youtube videos.

It always says missing plugin at least most of the time.

By the way I have the latest version of flash and chrome.

I went back to FF for now.

 

[MonkeySee....]

Just install Safari 5.2 Beta and you're good to go, now you have Chrome's omnibar on Safari ;-)

I use both Chrome and Safari, but tend to use mainly Safari since the 5.2 is out because of it's better integration with OS X (and this 2 finger tap to zoom like iOS, perfect on my 11'' screen).

Or get the extension.

 

[appleapple2]

Lion makes no difference

Safari is slow and limited

Chrome has poor UI and is very limited, sure some Dev tools are better then FireBug (on FF) but that's about it

FF is faster and the UI is whatever you want it to be, the only time FF slower is if you add on too many add-ons. Also FF listens to its users and designs around what they want.

Try pressing Cmd+B on all three browsers to see what your missing
then press it again, poof! magic

 

[MonkeySee....]

Lion makes no difference

Safari is slow and limited

Chrome has poor UI and is very limited, sure some Dev tools are better then FireBug (on FF) but that's about it

FF is faster and the UI is whatever you want it to be, the only time FF slower is if you add on too many add-ons. Also FF listens to its users and designs around what they want.

Try pressing Cmd+B on all three browsers to see what your missing
then press it again, poof! magic

Safari is quicker than FF on my iMac. Not sure why you think its slow?

 

[MacBH928]

The only bad thing about chrome is it's issues with youtube videos.

It always says missing plugin at least most of the time.

By the way I have the latest version of flash and chrome.

I went back to FF for now.

i think this is because of installing adblock and flash block
used to get a ton of errors before deleting them (or disabling them on utube)

I dunno where the Safari is slow comes from. Safari is made by apple, its optimized for their OS. Firezfox does not even have Keychain itegration last time I checked, heck it doesnt even have proper themes for the Mac.

Maybe FF plays nicer with older systems and Safari needs more power, thats why you see Safari as slower, maybe your system is old.

FF is great if it appeals to you, but it is not faster or more usable than Safari. It only has the extensions advantage which for 90% of users, its not that big of a deal

 

[KingJosh]

I use both Safari and Chrome randomly.

if I go to chrome://memory-redirect/ in chrome then it shows chrome using much much more memory than safari on the same pages open from fresh start. I look in activity monitor and add up and Safari is using loads more. I don't know which to trust :S I would have put faith in activity monitor but then I wonder where chrome gets all this other stuff from.

I prefer the UI in safari but chrome feels snappier and no beachballs. I like the Download manager in Safari more but that is NA. I hear great things about Safari in ML so I guess I will probably move to Safari with ML releases. For now I am stuck between the two.

FF is leaps behind both chrome and safari imo. Looks and performance it suffers. Too bad because it was a blessing back when it first released.

 

[yawns]

I think this is a matter of taste. Personally I prefer FF. I don't like the Safari UI and I feel like it's missing a lot of features. I also feel like it's less secure.

FF is extremely customizable and feature-rich with its about:config + useful extensions. Adblock, noscript, cookie white-listing, and firebug are either crippled or non-existent in other browsers. I also like "find as you type" and custom searches from the address bar.

Chrome was very fast, but I abandoned it for the following reasons:
- History/cache management is extremely limited.
- Javascript white-listing is tedious.
- A lot of its extensions require javascript to be enabled on the page to work.

I'm not sure what gestures people are talking about missing outside of Safari. In FF you can two finger swipe to go back and forth in history. Does Safari do others?

Edit: Here's a quick post/discussion by the noscript developers on why only Firefox is able to offer true javascript/ad blocking.

http://hackademix.net/2010/06/08/before-you-ask-no-noscript-on-safari/

IMHO if a browser doesn't allow for granular control over javascript/flash/cookies/ads and cannot stop loading that garbage before it reaches the system, than it is inherently less secure.

 

[dacoolest]

Works best with Lion - Safari.

I use safari and its enough for me. The only add-on I need is an adblock plugin. Firefox seems to have large number of addons and thats an advantage. I don't care about the speed difference either. Cos as far as i know, there won't be a difference of hours of page loading time between browsers. so the time would be very small if theres a page load time difference. I just like safari and I use it.

 

[tmanto02]

Is one browser better than the other at handling flash based sites? I use safari and my CPU goes crazy when browsing flash-built sites!!!

 

[ixodes]

On Lion Safari hands down is the best browser.

After the fastest, most stable & efficient browser of all... Google Chrome.

Now with a plethora of extensions, apps, and other useful ad-ons, it leaves Firefox & others far behind.

The incredible speed of development & improvement of both browser & ad-ons, places Chrome well ahead of the pack.

Those who cannot grasp this fact haven't stayed current with what's happening in the browser space.

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Is one browser better than the other at handling flash based sites? I use safari and my CPU goes crazy when browsing flash-built sites!!!

It's a well known fact that Apple & Flash is like oil & water. To be avoided at all costs.

Only Windows runs flash fast, cool & effortlessly.

