Fastest Browser....Chrome, Firefox or Opera?

[Birdman]

Can someone please tell me which browser runs the fastest? I don't use any add-ons or plug-ins/extensions.....just a browser purely for surfing the net.

Are there any concerns with Google Chrome and privacy issues....or is it SAFE to use that browser.

Thanks.

[dw426]

-{ Quote: "Can someone please tell me which browser runs the fastest? I don't use any add-ons or plug-ins/extensions.....just a browser purely for surfing the net.

Are there any concerns with Google Chrome and privacy issues....or is it SAFE to use that browser.

Thanks." }-

Ok, I'll TRY to answer, but first I must rant, so bear with me :) Why is everyone so stuck up on browser speed? You've got people testing browsers and making judgements based on nanoseconds, I swear, where in the world do you need to go so quickly that 3 seconds to open the browser is going to kill you? After the browser opens, it's basically down to connection and websites as to how fast you're going to go.

Addons are going to slow you down, yes. Something like Adblock is going to check the webpage for ads and start blocking them. But really, who cares? That webpage you're trying to get to will be there 3 minutes from now, so I assure you 3 seconds will not be torturous.

Ok, sorry about that, on to your question. The REAL test of a browser, IMHO, is rendering. In that test, again IMHO, Opera takes the trophy. Now, saying that, I mean when compared to IE and Firefox. I do not use Chrome. All 3 browsers are "fast", IMHO, but Opera seems to be like a lightening bolt when it comes to places with lots of pics and such. I don't include pages with lots of banner ads and such, because they have slower loading times usually (especially flashing ones), and can slow down the browser no matter how fast it is usually.

My thoughts on Firefox: It has a habit of slowing down (on opening and browsing) over time. It also IMHO still has a memory leak issue which I doubt will ever be settled. if you install lots of addons to this browser, you risk it choking and, once you do start browsing, you'll see significant slowdowns of browsing and loading of pages.

My thoughts on IE: It would be very fast if the phishing filter didn't have a bad habit of freezing up. No addons means nothing to slow it down, and it opens fast.

On Chrome: Well, it's a Google browser, so as far as privacy, well, Google and privacy are not two words I would use in the same sentence. As far as security, I'm sorry to the people who disagree, but I don't think it's been thoroughly tested enough to find out just how secure it truly is. So take that for what it's worth.

[Kerodo]

-{ Quote: "Can someone please tell me which browser runs the fastest? I don't use any add-ons or plug-ins/extensions.....just a browser purely for surfing the net.

Are there any concerns with Google Chrome and privacy issues....or is it SAFE to use that browser.

Thanks." }-
Chrome and Opera are fastest.... Just try 'em all and see which one you like best. There is no such thing as privacy.......

[Arup]

After using all, I find Opera to be the quicker overall but not by much. Chrome and Safari are quicker on some javascript optimized sites but not overall, also after running them for a longer duration surfing with multiple sites open, Chrome and Safari slows down whereas Opera continues with its original speed.

[EASTER]

I would add my choice in K-Melon but off those 3 i get a toss up between FF & Opera.

[Sully]

I will also chime in with using K-meleon for just a browser. As an ex Opera user, I like it better. Opera is still a very good browser, very quick. Just includes too many features for me. If you just want a browser and that's all, give KM a try.

Sul.

[raakii]

http://operawatch.com/news/2007/09/opera-vs-firefox-vs-internet-explorer-picture.html

[arran]

by using fire fox speed tweaks I find that FF3 is just as fast as Opera and k melon and chrome.

google the old fire fox 2 speed tweaks they still work on FF3.

I use FF because of add ons like no script and cs lite

[zapjb]

Opera is the fastest. And the slower the internet connection the more the speed differential between Opera & the others is noticeable.

[Arup]

-{ Quote: "Opera is the fastest. And the slower the internet connection the more the speed differential between Opera & the others is noticeable." }-

Excellent point, thats how I was introduced to Opera, when I went back to India after living in the US, there was only dial up through truly noisy lines, even the US Robotics modem with its best error connection would not be able to prevent the time outs I would get on IE and Netscape. Opera came to the rescue, I used it for a day and it was instant love affair. I could turn off images on the fly, it would perform excellent on slow noisy lines and I paid for Opera with a big smile, it was either that or give up surfing.

[Sully]

-{ Quote: "Opera is the fastest. And the slower the internet connection the more the speed differential between Opera & the others is noticeable." }-
I would have agreed with that about 2 years ago. Now, depending on the size of the machine, it is my opinion that Kmeleon is faster. I am not talking particuarily about page rendering, but overall program responsiveness. While I can't argue Opera is fast, KM is a smaller app and it's newest version vs. Operas newest version is much better on slower computers.

