By Joanna Stern
I'd say I'll remember the good times -- your speed, your superb
handling of Gmail -- but your RAM hoovering, battery draining and
privacy disregarding make it easy to not look back.
This is the year, people. It's the year I challenge you to pack
up your bookmarks and wave bye-bye to Google's browser, and pick
one that cares more about performance and personal data.
"Like I need another change in my life right now!" I hear you
thinking. Yet I also hear the sound of your laptop's fan whirring
away -- not to mention your grumbling when you get up to find your
laptop charger because your battery is dead from one too many
Chrome tabs.
Fortunately, while Chrome has gobbled up 69% of the
desktop-laptop browser market share, according to NetMarketShare,
its competitors, all with single-digit percentages, have been
laser-focused on kicking Chrome square in the blue dot.
Microsoft's new Edge browser, rolling out to Windows 10 machines
this summer and available now for download on a Mac, is based on
Chromium, the same underlying technology as Chrome -- yet it uses
less of your Windows computer's RAM and battery. An independent,
Mozilla's Firefox, the Bernie Sanders of browsers, now puts privacy
front and center.
Meanwhile, Apple's built-in Safari browser has the best blend of
privacy, performance and battery to offer on Macs, and it's only
getting better this fall with MacOS Big Sur.
So what do I suggest after weeks of testing? Get serious with
one of these other options, or -- if you have to stick it out --
work through your Chrome issues by adjusting some settings. Google
promises big performance improvements in a few months.
If You Have Windows...
I could write a dissertation on browser testing and all its
factors: speed, compatibility, mobile syncing, privacy,
blahdy-blah-blah. I placed system performance at the top of my list
because of the Chrome frustrations I've experienced during the
lockdown, when my laptop effectively became my whole office.
On Windows, Microsoft's Edge is a no-brainer. I don't like how
Microsoft is pushing the browser on its users, but frankly, the
company hasn't had a great browser since, like, 1996.
Across my tests, the new Edge used about 5% less RAM and
processing than Chrome and Firefox. It may not sound like much, but
on a Dell XPS 13, it resulted in an extra hour of battery life --
and I got it in both my actual use and in a YouTube HD-video
streaming test.
Now, while the new Edge is better than Chrome, it isn't as good
as its own predecessor when it comes to battery life. Nope, not
Internet Explorer; I'm talking about the version of Edge before
Microsoft adopted the Chromium web tech. My tests showed that the
mandatory upgrade cost about an hour of battery life. Microsoft
says that with video-streaming services like Netflix you'd actually
get more battery life with the new Edge and the team is working on
further optimizations.
But I'll take that loss, because the new Edge is just better.
With Chromium, pages load superfast and you don't have as many web
compatibility issues. Google apps, including Gmail and Docs, worked
without a hitch. It also means access to the same extensions as
Chrome, those little web apps that live in your browser.
I'm also a big fan of Edge Collections: You can lump together
all the links from a particular project. All my links related to
this column? In a collection. Links to the sandals I've been
shopping for? In a collection.
Then, there are the built-in privacy controls. Microsoft
provides three levels of protection. The middle "balanced" mode
blocks trackers on sites you haven't visited before and helps
minimize ads following you; it is automatically turned on. The
"strict" mode blocks the majority of trackers on all sites. Firefox
has similar default tracking built in. In Chrome, you need to
disable cookie tracking in settings and install a third-party
privacy extension for deeper controls. Google is working on some
longer-term Chrome privacy plans.
If You Have a Mac...
Unsurprisingly, on Macs, it was also the built-in browser that
performed the best. Companies that create the operating systems can
do more to optimize for their own browsers. Both Microsoft and
Apple said they work a lot on how to minimize processor and memory
demands from inactive tabs.
Safari used about 5% to 10% less RAM than Chrome, Firefox and
Edge in my tests. Compared with Chrome, Safari kept the 13-inch
MacBook Pro running an extra 1 to 2 hours on a charge. Plus, the
laptop was a lot cooler and quieter, with the exception of
in-browser video calls. (More on that below.)
