Which Is Better Safari Or Chrome

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.

1. Safari Or Chrome For Mac
2. Which Is Better Safari Or Chrome Os
3. Google Chrome Safari Browser
4. Which Browser Is Better Safari Or Chrome
5. Safari Vs Chrome

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.

Google Chrome continues to dominate the world of browsers. As of March 2020, Chrome held a dominating 63.77% of market share, according to Statista. The next biggest browser, Safari, comes in at. However, Chrome has better features than Safari. While Chrome's first page does not have many features, the extension has a massive list of well-arranged features. The vertically arranged features allow users to check the history, settings, the currently opened tabs, and other things with ease.

'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. Os 5 0 download.

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.

Safari Or Chrome For Mac

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.

Which Is Better Safari Or Chrome Os

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.

Google Chrome Safari Browser

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

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July 12, 2020 09:14 ET (13:14 GMT)

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Google Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world right now, with it being a dominant force even on MacOS. Since Internet Explorer is replaced by Microsoft Edge, which takes only a bit over 5 percent of market share, Chrome dominates the charts with more than 59 percent. Safari is on the fifth place with a bit over three percent of market share.

For Mac users, Safari is a default choice and one that's completely adequate for most users. But what if you want to switch to Chrome, or after years of using Chrome you think about finally trying Safari on your MacBook device? What are the bright, and not so bright sides of both browsers, how they perform, and which is the best web browser for Mac? Find out here.

Safari vs Chrome: Interface

When looking at both browsers, Chrome clearly has the advantage when it comes to user interface. Modern design, better placement of buttons, and minimalist UI make Chrome very easy to use. The downside is the horrendous scrolling, looking choppy as hell (Chromium Wheel Smooth Scroller can make things better) like your system is unable to provide a steady fps. Safari does scrolling way better, and you don't have to add a third-party extension in order to make scrolling look smooth.

On the other side, we have Safari, with its strangely placed tabs (tabs are placed below the address bar) and the bookmarks bar without favicons. On the bright side, the new tab page looks better than on Chrome, with lots of customization. Yes, new tab bar can be customized in Chrome via extensions, but Safari offers a much better out-of-the-box solution. If you have switched recently, here is how to import data to Safari from Chrome.

Performance

Performance-wise, Chrome is in clear advantage, but only if you have a relatively new PC. Chrome is known for using tons of resources, especially RAM, but if your computer has enough power, browsing will be very fluid, even with dozens of opened tabs.

Safari wins most of the benchmarks, and like we already said, scrolling in Safari is more enjoyable and fluid, but the browser feels a bit slower than Chrome (when running on a powerful hardware). At the end, if you don't mind tiny performance drops, Safari is almost the same as Chrome when it comes to fluidity.

Battery Life

The main point, at least if we look at laptops, is the battery life. And in this section, Chrome can be a real battery hog. Since the browser aggressively uses all resources available in order to make browsing fluid, it will eat through your battery much faster than using Safari. If the battery life is your main concern, pick Safari.

Extensions

Which Browser Is Better Safari Or Chrome

Tons of useful extensions is the main advantage of Google Chrome. It's simple, Chrome can be customized in every possible way, all you need to do is to find a proper extension. Safari also supports extensions, but the sheer number of available extensions can't even get near to Chrome.

If you like to customize your browsing experience, Chrome is way better.

Conclusion

Safari Vs Chrome

If you're using Chrome or Safari as your default browser and are happy with your choice, don't switch. You'll have to transfer bookmarks, to learn a different UI, and it will take months before finding out all the cool features.

Also read – How to clear Safari history and website data

If wanting to switch, Chrome is better when it comes to customizations, performance, and user interface. Safari wins the power battle, offers more attractive design (although the design is always a highly subjective category) it works better out-of-the-box, won't take all your RAM, and it better integrated into the MacOS than Chrome.