But back in the dialup day, Opera was heads and shoulders above all others.

Sul.

[thathagat]

-{ Quote: "it is my opinion that Kmeleon is faster" }-

is it as safe as opera?thanks

[FastGame]

On dialup FF is faster, it loads the text first and you have something to read while waiting on the other things ;D

Opera ? naw..........

[TonyW]

-{ Quote: "My thoughts on Firefox: It has a habit of slowing down (on opening and browsing) over time. It also IMHO still has a memory leak issue which I doubt will ever be settled. if you install lots of addons to this browser, you risk it choking and, once you do start browsing, you'll see significant slowdowns of browsing and loading of pages." }-My solution to this or indeed any browser I'd have open is to minimise it to the systray. I use TrayIt and Firefox is always minimised to the systray when not in use, and I call it up at a moment's notice without the need to actually open the program at every browsing session.

I believe Opera does this automatically, but don't quote me on that. At least, I seem to remember seeing the big red 'O' in the systray when I tested it ages ago and that was before I was using TrayIt.

[rolarocka]

For me the fastest browser is Opera and the new Opera 10 is even faster. Opera loads multiple pages at once without affecting the scrolling behavior on the current focused tab. No other browser does this better.

[Arup]

-{ Quote: "My solution to this or indeed any browser I'd have open is to minimise it to the systray. I use TrayIt and Firefox is always minimised to the systray when not in use, and I call it up at a moment's notice without the need to actually open the program at every browsing session.

I believe Opera does this automatically, but don't quote me on that. At least, I seem to remember seeing the big red 'O' in the systray when I tested it ages ago and that was before I was using TrayIt." }-


The systray in Opera is to launch other stuff like mail, bookmarks, contact etc. It only stays active as long as you have Opera on, minimizing Opera sends it to the task bar.

[Arup]

-{ Quote: "For me the fastest browser is Opera and the new Opera 10 is even faster. Opera loads multiple pages at once without affecting the scrolling behavior on the current focused tab. No other browser does this better." }-


Yes and even after hours of heavy surfing, there is little or no slowdowns.

[Sully]

-{ Quote: "is it as safe as opera?thanks" }-
It is as safe as your system I suppose. You can get a plugin of sorts that is basically using AdBlock, NoScript etc, just like FF. I have not read of any major issues with security in KM.

It is what a browser used to be, just a browser. Many here find great use of featrues of Opera such as mail client or newsfeeds etc. If I had use for them, I would use Opera. But I just want a browser. And since I am such a geek, I also like being able to create plugins or macros and totally tweak it.

As far as comments about minimizing FF or having things residing in the tray for faster use, I don't think any of them will beat KM if you use it's loader. This feature sort of preloads many compenents of KM, as signified in the tray. With this feature on, it is uber fast to pop up, although it is not technically fully loaded until you start it. The only downside of this, is if you close KM, it does not actually close, but only partially. If you make changes that require a browser restart, you actually have to close the loader process as well. But once you have it set up the way you like I don't think any browser starts faster in this method. But that is just me.

I think personally, if you are looking for a fast browser, you cannot go wrong with Opera. It has more features that you can shake a stick at and is generally fast loading and pretty good resource wise. I would not say the same about FF right now. v2 was better IMO than v3, overall.

I have had KM installed on my machine for about as long as Opera, which is unfortunately too long lol. I am not sure about now, but I know it used to be that a very small percentage of pages Opera would not display at all or just display messed up. I would always use KM to open those pages and it always perfomed properly. Now I use it virtually all the time, and love it.

Sul.

[zfactor]

have to tend to agree about ff3. but i will say i use chrome mostly right now for its speed. and there are ways of preventing any info from being sent back and keeping it on lockdown. unfortunate that we have to do this. but for those that know how its a great browser. otherwise i use opera. ff3 went away from my machine a few months back.

[twl845]

-{ Quote: "My solution to this or indeed any browser I'd have open is to minimise it to the systray. I use TrayIt and Firefox is always minimised to the systray when not in use, and I call it up at a moment's notice without the need to actually open the program at every browsing session.

I believe Opera does this automatically, but don't quote me on that. At least, I seem to remember seeing the big red 'O' in the systray when I tested it ages ago and that was before I was using TrayIt." }-
I never considered that. Thanks. I guess TrayIt doesn't minimize the browser at bootup right? This gives me an idea. Is there a way to load FF on bootup in the sys tray? This way it would be already loaded like IE, and when I'm ready to access FF it would come up in 3 seconds, not the 17 seconds on a cold boot now.
PS is trayit a FF extension, or a seperate app?

