Web Browser Grand Prix VI: Firefox 6, Chrome 13, Mac OS X Lion

[marcstreeter]

I would probably say that in some ways this is the best selling point Windows has - native driver support. That's why just about any component of home-brewed computer will run well (notice I didn't say configuration since some components just don't get along) and run the speed its supposed to run because every ability that *that* particular component has is supported(or recognized) under the driver being used. Fast forward to OS X and the drivers are pretty sparse, and when you do have a driver (for hardware not made by Apple) it is rarely of the same quality of its Windows counterpart. Heck its more of an afterthought when compared. Case in point : Logitech. Blech. Native support doesn't always mean you are getting the same thing. It just shows where the company's priorities are (usually expressed by the number of experienced programming personnel they are willing to put on payroll to support your platform). Apple is no saint here either (probably noticeable in this article's comparison of Windows and OS X performance for Safari even on a Hackintosh). Now fast forward *a lot* to the Hackintosh community that has sprung up around Apple's use of the intel architecture. You have less people working on their own pet projects in even less organization than those employed in the companies that produce substandard drivers that "work" already. Result : drivers that "work *sometimes*". This is not to say that their efforts are fruitless or useless. In truth, they are doing an amazing job of leaping over restrictions that Apple has purposely placed to prevent such a community. But there is a realization that many of us, me included, come to: native drivers on slower hardware will run circles around any PC hotrod that has been hacked to "work". I repeat, drivers that "work" to allow the use of a component on your particular machine's OS (in this case OS X) don't necessarily mean that they are using *all* of the capability of the component, just enough so that it fulfills the word "works". Most of the experience I have had with shoddy driver performance on Hackintosh's in general is the graphics card. The usual litmus test for graphics cards within the Hackintosh community is whether or not you get QE/CL working (usually visible if the ripple effect is present when you add a widget ). I have found that is not sufficient. For more info on why that is I invite you to read up on tonymacx86's forums. But if you have used a Hackintosh and used a (spec's wise) slower Macintosh you will be astonished to find that expected performance can be deceiving. Especially with web browsing. One example is when I "upgraded" from an iMac Core 2 (dual core) to a Hackintosh i5(quad core) you'd think I could reap the benefits of a drastically (spec's wise) faster computer. Not so. True *some* things are drastically faster. And some things are slower, browsing included. Why? My own lack of expertise in making a Hackintosh? Probably. The effect of being hacked in the first place. YES. One should not expect full performance in a hacked environment. Don't fool yourself and don't do tests on hacked hardware and publish the results like anything but an article for the Hackintosh community. If anything the title of this article should say "Browser showdown on *my* Hackintosh show that OS X browsers are catching up" and then at the end put the disclaimer that "Not all Hackintosh computers (even with the EXACT same configuration) are the same. Duh" instead of putting the most important piece of information at the end. Yes, the scope of your audience has been limited to just 1 computer, but at least you keep your credibility for the future.
-Marc

I thought I would just through in the definition of hack (from a computing perspective, source is http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hack ):
Hack: 1) Originally, a quick job that produces what is needed, but not well.

 

[jaquith]

IF you need ActiveX -- there's (1) O-N-E choice Internet Explorer.

For Forums I find Google Chrome to be the best - yikes my spelling.

Beyond that who cares! Pick your Fav

 

[Guest]

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/94532-firefox-9-javascript-performance-improved-by-20-30-with-type-inference

http://www.conceivablytech.com/9188/products/firefox-9-gets-30-boost-in-javascript-performance

 

[Guest]

Opera, and Linux are relevant to make a benchmark aren't them?
Even Wine under OSX and Linux would be tested in mi opinion and Wine can run all the browsers.

There are also several MS WOS versions and several Linux flavours it is not so hard to test the 32 and 64 bits versions - I have one computer with MS WOS 7 64 and I need the IE 32 bits because some pages do not work with IE 64bits. an Ubuntu, LMDE, SUSE, and Sabayon 32 and 64 bits charts would be good to compare too.

There will be more articles, more benchmarks, it is not so hard to have all this systems on a machine to make the benchmarks or even at virtual machines with XEN VGA passthrought.

 

[Why_Me]

I know, but the thing is, I don't live in a country where internet is dirt cheap. Do you know that they charge $25 for 384 kbps and $100 for 1 mbps here in my country? What would you choose if you were in my shoes? Makes me wish I live in advanced countries with gbps internet speed... blazing fast, cheap internet is still way beyond the horizons here...

128k is the fastest net we have available to use until next spring when the broadband gets set up, and Chrome seems like the best browser to use here by far. It's light and loads up a lot quicker than FF, and IE9. No idea about Opera...never tried it.