None of this is new. Safari has long been as gentle as a feather
duster on a Mac. The problems have always been with features and
compatibility.
While I'd say 98% of the websites I use work fine in Safari,
others, like my local Cuban restaurant's payment system and a
podcast-recording web app I've used, don't. Luckily, I could order
my cubano and plantains in Edge, even on my Mac. Yes, Microsoft's
browser is great on Apple machines, too. Mind blown. But the
podcast web app, like some other sites, just won't run unless it
identifies a Chrome browser.
Then there's Safari's lagging extension support. Good news: In
the next release of Safari coming this fall in MacOS Big Sur, Apple
made it easier for developers to port Chrome extensions over. Plus,
the updated browser, which I've been testing in beta on a MacBook
Pro, is faster -- and has those little tab icons, aka favicons,
turned on by default.
Like Firefox and Edge, Safari's also has lots of default privacy
features, including tracker blocking. The forthcoming version
includes a toolbar that lets you see the blocked trackers on the
site you're visiting, and a new weekly privacy report shows you all
blocked trackers -- even across your iPhone and iPad.
That cross-gadget support is another big factor in picking a
browser these days. If you are all in on Apple devices, Safari
should be your pick -- with another browser as a backup for web
compatibility issues. Microsoft even made Edge for iOS, so if you
have a mix of Apple, Android and Windows devices, give it a chance.
Firefox is also a good option, especially for the
privacy-conscious, but it's not my top choice because it didn't
fare well enough in my performance and battery-life testing.
If You Stick With Chrome...
Maybe you're stuck with Chrome, either because of your crucial
work web apps, or because you like it and believe the browser (and
Google) can improve.
"I view performance on Chrome as a journey not a destination,"
said Max Christoff, director of Chrome browser engineering. "This
is an ongoing investment in improvements to speed, performance and
battery life." When I shared my test results, he said three big
improvements were due in the next few months.
Chrome will soon be updated to limit the power that
resource-heavy ads can consume. A new optimization will allow the
most performance-critical parts of the software to run even faster.
And, perhaps most significant, Chrome will improve "tab throttling"
by better prioritizing active tabs and limiting resource drain from
tabs in the background. Mr. Christoff said this will have a
"dramatic impact on battery and performance." He says he's
specifically encouraged by early tests on Mac laptops.
Until those fixes arrive, follow these tips to keep Chrome from
chomping through so much of your computer's resources:
Kill the RAM guzzlers. Every open app on your computer runs a
number of tasks in your system's RAM. Every Chrome tab and
extension also exists as a separate RAM process -- basically a
different app -- so close unused ones. Chrome lets you see each
tab's resources and close the problematic ones in its Task Manager.
(Click the three vertical dots at the right of the Chrome toolbar,
then pick More Tools > Task Manager.)
Dump unused extensions. In the Task Manager you can also see
which extensions are running all the time and eating up RAM.
Disable the extensions you don't use by going to Settings >
Extensions.
Limit browser-based video chats. The tab that will take up the
most RAM and processing power? The one handling video calls. No
matter which browser or computer I used, Google Meet grabbed half a
gigabyte of RAM for just a single caller. Zoom's dedicated app took
just a third of that. During a call with multiple callers, Google
Meet used up to 1.5GB and made my MacBook's fan sound louder than a
SpaceX Falcon launch.
Unlike Zoom, Skype or FaceTime, Google Meet doesn't have a
dedicated Mac or Windows app, so you're best following Google's
tips for optimizing Meet performance.
Google, Microsoft, Mozilla and Apple are all actively exploring
ways to improve performance related to video calling. You know what
that means! Another browser breakup could be right around the
corner.
For now, though, it's Safari (with Edge as a backup -- and
Chrome lingering, in case of a rebound) on my now cooler, quieter
and longer-lasting MacBook Pro.
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Write to Joanna Stern at joanna.stern@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 12, 2020 09:14 ET (13:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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