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doobybiggs

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 5, 2012
562
24
Just curious what you all think the best browser is.

I am looking for one that is fast and has decent options in it. I have been a fan of firefox for a long time. Now that I am leaving PC's I am curious if safari or something else will work better with macs?
 
is safari even worth trying? or just stick with what I know works?
 
In my opinion Safari has always best browser on OS X. It is definitely worth trying!
 
IMHO, choice of browser these days on the Mac OS has as much to do with personal preferences more than any real performance difference. The speed at which a page loads may have more to do with bandwidth, graphics cards, RAM, etc. than the actual browser app. YMMV.
 
I like the feel of Safari from within the Mac OS. Swipe gestures are cool too. But, here's the best part: they're all free so try them out and see what you think is best!
 
Chrome feels much lighter than Safari and FireFox but I like the Reader mode in Safari..good luck!
 
I haven't seen any noticeable difference in performance between Firefox and Safari on OS X. Safari has a slightly more mac-like feel, but I'm so used to Firefox and its extensions that I stick with it.

I'd say copy over your Windows install's profile and stick with Firefox.
 
hmmm sounds like no clear winner, guess I will load up firefox and then give safari a try and then choose.
 
If there are any must have extensions you use with Firefox, stick with it. Otherwise use Safari.

I use Firefox because I can't browse without a few essential (to me) extensions.
 
I've used Firefox in the past.

Been using Chrome for a year.

I prefer Chrome because it saves all the websites I bookmarked under my google account and preferences/saved passwords.

If I ever got a new mac, install Chrome and all my bookmarks/passwords/preferences are automatically transferred.
 
I use safari because I don't like to have additional software I don't really need (so I just want one browser).

But it really blows with youtube. And that's not just on my macbook pro, it's on my brother's macbook and our iMac too.

Youtube won't play full screen, crashes, or won't play a higher resolution.
 
I use safari because I don't like to have additional software I don't really need (so I just want one browser).

But it really blows with youtube. And that's not just on my macbook pro, it's on my brother's macbook and our iMac too.

Youtube won't play full screen, crashes, or won't play a higher resolution.

hmmm I did not know that was a problem with safari. Is it always buffering too? I noticed he was having problems on youtube with his MBP with it buffering a lot.
 
I use safari because I don't like to have additional software I don't really need (so I just want one browser).

But it really blows with youtube. And that's not just on my macbook pro, it's on my brother's macbook and our iMac too.

Youtube won't play full screen, crashes, or won't play a higher resolution.
Sounds to me like you've been removing unnecessary software that isn't unnecessary.
 
Unless hard drive space is at a premium, give them all a try. I recently switched from Windows to Mac. I still use Win7 at work, Mac at home. I'm also a web developer, so I need all browsers. But, for day-to-day surfing, I rely on Chrome, because it syncs up so nicely between computers (bookmarks, saved passwords, etc....) I almost always have 2 browsers open, though, and Safari is my number 2 on my MacBook Pro. While I still like Firefox (can't live without Firebug!), I find it heavier and clunkier than Chrome. Firefox on Windows uses a TON of memory, and on both platforms feels a lot slower than Chrome. If speed is a top concern, you owe it to yourself to at least try Chrome.
 
hmmm I may have to give chrome a try again. It has been a long time since I have messed with chrome.
 
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