[the Tester]

Opera is faster than Firefox for me. Not by much.
It does load a lot faster than FF, by a lot. That's the bigger factor for me.

[AKAJohnDoe]

-{ Quote: "Can someone please tell me which browser runs the fastest?" }-
An irrelevant criteria in the real world.

[TonyW]

-{ Quote: "I guess TrayIt doesn't minimize the browser at bootup right? This gives me an idea. Is there a way to load FF on bootup in the sys tray?

PS is trayit a FF extension, or a seperate app?" }-Ordinarily TrayIt doesn't minimise the browser at bootup, but I've a feeling if you set the browser to start up after bootup, it can be made to minimise to the systray. I've never thought of that nor had it set like that.

I've had a look at the TrayIt profile settings for Firefox and there's an option to minimise window on creation:

207114

I didn't have that checked, but just ran a test. I ticked it, applied the change, closed down Firefox, restarted it and it collapsed into the systray once it loaded.

I haven't tried it from a cold bootup after placing Firefox into the Startup folder. It could work on the basis of the previous experiment, but not sure until tried.

TrayIt (http://www.teamcti.com/trayit/trayit.htm) isn't a Firefox extension; it can be used to minimise any program, not just the browser.

[twl845]

-{ Quote: "Ordinarily TrayIt doesn't minimise the browser at bootup, but I've a feeling if you set the browser to start up after bootup, it can be made to minimise to the systray. I've never thought of that nor had it set like that.

I've had a look at the TrayIt profile settings for Firefox and there's an option to minimise window on creation:

207114

I didn't have that checked, but just ran a test. I ticked it, applied the change, closed down Firefox, restarted it and it collapsed into the systray once it loaded.

I haven't tried it from a cold bootup after placing Firefox into the Startup folder. It could work on the basis of the previous experiment, but not sure until tried.

TrayIt (http://www.teamcti.com/trayit/trayit.htm) isn't a Firefox extension; it can be used to minimise any program, not just the browser." }-
Thanks for the info. I'll experiment. Once FF has been loaded after a cold start, it loads fast on subsequent load ups during the same session. If I can get passed the initial 17 second load up, it will be sweet. I did all the suggestions like start in safe mode and try to isolated the cause of the slow start up, and had some success. Opera starts in 13 seconds on a cold bootup and 3 seconds after that. :)

[zfactor]

wow 17 seconds... ff3 starts in like 6 for me after a cold start and i thought that was slow. chrome starts in like half that...im also running at 4.4ghz though so im sure that doesnt hurt ;D

[Kerodo]

Firefox starts up in 2 or 3 secs after a reboot in Linux, Ubuntu anyhow. It's pretty quick.

[Osaban]

On my Vista machine, Chrome is by far faster than the others. When I first tried it without an AV, Chrome was so fast that some websites would load without any visible time lag (quite fascinating to see it happen).

I still look at Firefox as my main browser because it is indeed complete, and it being slightly slower is compensated by a host of remarkable features.

[AKAJohnDoe]

Firefox is fully up and running in 3 or 4 seconds from a click on the shortcut (with about 20 add-on extensions installed and active) on my Vista Home Premium PC.

[twl845]

-{ Quote: "Firefox is fully up and running in 3 or 4 seconds from a click on the shortcut (with about 20 add-on extensions installed and active) on my Vista Home Premium PC." }-
You are truly blessed. :blink:

[noone_particular]

I'd also choose K-Meleon. Until recently, I'd have chosen SeaMonkey, but with K-Meleon, the pages are usable just a bit faster. I'm comparing page load times, not how long a browser takes to start up. That number means nothing. That said, unless the speed difference is huge, it's not important. Other criteria are much more important. Assuming that you're not one who is extremely impatient, you might want to see if something else is slowing down your system.

[Sully]

-{ Quote: "I'd also choose K-Meleon. Until recently, I'd have chosen SeaMonkey, but with K-Meleon, the pages are usable just a bit faster. I'm comparing page load times, not how long a browser takes to start up. That number means nothing. That said, unless the speed difference is huge, it's not important. Other criteria are much more important. Assuming that you're not one who is extremely impatient, you might want to see if something else is slowing down your system." }-
Page loading or rendering testing opera vs. km, provides no clear winner. Opera would have the edge generally by maybe a second, in most of my tests. The difference in that respect if so small, without timing it with my computer, I cannot tell it. Changing aspects of KM can make it seem faster. Such as changing if page is rendered before all picutres are gathered, or after. Using adblockers, like plugins or the proxomitron can make things even snappier.

