Web Browser Grand Prix 2: The Top 5 Tested And Ranked

[Guest]

Firefox FTW..love the number of plugins available.
Like success of smartphone OS is depend on its apps, browser should be depend on its plugins.
Hope you also do best torrent software in near future.

 

[arnweb]

Good article, Congratulations, Opera!

 

[calc-yolatuh]

Huh, actually a feature-comparison article would be great. Perhaps when Chrome6 and Firefox4 have reached Final status? This should be plenty of time to grow familiar with how they work.

I understand that certain extensions can not be replicated in Opera, but there are also many features in Opera which would require extensions in other browsers. Plus, I am genuinely curious about the modern potential for modifying the UI of these different programs.

 

[Guest]

Firefox is extremely slow when you're downloading a file to an SD card!
Especially when you're already using the card for files updated by a bittorrent client.

 

[cryogenic]

Firefox wins because of best usability and addons. Who cares about the speed really? I don't recall my browser being slow for any page I've viewed.

 

[mootaters]

Would have been cool to see some security testing. The efficiency of it's use of hardware is still important to me and speed is semi important, but security is most important IMO.

 

[nitzero]

I have been using Opera since 2005, it's the best browser in my opinion, the minimalist email client, security, speed, features, stability has always been strong points, the download manager, the menus, shortcuts are very complete, theres nothing missing on Opera, I love it and I have used FF a lot previously but I no longer need addons, Opera has all I need.

Haven't tried others browsers other than Firefox though but IE gets me upset, like when I go back on a page and it loads all again.

 

[jimmysmitty]

[citation][nom]The Lady Slayer[/nom]July 7th - Firefox 4 beta released.Tom's impending road test STILL BEHIND THE TIMES[/citation]

Um.... notice the key word in there? BETA. Meaning its not a final release. ALl of the browser versions they used are final releases or the most up to date non beta version. Hell they could be using the beta IE9. But why when it could have program flaws or bugs?

Just wait till its out and official and THG will put them in the next test.

[citation][nom]Poisoner[/nom]Honestly, does browser speed matter?[/citation]

In some ways it does. I can understand for some people. I don't want a browser to take forever to load a page.

But my results with FF 3.6.6 vs IE8.0 differ. I tell both to open at the same time using WIndows 7 64 and IE 8.0 is about 2 seconds faster. Might be a glitch. Can't wait for IE9/FF4 though.

 

[Guest]

I use all these web browsers and even use Safari on it's native hardware but I have to say I more impressed with Internet Explorer 8 64 bit as it is the fastest I have ever seen (until you come across a page that has some issues with you running 64 bit mode).

Safari is garbage!! Internet Explorer is the garbage can that holds Safari!!

Opera is cool but for me I get a lot of page load errors. Firefox is very reliable. Chrome is my personnel favorite and the once in a blue moon times that it does fail "Aw Snap" lol.

 

[jpsoares50]

I've been using Opera for about seven years. Its the best browser for me. Since 2003 opera uses tabs as default. they must improve only the memory management. Its not a problem for me because I'm using until 10 tabs so I still have a lot of free memory to work with another Linux application.

 

[Guest]

opera is the best browser,of course it is.

 

[Guest]

I think the actual page load test at the beginning of this article showcases the complete irrelevancy of these benchmarks. The LARGEST margin of performance during the page load test was loading MSN in which Firefox lagged behind chrome by a whopping 1 SECOND. In the other tests the browsers were within tenths of a second of each other. In conclusion, how are these java, html 5, blah blah blah benchmarks useful in recommending which browser to use? The functionality of each browser (design, capabilities, ect) has a far greater impact on the user than a fraction of a second. Reviews like these only fuel idiots such as Wittermark:

"lmao @ FFfanboys other review sites posted FF4 numbers, its performance is pathetic to say the least."

Subjective reviews of the browsers capabilities would be more interesting and valuable to readers I believe.

 

[Guest]

Used Opera since 9. Always loved it. I completely understand why it performed this way, but I actually switched from IE to Opera because IE was eating up my (then) meager RAM. Opera was a tenth of the RAM usage as IE then. Wonder what changed.

 

[exitnextright]

Chrome > all. //end

 

[Guest]

@SchizoFrog

What the heck website doesn't work in Chrome? I've yet to encounter one. Bank of America used to have a few issues.

As a Developer, I've found that, most of the time, when something does _not_ work in Chrome, it's the _DEVELOPER'S_ fault, not Chrome's. It's highly compliant and not very forgiving when someone misses a closing tag.

I've also found it to be far more stable than, well, any other browser, with the least crashes per time unit.

So, what the heck are you talking about? Do you think Windows 7 is unstable too?

 

[lobsterm]

Firefox = Firebug + noScript + AdBlock = best browser

Noscript and AdBlock are my only security on my netbook, and I never had any security issues (yet)

 

[Guest]

@benedict78
Before you write something - ask google Opera was the first browser which has a "blocking content" functionality without any extra plugins, widgets etc.
In every release there is such a functionality. Just right click on the page and choose "Block content" voila!!

 

[goowiz]

In defense of Opera's massive memory usage, I could be wrong but i don't think any other browser allows for closed tabs to be reopened, which Opera does by keeping the sites in memory

 

[randomstar]

Using IE for one reason not even concidered here- Plug in and app compatability with other MS and major applications. tried using Opera and Chrome, and too many of my web based apps do not hand off files/scripts/objects to local frontend or applications without extra prompting or save and then re-open..

 

[maddy143ded]

theres been no mention of the frequent memory leaks faced by Firefox, in here...
I wonder why is that. i use Firefox specifically to play some facebook games as its the only browser with wide support for GM scripts, my primary browser is opera and nothing is going to change that. i have tried nearly all the available stable releases of Firefox and have yet to find a version that doesn't crash due to memory leak after some time.
i hope some give us better support for GM scripts in other browsers so i can dump FF.

 

[Guest]

umm, what? Firefox has crippling memory leaks, most noticeably on Mac. I think more tests need to be done in the memory management category...

 

[car54]

Nice job Adam The info on Previously Used System Memory was intersting. I'm not consistantly using 39 tabs, but it was still some nice info.
Having done some basic bechmarking myself, I realize FF is not the ultimate browser, but security could be another discussion to consider. I do still use FF mainly for all the excellent add ons, and the ability to customize my address/menu bar to where I want thing located to click and tick to.

 

[Gedoe_]

Hey monkey!

Try opening up 39 closed tabs using opera's undo command control-z. It will be ALOT quicker then any of the other browsers.

 

[car54]

By the way, loved the YouTube Google Chrome Speed Test video, very funny and cool, I had not seen that before.

 

[maddy143ded]

one more thing in opera's favour, as mentioned by goowiz.
in many places like here in India, the ISP companies just love to add multiple caps on data downloads on their so called Unlimited broadband Internet connection.
just as goowiz mentioned Opera keeps most of the data stored on the memory/disk and uses that data to reopen a web page if so required. this leads to lower data usage and lower Internet bills. for example there is ISP Airtel here in india that porvides quite a fast connection(1/2/4 mbps) but puts data usage caps as low as 20 GB per month. (FUP). now let me tell that if you are like me and like to be on facebook/youtube nearly the whole time then 20Gb usage can be spent quite fast.