Web browsers and battery life

[CE3]

Firefox seems to use more battery than Safari..especially on Netflix. It's my preferred default desktop browser, but I won't use it as much if it means 2-3 hours less battery.

Does anyone else notice this? Is it just better software optimization for the Apple browser?

 

[snaky69]

Firefox seems to use more battery than Safari..especially on Netflix. It's my preferred default desktop browser, but I won't use it as much if it means 2-3 hours less battery.

Does anyone else notice this? Is it just better software optimization for the Apple browser?

If you'd done a search, you would've found that Safari is the best browser for battery life. It has been discussed over and over again in hundreds of threads.

On a side note, I never understood everyone using alternate browsers on a Mac. On Windows, sure, IE sucks big time. But on a Mac, why bother?

 

[CE3]

If you'd done a search, you would've found that Safari is the best browser for battery life. It has been discussed over and over again in hundreds of threads.

On a side note, I never understood everyone using alternate browsers on a Mac. On Windows, sure, IE sucks big time. But on a Mac, why bother?

This is my first Mac and I've only had a couple days. And I did a search before posting for Firefox in this forum didn't see anything related to the issue. Thanks for the info.

 

[tivoboy]

If you'd done a search, you would've found that Safari is the best browser for battery life. It has been discussed over and over again in hundreds of threads.

On a side note, I never understood everyone using alternate browsers on a Mac. On Windows, sure, IE sucks big time. But on a Mac, why bother?

There is a lot more customizability with something like Chrome than safari, but indeed Chrome will suck your battery dry faster than streaming 4K video.. ;-(

 

[lowendlinux]

This is my first Mac and I've only had a couple days. And I did a search before posting for Firefox in this forum didn't see anything related to the issue. Thanks for the info.

Just use Safari it's not a bad browser

 

[maxsix]

Just use Safari it's not a bad browser

I agree, however like most everything else it does depend on your use case. I have the typical very heavy work load which influences me to use whatever tools help me to reduce the hours spent on work each day.

Despite others knocks on Chrome, for my purposes nothing comes even remotely close to being as useful and fast as Chrome. Given that I absolutely need (not just prefer) a core group of 15 of so chrome extensions that aren't offered for Safari, that's also a priceless incentive.

Finally there's the ongoing development of web apps, extensions and other utilities that raise the bar each and every time Google releases them. In the world I work in ... Google represents progress, innovation, reliability and stellar performance. I'll take that over squeezing out every last minute of battery life.

 

[lowendlinux]

I agree, however like most everything else it does depend on your use case. I have the typical very heavy work load which influences me to use whatever tools help me to reduce the hours spent on work each day.

Despite others knocks on Chrome, for my purposes nothing comes even remotely close to being as useful and fast as Chrome. Given that I absolutely need (not just prefer) a core group of 15 of so chrome extensions that aren't offered for Safari, that's also a priceless incentive.

Finally there's the ongoing development of web apps, extensions and other utilities that raise the bar each and every time Google releases them. In the world I work in ... Google represents progress, innovation, reliability and stellar performance. I'll take that over squeezing out every last minute of battery life.

But this thread is about battery life not extensions. Chrome runs great on all my Linux boxes but OSX is not Linux.

 

[maxsix]

But this thread is about battery life not extensions. Chrome runs great on all my Linux boxes but OSX is not Linux.

Thread Title: Browsers and Battery Life

Reading my entire post would have served you well. The last sentence addresses battery life.

Perhaps your burning desire to be critical of others, is your highest priority...

 

[lowendlinux]

Thread Title: Browsers and Battery Life

Reading my entire post would have served you well. The last sentence addresses battery life.

Perhaps your burning desire to be critical of others, is your highest priority...

The body your post was you need a bunch of super special browser extensions that are in chrome. You also think that performance and your super special extensions are better than battery life, but the op is looking for battery life not performance. Perhaps in one post you could stop telling us all about you and address the topic at hand.

 

[ghanwani]

If you'd done a search, you would've found that Safari is the best browser for battery life. It has been discussed over and over again in hundreds of threads.

On a side note, I never understood everyone using alternate browsers on a Mac. On Windows, sure, IE sucks big time. But on a Mac, why bother?

I use Chrome mainly because of bookmarks sync'ing and having a consistent experience across Mac OS and Windows. Do you recommend safari even for Windows?

 

[CE3]

@lowendlinux Well, I'm looking for both battery life and performance. Firefox has always been a good browser for me, and I like Mozilla and their strong positions on privacy and Net Neutrality. The good news is Apple's been taking a much stronger stance on consumer privacy lately, and Safari seems just as fast, if not faster than Firefox on El Capitan (and all my bookmarks imported, too).

I guess it just never occurred to me that a web browser would have a much different impact on battery performance.

 

[CE3]

I use Chrome mainly because of bookmarks sync'ing and having a consistent experience across Mac OS and Windows. Do you recommend safari even for Windows?

I don't think Apple develops Safari for Windows anymore, so I would say no.

 

[lowendlinux]

@lowendlinux Well, I'm looking for both battery life and performance. Firefox has always been a good browser for me, and I like Mozilla and their strong positions on privacy and Net Neutrality. The good news is Apple's been taking a much stronger stance on consumer privacy lately, and Safari seems just as fast, if not faster than Firefox on El Capitan (and all my bookmarks imported, too).

I guess it just never occurred to me that a web browser would have a much different impact on battery performance.

Safari really isn't a bad browser it what I use on Macs. Browsers tend to wake the processor a lot and that's why the kill the battery. The nice part about Chome though is everything is contained in the browser you don't need many other plug ins

 

[throwthedice]

Yep, I've read that Chrome eats battery on Macs so I didn't even bother installing on my MBP. I needed an additional browser (for some work sites that are not customized to Safari) so I went with FF. I use FF and then quit it once my work is done. For everything else, I use Safari - it's not half as bad.

Plus:
Not to derail this thread or anything but what are the usual helpful extensions available for chrome that FF/Safari are missing?

 

[soloer]

I've been running Chrome Canary for several weeks. There have been optimizations to help with battery life, and it's fairly comparable to Safari based on what I've seen. I'd much rather use Firefox, but for now I'll stick with Canary.