Future Chrome for Mac update may solve problems with memory, performance
A test build of Google's forthcoming Chrome 46 makes substantial improvements to the performance of the Web browser on the Mac, according to one early glimpse at the software.
The build appears to halve Chrome's memory consumption, and make formely slow tabs much faster, The Next Web commented on Thursday. At the same time, the browser also appears to consume fewer CPU and power resources.
The changes are the result of a variety of under-the-hood improvements, including closed memory leaks, better Javascript performance, and Mac graphics enhancements. Google has also been working on porting a Chrome OS feature called tab discarding, which can force a tab to "sleep" if memory is running out.
The latest stable version of Chrome is actually Chrome 44, but 46 is already available through Google's Chrome Canary program. New Canary builds are released daily -- and sport the absolute latest Chrome features -- but are so early into development that they can be prone to crashes and other bugs.
Mac owners have regularly complained that their version of Chrome is inferior to the Windows and Chrome OS editions, often consuming gigabytes of memory and chewing up notebook batteries.
The build appears to halve Chrome's memory consumption, and make formely slow tabs much faster, The Next Web commented on Thursday. At the same time, the browser also appears to consume fewer CPU and power resources.
The changes are the result of a variety of under-the-hood improvements, including closed memory leaks, better Javascript performance, and Mac graphics enhancements. Google has also been working on porting a Chrome OS feature called tab discarding, which can force a tab to "sleep" if memory is running out.
The latest stable version of Chrome is actually Chrome 44, but 46 is already available through Google's Chrome Canary program. New Canary builds are released daily -- and sport the absolute latest Chrome features -- but are so early into development that they can be prone to crashes and other bugs.
Mac owners have regularly complained that their version of Chrome is inferior to the Windows and Chrome OS editions, often consuming gigabytes of memory and chewing up notebook batteries.
Comments
The single biggest annoyance with Safari, now ported to Chrome. [I]SMH[/I]
I switched to safari recently after years of Chrome due to the unreasonably high memory and CPU consumption.
I do see a nice improvement in speed, battery life, and memory usage.
I find Safari much more problematic than Chrome. Safari freezes at times and looses the pointer cursor. I keep both browsers open all day long. I mostly use Safari for my personal email and Chrome for everything related to business.
The memory usage is about the same for me. The CPU is pretty minimal on both. Honestly, I haven't noticed any issues with Chrome and Safari seems a bit slower. YMMV
Faster indeed and several buggy websites with previous 44 are not anymore.
I moved from FF back to Safari and found the same thing. Also the syncing of history and bookmarks across my iPhone and Mac is great as well.
If I had to go back to FF or Chrome as my main driver I would really miss the sync.
FORTY SIX!
That's a major upgrade every 6 weeks. I don't think so. Chrome 4S maybe.
I use Chrome on the PC and it's little better there. Opening a single tab causes all sorts of background tasks to spawn, all called "Chrome" in Task Manager, all of them eating up 50 to 200 MB.
Right now I have two Chrome windows running, and there seven entries in Task Manager, with a total of 450 meg.
Closing these two windows will remove only two of those tasks, leaving the other five running until I reboot. Opening new tabs or windows will spawn more of these phantom tasks, until it takes over my Task Manager.
By any measure, Chrome is a leaky dog. It's just that IE is a slow leaky dog, so people almost always use Chrome for that reason.
I use Chrome only to watch videos that require Flash, and it consistently heats up my MacBook Air like a hot skillet. It's the only time that the cooling fans kick in.
Won't be going back to Chrome ever. Don't need it and especially, don't want it.