So, in respect to web speed, I cannot tell a perceptible difference. However, what I can tell a difference in is how fast they load/shutdown, and the size of resources used with comparable settings. For me, KM beats Opera. FF is not even in the race.

Sul.

[vijayind]

Actually MS Internet Explorer 8 is the faster browser on the planet. ;D
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2343012,00.asp

[noone_particular]

On my old hardware, the main difference is in how quickly the web page is usable. With K-Meleon, I can scroll the page or click on a link before it's done loading. With SeaMonkey, there's a momentary freeze while certain opjects load. It's more a difference in how they load. The difference is small and on newer hardware, I probably wouldn't notice it at all.
-{ Quote: "However, what I can tell a difference in is how fast they load/shutdown, and the size of resources used with comparable settings. For me, KM beats Opera. FF is not even in the race." }-
Compared to SeaMonkey, K-Meleon seems a couple seconds slower on the initial load but feels faster when switching pages. IMO, both are near the top in regards to speed, but it's all the other features that make these 2 the best. The configurability of K-Meleon surprised me. A large percentage of what I use Proxomitron for is built into it. Many of the extensions I add to SeaMonkey are part of K-Meleon. That privacy bar is one of its best features. I'd be hard pressed to choose between K-Meleon and SeaMonkey.

I didn't care for Opera so I can't compare it. Regarding FF, complete agreement. IMO, they started losing it back when 2.0 was released and have been going the wrong way ever since. IMO, the only browser it beats is Internet Explorer.

[twl845]

-{ Quote: "Thanks for the info. I'll experiment. Once FF has been loaded after a cold start, it loads fast on subsequent load ups during the same session. If I can get passed the initial 17 second load up, it will be sweet. I did all the suggestions like start in safe mode and try to isolated the cause of the slow start up, and had some success. Opera starts in 13 seconds on a cold bootup and 3 seconds after that. :)" }-
Searching around the Opera knowledge base, I found where it says you can minimize Opera to the system tray by clicking Ctrl+Alt+Shift+H and it works. Of course you need to be nimble to click all four at the same time. 8)

[Birdman]

Regarding Chrome......is there a way to run/use the browser WITHOUT sending data back to Google?

Has this been resolved or is this a settings issue?

[acr1965]

-{ Quote: "Regarding Chrome......is there a way to run/use the browser WITHOUT sending data back to Google?

Has this been resolved or is this a settings issue?" }-

I tried SRware Iron but they stopped updating it. Now I just use Chrome with the Unchrome tool.
http://www.abelssoft.net/unchrome.php

[Birdman]

-{ Quote: "I tried SRware Iron but they stopped updating it. Now I just use Chrome with the Unchrome tool.
http://www.abelssoft.net/unchrome.php" }-

Thanks!

I just installed Chrome and used this tool. I am amazed how much faster pages and images load with Chrome than with IE8 or even Firefox. This is going to be my main browser from now on. :thumb:

[acr1965]

-{ Quote: "Thanks!

I just installed Chrome and used this tool. I am amazed how much faster pages and images load with Chrome than with IE8 or even Firefox. This is going to be my main browser from now on. :thumb:" }-

I am finding that I use Chrome more than either FF or IE7. Not sure what Chrome version 2 will bring as there are supposed to be lots of additional features available. If those do not cut into the speed performance and the privacy concerns are able to be dealt with, I am sure this will continue to be my browser of choice. Unless, of course, SRware starts updating Iron again.

[twl845]

-{ Quote: "I am finding that I use Chrome more than either FF or IE7. Not sure what Chrome version 2 will bring as there are supposed to be lots of additional features available. If those do not cut into the speed performance and the privacy concerns are able to be dealt with, I am sure this will continue to be my browser of choice. Unless, of course, SRware starts updating Iron again." }-
I think that the fact that Chrome is faster is because it's practically naked of features. Once it starts adding bells and whistles like are in FF, it will fall in line with the other browsers. I used it for a few weeks, and although it was faster, it wasn't THAT much faster.

[zfactor]

-{ Quote: "Regarding Chrome......is there a way to run/use the browser WITHOUT sending data back to Google?