 

[jnl1211]

I use FF due to it's the smoothest and has much better privacy settings than the other 2.

 

[Kaoxt]

After the fastest, most stable & efficient browser of all... Google Chrome.

Now with a plethora of extensions, apps, and other useful ad-ons, it leaves Firefox & others far behind.

The incredible speed of development & improvement of both browser & ad-ons, places Chrome well ahead of the pack.

Those who cannot grasp this fact haven't stayed current with what's happening in the browser space.

----------



It's a well known fact that Apple & Flash is like oil & water. To be avoided at all costs.

Only Windows runs flash fast, cool & effortlessly.

It really depends on your definition of speed. Chrome still has problems with scrolling and is very choppy on websites. (see for example desktop threads with large images). Firefox handles these perfectly, where Chrome is still choppy / lagging behind.

Chrome also cannot handle lots of tabs, and it's a known issue. I am very up to date on browsers and Firefox is quickly catching right back up to Chrome in their latest builds. The difference between Firefix and Chrome now is very slim, and the gap will be getting closer and closer as more updates take place. Firefox is no longer falling behind with their sped up releases.

Chrome is thankfully credited with Firefox getting on the ball again.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

For some reason chrome and all of it's versions trigger a server issue where it causes MacRumors to hang and it can take several min to free up. This all depends on your location, but I haven't been able to find the cause.

 

[ixodes]

It really depends on your definition of speed. Chrome still has problems with scrolling and is very choppy on websites. (see for example desktop threads with large images). Firefox handles these perfectly, where Chrome is still choppy / lagging behind.

Chrome also cannot handle lots of tabs, and it's a known issue. I am very up to date on browsers and Firefox is quickly catching right back up to Chrome in their latest builds. The difference between Firefix and Chrome now is very slim, and the gap will be getting closer and closer as more updates take place. Firefox is no longer falling behind with their sped up releases.

Chrome is thankfully credited with Firefox getting on the ball again.

I'm not responding to argue or challenge your experience. But I must say it's completely contrary to mine. I find Chrome smooth, fast, and completely glitch free. I'm certainly not advocating for Google, or any company for that matter.

I use both Macs and PC's at home and work. My new BTO 15" MBP is my favorite by quite a margin over my new ThinkPad, but then again it's a matter of using PowerBooks and MBP's for years as my personal laptop of choice.

Perhaps a fresh clean install of Chrome (if you're so inclined) may provide you with the superb experience I am currently enjoying.

Firefox was my favorite for years, yet unfortunately in my experience they've simply not been able to keep up with Chrome.

It's important to note, that due to the nature of my work flow and desire to keep up with the latest developments, I use the current versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and on the PC side, IE. So the only point being... I do have an ongoing, concurrent, baseline of experience with the most popular browsers.

Finally there's the personal preference factor, which in my opinion is the best benchmark of all.

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Another negative for Chrome. How much more information does it allow Google to collect about you.

Oh, that's easy to answer. Google knows absolutely everything about everyone.

In fact I was a bit surprised to learn that they know exactly how many eyelashes I have.

It must be the exemplary camera on my MBP ...

 

[sovereign]

For some reason chrome and all of it's versions trigger a server issue where it causes MacRumors to hang and it can take several min to free up. This all depends on your location, but I haven't been able to find the cause.

I cannot believe this is not pointed out more often. Every few months I give Chrome a try. The first couple of minutes and it seems FAST. But then, when opening links in a new tab it will just hang and sit there, and sit there, and finally I have to close the tab and try again. Often I must try many times for it to open a link in a new tab. Many forums I visit are set up up to open links in a new tab, and I prefer that. But Chrome is incapable of handling this. And there are no updates to fix this- ever.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

I cannot believe this is not pointed out more often. Every few months I give Chrome a try. The first couple of minutes and it seems FAST. But then, when opening links in a new tab it will just hang and sit there, and sit there, and finally I have to close the tab and try again. Often I must try many times for it to open a link in a new tab. Many forums I visit are set up up to open links in a new tab, and I prefer that. But Chrome is incapable of handling this. And there are no updates to fix this- ever.

Thier is a tread in the site feedback section on page loading issues where I mentioned this with no luck but I have to use a different browser to use this site as chrome/chromium will hang after visiting a few pages.

 

[phyrexia]

I use both Safari and Chrome randomly.

if I go to chrome://memory-redirect/ in chrome then it shows chrome using much much more memory than safari on the same pages open from fresh start. I look in activity monitor and add up and Safari is using loads more. I don't know which to trust :S I would have put faith in activity monitor but then I wonder where chrome gets all this other stuff from.

I'm sorry I can't cite where this came from right now, but I read an article or an interview with a Chrome developer some time ago and he said something to the effect that Chrome overestimates its memory usage.

I'd trust Activity Monitor at any rate.

 

[naxir]

I like chrome because of its syncing. My laptop runs OSX, my desktop runs Windows, and my netbook runs Linux. With chrome, all of my bookmarks and saved passwords are always synced. Inspector is also nice, as is the fact that it generally implements the latest standards rather quickly.