 

[Guest]

oh my, the slowest access I can get from my cable company here in the Netherlands is 25Mb @ €25,-,goes all the way up to 120Mb.
Get with the program guys!
Firefox on Mac seems to be improving rapidly off late. I'm testdriving the v9 alpha versions, and there pretty impressive already.

 

[mikemp3]

I tried Chrome after seeing how it did here but had to return to FireFox due to page freezes and crashing in Chrome

 

[Why_Me]

I'd like to know what kind of pages people are surfing in order to have Chrome crash and freeze. Is it like some kind of new wicked pr0n or something?

 

[jemm]

That´s an interesting results, great article.

 

[wheredahoodat]

I switched mostly to Chrome since using Firefox at version 1. Firefox was like old friend, you knew his/her quirks, sometimes you weren't on speaking terms, but at the end of the day you had each others back.

However, the post Firefox 4 era, has been a mixed blessing. Competitive speed, but shoddy implementation of ideas, nagging bugs, and memory usage out of control compared to its 3.6 predecessor.

Not that Firefox it is a bad browser, I think it 2nd best browser, but Chrome is just above the competitive in implementation of design concepts, and user experience. Still cool with Firefox, but they need to get their act together.

 

[vdr369]

chrome is simple and very good at ease of use thus it is the champion

 

[Guest]

I did the 1, 40, -39 tabs test in My Safari 5.1, OS X Lion. Why my memory usage is at least twice than that reported? I just duplicated this very own page!

 

[Guest]

Well, first of all, the best browser doesn't exists, the beauty of this is
that, we have flavors and anyone can choose what fits the best for him or
for the task or work needed.

Secondly, this benchmark is USELESS, But why?
Well, you've tested browser, with what criteria?
Explorer and Safari are defaults browser of their respective OS,
Opera, Firefox and Chrome, has to be installed, meaning that they are third
party software, so the 3 has his own strength, when Firefox get his
strength with the gecko engine, Opera uses Presto, and so on.

So, Why USELESS ?, Because the conditions of the test aren't fair,
the MAC was Intel or PPC?, what services were running when the tests were
made, WHY Firefox wasn't tested on Linux where it's more powerful, also
native 64 bits browser.
You've been testing different softwares, in different architectures, with
different platform (64 bit, 32 bit) ?

In "The Conteders" section, on Safari Hardware acceleration, it says "(Mac
only)", so that it you it can not be compared.

What about Chromium? What about build Firefox on Windows so it can run 64
bit? Why testing 32 bit browsers on 64 bit platform?

Why to waste so much time testing something if you're doing it wrong?,
rather, it cannot be done.

Again, what about services running on both OSs?

WHY, WHY, WHY?

Uriel

 

[Guest]

you know... you can run IE9 using wine on mac. and of course that also apply to linux where you could run IE9 and safari.exe to test the 5 browsers on linux. aditionaly you can use maconlinux emulator to run the osx version of safari on linux. test the 5 always!

 

[Guest]

It's not the same, stop writing programs in/for windows platform,
and start compiling the programs yourself, then we talk.

Also, wine is not Virtual Machine, is an emulator, so, Can you
read E M U L A T O R...?

The only way you can test all, is compiling all in the same
platform and and run them, of course you will have to do that
in every platform you wish to compare them, and then you can
compare the platform performance and OF COURSE IT HAS TO BE THE
SAME HARDWARE.

The same happens with cars, they can compete, they can race,
they even may have been created for the same purpose but they can
never be compared, why? beacause they don't behave the same,
it's like top speed (max speed) vs. acceleration issue,
you need to choose between one or the other, you can't have both,
or you can set it on the middle an get a cheap Chevrolet or Fiat
for every they work.

And most important of all whys, is the fact that comparing things
is the placebo of amateurs, people who is lazy enough to read
a book and needs internet to find out things, and techies who
think they are masters and when someone ask something, the first
thing they do is ask: It will be easy if you tell as the specs of
your computer... Or, Could you please tell as what is your
computer?

WHY? Almost, all kernels are monolitic, and if you build your
kernel on your own I don't think you ask in forums, how to burn
a cd?, so WHY all techies ask what computer you have cuz they
are gossips...

Peace, And keep studying...

 

[GreaseMonkey_62]

I can't stand Opera for the desktop, but I've taken to using it as my default browser for Android.

 

[GreaseMonkey_62]

I can't stand Opera for the desktop, but I've taken to using it as my default browser for Android.

 

[Guest]

I would have to agree. Chrome is great on a PC. But Safari runs in 64 bit in Lion and Chrome runs in 32 bit. So its no surprise that Chrome is just OK on a Mac. I really do not think since Chrome is based off WebKit the same as Safari that Google thinks that many Mac users will switch to Chrome. I think most of Google's concern in developing Chrome browser is for the PC and Linux.