Has this been resolved or is this a settings issue?" }-

yes there is i made a post about it awhile back ill see if i can find it for you

edit here you go:

you can very easily make chrome just as secure as iron and just use chrome..

when you first install chrome there are a few things to clean up. first go to the scheduled tasks remove the google updater task (i delete it but you can disable it or leave it if you use other google stuff)

remove the googleupdate.exe from the startup

how go to your users folder and then to the name of the user on the computer, appdata, local, google find chrome then user data.

now open the local state file and look for the user id. remove that but leave the quotes. now save it. change it to a read only. but google is tricky it will make another. do the same to this new one apply as read only. once it makes these 2 it will not make another even when updating.

example:

once the user id file is open look for this near the end of it and remove the part in quotes:

"user_experience_metrics": {
"client_id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-00000000000",
"client_id_timestamp": "0000000000",
"security": {
"renderer_on_default_desktop": 0,
"renderer_on_sbox_desktop": 0


to look like this:

"user_experience_metrics": {
"client_id": ""
"client_id_timestamp": ""
"security": {
"renderer_on_default_desktop": 0,
"renderer_on_sbox_desktop": 0


your preferences should look similar to this depending on your options you picked.

{
"alternate_error_pages": {
"enabled": false
},
"bookmark_bar": {
"show_on_all_tabs": true
},
"browser": {
"show_home_button": true
},
"default_search_provider": {
"id": "2",
"name": "Google",
"search_url": "{google:baseURL}search?{google:RLZ}{google:acceptedSuggestion}{googleriginalQueryForSuggestion}sourceid=chrome&ie={inputEncoding}&q={searchTerms}",
""
},
"dns_prefetching": {
"enabled": false
},
"download": {
"default_directory": "",
"directory_upgrade": true,
"extensions_to_open": ""
},
"geoid_at_install": 244,
"homepage": "",
"homepage_is_newtabpage": false,
"profile": {
"exited_cleanly": false,
"id": "not-signed-in",
"name": "",
"nickname": "",
"password_manager_enabled": false
},
"safebrowsing": {
"enabled": false
},
"search": {
"suggest_enabled": false
},
"session": {
"urls_to_restore_on_startup": [ ]
}


also now uncheck all privacy options in the under the hood section.

[DOSawaits]

Here's (http://www.legitreviews.com/article/929/1/) just one more browser speed comparison :-X

[Arup]

http://lifehacker.com/5160709/browser-speed-tests-how-safari-4-stacks-up

Here is another one..........

[Birdman]

Thanks for the useful info/edits zfactor. :thumb:

[zfactor]

no prb if you have questions feel free..

[Sully]

-{ Quote: "I think that the fact that Chrome is faster is because it's practically naked of features. Once it starts adding bells and whistles like are in FF, it will fall in line with the other browsers. I used it for a few weeks, and although it was faster, it wasn't THAT much faster." }-
Exactly. In the ad-supported days, Opera was very small, even with tabs. Once people 'found it', they began giving it away for free, and like twl845 says, added many features. That is not a bad thing really. It just means if you don't use them they are not needed. That is the reason why I like K-Meleon. It is still a browser at this point, and not much more.

Sul.

[Kerodo]

-{ Quote: "Exactly. In the ad-supported days, Opera was very small, even with tabs. Once people 'found it', they began giving it away for free, and like twl845 says, added many features. That is not a bad thing really. It just means if you don't use them they are not needed. That is the reason why I like K-Meleon. It is still a browser at this point, and not much more.

Sul." }-
Although Opera has added more features with time, I think it has managed to retain it's speed and good performance, which is what matters. Unneeded features can be easily ignored and not used as long as performance doesn't suffer.

[dw426]

-{ Quote: "Exactly. In the ad-supported days, Opera was very small, even with tabs. Once people 'found it', they began giving it away for free, and like twl845 says, added many features. That is not a bad thing really. It just means if you don't use them they are not needed. That is the reason why I like K-Meleon. It is still a browser at this point, and not much more.

Sul." }-

Much the same reason I find Firefox to be a slowpoke and often finicky. But, in place of features being the reason, I think it's addons. We have to remember, addons are coded by people not with the company, on their free time, and often not very experienced. Just a tiny bit of a mistake or inefficiency can mess things up, imho.

[Sully]

-{ Quote: "Although Opera has added more features with time, I think it has managed to retain it's speed and good performance, which is what matters. Unneeded features can be easily ignored and not used as long as performance doesn't suffer." }-
Yes, we have had discussions on this before, and I do concede that Opera is still a very fine browser and very fast, and for what it does, actually pretty good with resources considering all that is packed into it. However, place a new version of Opera on say a 500mhz laptop and place Kmeleon on that same laptop, and there can be told a difference. And yes, some people still use these types of machines because they are often hand me downs to peeps who are not very computer saavy.

Sul.

[acr1965]

-{ Quote: "yes there is i made a post about it awhile back ill see if i can find it for you" }-
I already have Chrome installed. Also ran the Unchrome tool. Can I just disable the google updater somehow?

