Apple's WebKit team helps launch Speedometer 2.0 browser benchmark

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in General Discussion
In partnership with Chromium, Apple's WebKit team has released Speedometer 2.0, an updated benchmark for developers testing the performance of browser engines.




The new test, run as a Web app, "better reflects the frameworks, tools, and patterns in wide use today," the WebKit team said. One of the primary changes is support for later JavaScript libraries and frameworks, such as React, Preact, Inferno, Vue.js, and the latest version of Ember.

Among other supported JavaScript changes are ES2015/ES6 -- including a version using ES Modules and Babel-generated ES5 output -- plus TypeScript, including a version of Angular transpiled to ES5.

The benchmark also supports technologies like Elm and PureScript, which can be transpiled to JavaScript, and a new scoring system for responsiveness that calculates the arithmetic mean of the geometric means run for each iteration of the benchmark.

WebKit is the open-source rendering engine underlying Safari, Apple's Mac and iOS Web browser. The technology was also once central to Google's multi-platform Chrome browser, but that software diverged in 2013 with a new layout engine known as Blink, only holding on to WebKit's WebCore components.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,239member
    Sounds like something Primate Labs should add to their Geekbench application so it can be tracked along with all the other benchmarks.

    Results:
    iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) running 10.3.2

    Safari 11.0.2, 94.3
    Opera 50.0.2762.58, 84.5
    Firefox 57.0.4, 74.0
    VMware Fusion 10.1.0 running Windows 10, Edge, 42.7




  • Reply 2 of 13
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,239member
    I'd like to see Apple release a Safari-specific website diagnostic tool (I know I can show the Web Inspector) we could run on websites to see why they stall or just don't load. For those of you who try and access BECU.org, I regularly have to cancel then reload the site to get through. Of course, using Windows works fine so I assume it's a javascript issue. Reading the HTML coding doesn't necessarily help me find why it stops loading and just sits there until I reload. Safari too impatient waiting for the site to load?
    Solibrian green
  • Reply 3 of 13
    Just keeps reloading probably first task. No warning whether combination is not supported or compatible. Old XP pc current Firefox and some security add-ons.
    edited January 2018
  • Reply 4 of 13
    chabigchabig Posts: 641member
    frantisek said:
    Just keeps reloading probably first task. No warning whether combination is not supported or compatible. Old XP pc current Firefox and some security add-ons.
    It looks like that. There is a counter at the bottom. Let it keep running until all of the iterations are done, and you'll get a score.
  • Reply 5 of 13
    rob53 said:

    Results:
    iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) running 10.3.2
    Much as I'd love to see that machine running Panther, I assume it's running 10.13.2?  :)
  • Reply 6 of 13
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,239member
    cincytee said:
    rob53 said:

    Results:
    iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) running 10.3.2
    Much as I'd love to see that machine running Panther, I assume it's running 10.13.2?  :)
    fat fingers, yes it's running 10.13.2

    3.3 GHz Intel Core i5
    32 GB 1867 MHz DDR3
    AMD Radeon R9 M395 2 GB
  • Reply 7 of 13
    chabigchabig Posts: 641member
    My 2016 MacBook Pro gets 37.
    My iPhone X scores 85!
  • Reply 8 of 13
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,239member
    chabig said:
    My 2016 MacBook Pro gets 37.
    My iPhone X scores 85!
    iPhone 8 Plus scores 86.42, not bragging but this is after the 11.2.2 security update. I re-ran the test from my iMac and it dropped to 92 but that's within the ±2.8 of the original test. I'm not seeing any network activity on my iMac so I assume the test javascript is downloaded to Safari memory then run, removing any issues with slow networks.

    I don't understand your low results on the 2016 MBP. That MBP isn't a slow computer. See my older MBP test scores below.

    I grabbed my early 2011 15" MBP 2.2GHz quad i7 running 10.13.2 with Radeon HD6750M, let everything settle down then ran benchmark. It ran at 57.79 using the Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU. I uncheck the GPU switching preference and ran it again. This test definitely uses GPU memory and processor. It then ran at 59.34 so not that much of a difference. I updated my OS and ran again. Running on the Radeon GPU, it ran at 59.9. Because of all the Intel CPU issues, I have to wonder whether there's really that huge of a slowdown, at least in some processes. My before and after test scores were the same on my MBP. I wonder if the browsing slowdown I'm seeing has more to do with the web servers being slowed down than my computers. Just a thought.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    tipootipoo Posts: 1,141member
    chabig said:
    My 2016 MacBook Pro gets 37.
    My iPhone X scores 85!


    Sounds like you weren't using Safari on the rMBP? 

    Safari on everything is the king of this test. Within the same Safari engine, short term hardware performance is then what matters next. I bet if you use Safari on both they're awful close, if not something is wrong on your mac. 
  • Reply 10 of 13
    On an iPhone 6S running 11.2.2, with 2 runs:

    Safari 44.3/44.35
    Chrome 45.0, 45.6

    No difference. 
  • Reply 11 of 13
    On an iPhone 6S running 11.2.2, with 2 runs:

    Safari 44.3/44.35
    Chrome 45.0, 45.6

    No difference. 
    There shouldn’t be. All web browsers use Safari as the rendering engine on iOS so every browser you test that is at least cure will have similar scores...
  • Reply 12 of 13
    chabig said:
    frantisek said:
    Just keeps reloading probably first task. No warning whether combination is not supported or compatible. Old XP pc current Firefox and some security add-ons.
    It looks like that. There is a counter at the bottom. Let it keep running until all of the iterations are done, and you'll get a score.
    Thanks a lot. Have not noticed those miniatures there. I got whopping 10.5 :smiley: on Firefox 52.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    On an iPhone 6S running 11.2.2, with 2 runs:

    Safari 44.3/44.35
    Chrome 45.0, 45.6

    No difference. 
    There shouldn’t be. All web browsers use Safari as the rendering engine on iOS so every browser you test that is at least cure will have similar scores...
    Gotcha. Last paragraph of the article seems to say Chrome is using Blink but it seems I mis-interpreted that. 
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