[zfactor]

well 2 things. unchrome doesnt remove you from totally being off their grid i have seen people with unchrome and then after a few updates they ended up with a new user id and timestamp in the file. but if you check then i guess it would be okay, me i would prefer to have it removed alltogether period. unchrome doesnt remove the user id fully it simply puts a null value in its place. and google is tricky as i said i have freinds who have after 3 or 4 updates have a new user id. the only true way to stop that is to make the file read only so google can not write to it any more. as i said even after doing it to the first one chrome will make a new one. then you have to do that one. but it will only try twice.

to remove the google updater as i said in the above post " when you first install chrome there are a few things to clean up. first go to the scheduled tasks remove the google updater task (i delete it but you can disable it or leave it if you use other google stuff)"

so go to control panel-administrator tools-task scheduler-tash scheduler library- and you will find it in there

and use a program like jv16 or similar to remove the startup googleupdater.exe file. also make sure to have all the privacy things unchecked and the save and show text in typed fields unchecked (unless you dont care)

if you do the above process by removing the user id and making it read only it will still operate and run as normal by you going to options and clicking about google chrome. you just update that way. once the update files are removed they do not get reinstalled again.

[acr1965]

thanks

[twl845]

-{ Quote: "Much the same reason I find Firefox to be a slowpoke and often finicky. But, in place of features being the reason, I think it's addons. We have to remember, addons are coded by people not with the company, on their free time, and often not very experienced. Just a tiny bit of a mistake or inefficiency can mess things up, imho." }-
Addons are "extensions" which are features of FF. ;)

[ePost]

Fore some reason IE gets slower when you install Googles Toolbar. Mine did...

[EASTER]

Chrome (RAW) and unfinished i think can be agreed on as a fast as fast goes Browser by Google. But it remains to be seen in the finished product after adding additional functionality and/or features just rating it will tally in with beyond that.

In simple terms, the less material the more rapid the advance. Simple Logic of Physics i think.

That being said, a Chrome Portable would be a useful addition and likely safer as well as quicker.

[bgoodman4]

For me speed is less important than functionality. I use Opera partly because I like a number of features and partly because I have become very comfortable with the browser. There are lots of features I do not use but the page rendering speed is fine and the browser loads without me feeling like I am waiting too long. When Chrome first came out I gave it a try and did not see any reason to switch. Perhaps it was a bit faster, perhaps not. It really did not mater to me. I just did not like it as much as I do Opera. For me to switch browsers there would have to be some pretty serious enhancements to a competitor of Opera,,,,,and there would have to be some indication that Opera would not be able to somehow replicate the innovation. I see no point in jumping from browser to browser as they play leap-frog with each other.

[Sully]

-{ Quote: "For me speed is less important than functionality. I use Opera partly because I like a number of features and partly because I have become very comfortable with the browser. There are lots of features I do not use but the page rendering speed is fine and the browser loads without me feeling like I am waiting too long. When Chrome first came out I gave it a try and did not see any reason to switch. Perhaps it was a bit faster, perhaps not. It really did not mater to me. I just did not like it as much as I do Opera. For me to switch browsers there would have to be some pretty serious enhancements to a competitor of Opera,,,,,and there would have to be some indication that Opera would not be able to somehow replicate the innovation. I see no point in jumping from browser to browser as they play leap-frog with each other." }-
Yes, I felt that way for a long time with Opera. I never really liked FF much. I used Kmeleon to open pages that Opera would not display correctly, and on some older machines I had around. When Opera had an issue with one of it's verions that broke flash videos, maybe like around 8.64 or so, rather than going back a version I was opening KM on certain sites. At some point I became addicted to KM, probably around the time Opera 9 came out. I did not really care for some of the changes in 9, and have been using KM exclusively since. Many parts of Opera I thought I could not live without. Luckily KM can do everything I needed Opera to do.

All in all, maybe it is the tweaking of KM and making my own macros etc for it that keeps me with it.


Sul.

[raakii]

Fastest is chrome but it doees not have features , waiting to switch to it when it gets good addons.K-meleon is next, it is good but only few of us have ever heard of the browser.
Next is opera , easier to customize than k-meleon for me .
Slowest is firefox without doubt and ofcourse none of the browsers above have more feature then this.IE is the biggest virus for me though i know some sites work only on IE.Hence no clear winner in the browser wars .

[progress]

http://service.futuremark.com/peacekeeper/browserStatistics.action :)

[MerleOne]

-{ Quote: "Can someone please tell me which browser runs the fastest? I don't use any add-ons or plug-ins/extensions.....just a browser purely for surfing the net.

Are there any concerns with Google Chrome and privacy issues....or is it SAFE to use that browser.

Thanks." }-

K-Meleon 1.5.3 !!!

[the Tester]

Opera 10 Alpha.

[Eice]

For those who're sick of Firefox's unbearably slow speeds, one thing that can be done is to try the latest Minefield nightly builds (http://www.squarefree.com/burningedge/), and install the Nightly Tester Tools (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6543) extension to make all your extensions work. On my end Minefield is zipping along decently – they managed to shave the startup time to ~5 seconds, and memory usage typically peaks out around 150-200MB.

Or you could just give Google Chrome a spin. ;D

[prius04]

-{ Quote: "http://service.futuremark.com/peacekeeper/browserStatistics.action :)" }-
Man, they're not kidding when they state, "Other than the browser itself, the most significant factor affecting the Peacekeeper score is the type of CPU in your PC." My results were pretty much in line in terms of ranking but, with an older P4, nowhere near the actual numbers posted:

Safari 4.0: 1526
Chromium 3.0.182: 1331
Opera 10: 906
Shiretoko/3.5pre: 779
IE8: 343

Regardless, *if* these numbers are supposed to indicate that, say, Safari is roughly twice as "fast" as 3.5pre, IE8 is roughly twice as slow as 3.5pre, and so forth, then, well, I'm just not seeing that in terms of real world performance.

[twl845]

As a long time FF user, and having recently installed Opera to give that a whirl, I installed Safari for Windows XP last night to see how fast it really is, after reading a few posts saying how fast it is. It's freakin' fast. There's no reason to install Chrome for the speed, because Safari is just as fast. Of course I haven't read the directions yet so I can't comment on how good it is compared to FF and Opera. I did a few things without reading the directions, and I like it so far. I don't think you can change the skin, so that's a bummer. I'll check in later when I have read all the directions. ;D

[Eice]

-{ Quote: "There's no reason to install Chrome for the speed, because Safari is just as fast." }-
Are you sure you've tried Chrome?

Chrome uses a multi-process architecture, has an inbuilt policy sandbox, customizable searches, can load user javascript files, respects Windows keyboard/mouse shortcuts instead of insisting on Unix ones, doesn't try to foist Bonjour, iTunes and Quicktime on you, knows to load target="_blank" links in a new tab instead of a new window (seriously, every other browser got this right years ago), and doesn't take up 50% CPU and 400MB RAM.

Safari has some nice touches to it, but as far as Windows is concerned, Chrome is the superior implementation of the WebKit engine.

[Reimer]

-{ Quote: "So, in respect to web speed, I cannot tell a perceptible difference. However, what I can tell a difference in is how fast they load/shutdown, and the size of resources used with comparable settings. For me, KM beats Opera. FF is not even in the race.

" }-

I agree with this statement. In terms of rendering speed, I don't find there to be much of a difference. Whereas with startup time and resouce usage, Firefox has a long way to go.

I'm sticking with Firefox 3.5 beta 4 though. Opera would be my second choice. Chrome doesn't appeal to me. It's still a young browser but at this point in time.. it's too bland and featureless for me.

[twl845]

-{ Quote: "

I'm sticking with Firefox 3.5 beta 4 though. Opera would be my second choice. Chrome doesn't appeal to me. It's still a young browser but at this point in time.. it's too bland and featureless for me." }-
Eice, I agree with Reimer. I tried Chrome for a while and arrived at the same conclusion. I stand by my speed statement too. I'll see how Chrome looks in a year or so, and maybe give it a run again. :)

[Eice]

-{ Quote: "Eice, I agree with Reimer. I tried Chrome for a while and arrived at the same conclusion. I stand by my speed statement too." }-
Well, you're free to do that, but I'm just not sure how exactly is your claim justified by the facts.

[Eice]

Regarding the complaints about Chrome's "featurelessness" – while Chrome is admittedly not as feature-rich as Opera or Firefox's extensions, there's a surprising amount of tricks tucked away from plain sight. Posting what features you're missing would make it easier for people to help you, assuming you're actually interested in assistance, that is.

[twl845]

-{ Quote: "Regarding the complaints about Chrome's "featurelessness" – while Chrome is admittedly not as feature-rich as Opera or Firefox's extensions, there's a surprising amount of tricks tucked away from plain sight. Posting what features you're missing would make it easier for people to help you, assuming you're actually interested in assistance, that is." }-
Hi again. I'm not disputing what you said about Chrome's features, I just don't like it. With regard to features that are tucked away from plain site, why don't they put them out where you can find them in the Help menu or somewhere obvious so we could just look them up. A good example would be Opera, that has an extensive feature list that you can just go down and learn one by one. If Chrome has features hidden away like an egg hunt, the next thing is books in Barnes and Noble entitled "Chrome Secrets". ;D

[raakii]

Hello eice can u tell me how to edit fast dial in chrome to setup fixed addresses as in opera.(so that it doesnt change at all)?

[Reimer]

My personal thoughts; focused mostly on the negatives and mostly how I compare to Firefox or Opera

I do not like the UI (no dropdown URL bar, and just plain cartoonish theme)

Multi-process is a nice innovation but my browsers quite frankly, rarely ever crash, and even if they do, the tabs restore themselves. Not to mention, I've had Chrome/Iron crash and take every process with it so it's not foolproof. So it's a nice feature but definitely not a deciding factor in switching.

Rendering issues on some vbulletin boards and other sites (although I don't really expect every browser to render everything)

Fast tooltip popups... also extremely annoying. Thread preview like here on Wilders popup everywhere.

Slow scroll speed. I can roll my finger down my mouse wheel in Opera just twice to get down to the bottom of the page here at Wilders. It takes five to do it in Chrome. Hopefully there is a way to edit this without resorting to mouse software.

Startup time is great. A bit faster than Opera and obviously much faster than Firefox in this respect.

Features. I use about 35 extensions in Firefox and put a lot to good use in Opera. I'm sure Chrome will get it's share soon enough. It's just not there yet. Mouse gestures, tab management, etc without the need for third party programs would be great.

[Eice]

-{ Quote: "Hello eice can u tell me how to edit fast dial in chrome to setup fixed addresses as in opera.(so that it doesnt change at all)?" }-
Can't be done AFAIK, but why not use the bookmark bar for that, since it always shows up on the new tab page?

-{ Quote: "Multi-process is a nice innovation but my browsers quite frankly, rarely ever crash, and even if they do, the tabs restore themselves." }-
Not trivial if you've got a nice long email or post half-typed in another tab, or watching a long Flash video.

-{ Quote: "Not to mention, I've had Chrome/Iron crash and take every process with it so it's not foolproof. So it's a nice feature but definitely not a deciding factor in switching." }-
Multi-processes aren't just for crash-prevention. They help scale CPU load, prevent one tab executing complex instructions from slowing down the whole browser, make full use of multi-core processors, and take advantage of Windows' inbuilt IPC restrictions (Chrome enhances this with its own sandbox model) to improve security. Memory management is improved as well, as memory usage will scale with tabs and be given back to the OS as necessary. It's more of a under-the-hood thing instead of in-your-face bling, but there's a reason Google and Microsoft took the trouble to create such a model for their browsers.

-{ Quote: "Slow scroll speed. I can roll my finger down my mouse wheel in Opera just twice to get down to the bottom of the page here at Wilders. It takes five to do it in Chrome. Hopefully there is a way to edit this without resorting to mouse software." }-
Ever tried the "End" key on your keyboard?

[Osaban]

After installing Vista SP2, Chrome is even faster. I suppose that would apply to other browsers as well. On my system (Vista Ultimate32 SP2) Chrome is faster than anything else I've tried so far, and has become my main browser. I still keep Firefox for some situations, but I suppose it is a matter of personal taste, and how one feels using a specific browser. It's great to have so many to choose from.

[Pain of Salvation]

I use Chrome not because of its speed, but because of its gui. Chrome is a simple and elegant browser. I used to use Opera before, but that default skin is just ugly. And there is no better skins on http://my.opera.com/community/customize/skins/

[Minimax2000]

I have the subjective feeling that after applying Vista SP2 Opera's rendering speed has become faster too. For me the classic skin is still the best.

[Reimer]

-{ Quote: "
Multi-processes aren't just for crash-prevention. They help scale CPU load, prevent one tab executing complex instructions from slowing down the whole browser, make full use of multi-core processors, and take advantage of Windows' inbuilt IPC restrictions (Chrome enhances this with its own sandbox model) to improve security. Memory management is improved as well, as memory usage will scale with tabs and be given back to the OS as necessary. It's more of a under-the-hood thing instead of in-your-face bling, but there's a reason Google and Microsoft took the trouble to create such a model for their browsers.
" }-

Like I said, it's a great innovative feature. Just not something good enough to switch for. Even Mozilla is looking to incorporate it within the next year.

-{ Quote: "

Ever tried the "End" key on your keyboard?" }-

What I meant was that I could arrive at a certain point in the page quicker and not necessarily to the very end.