Google is trying to make Chrome less of a resource hog

AppleInsider · March 12, 2021 12:06PM

Google Chrome is to become faster and more efficient on macOS, following criticisms -- and following similar improvements already made on other platforms.

Google Chrome for Mac

Google's Chrome browser is known for being bloated and slow on the Mac -- and was recently demonstrated to be many times less efficient than Safari. Now Google is claiming to be undertaking "ongoing efforts" to improve the browser.

"Chrome is also shrinking its memory footprint in background tabs on macOS, something we've been doing on other platforms for a while," writes Mark Chang, Chrome Product Manager, in a blog post. "We're seeing up to 8% memory savings, which is more than [one gigabyte] in some cases!"

"In addition to improving how we allocate memory, Chrome is now smarter about using (and discarding) memory," he continues. "Chrome now reclaims up to 100MiB per tab, which is more than 20% on some popular sites, by discarding memory that the foreground tab is not actively using, such as big images you've scrolled off screen."

The improvements are in the latest Chrome M89 release, which will reportedly now use a new Google-written advanced memory allocator -- for Android and 64-bit Windows. For Windows, Google says it's getting up to 22% memory savings, and has improved the browser's responsiveness by up to 9%.

There is no detail of when Mac users may see this, but Google does also report on a significant improvement for Chrome's macOS version.

"[We're] seeing up to 65% improvement on Apple Energy Impact score for tabs in the background," says Chang, "keeping your Mac cooler and those fans quiet."

Google's previous Chrome 87 update recently improved issues for Mac users. It's available in a native Apple Silicon version which, separately, Google notes gains a 25% faster launch time.

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linuxhead64 · March 12, 2021 2:50PM

What about getting rid of or improving Keystone as well?

lordjohnwhorfin · March 12, 2021 3:45PM

If only ad blocking would work on Safari... There are 20 different ad blockers, none of them works anymore. I hate to have to use that POS Firefox, but at least adblock works on it.

StrangeDays · March 12, 2021 4:08PM

lordjohnwhorfin said:

If only ad blocking would work on Safari... There are 20 different ad blockers, none of them works anymore. I hate to have to use that POS Firefox, but at least adblock works on it.

How do you mean? I'm using 1Blocker, it's working...

rbelize · March 12, 2021 4:21PM

lordjohnwhorfin said:

If only ad blocking would work on Safari... There are 20 different ad blockers, none of them works anymore. I hate to have to use that POS Firefox, but at least adblock works on it.

I've been using Ghostery for years, works really well. I honestly can't use web browsers without it, and you can whitelist the sites you want to support.

dk49 · March 12, 2021 5:56PM

This was much needed. But 8% doesn't seem much. Let's see how it translates to in actual performance.

rotateleftbyte · March 12, 2021 6:00PM

lordjohnwhorfin said:

If only ad blocking would work on Safari... There are 20 different ad blockers, none of them works anymore. I hate to have to use that POS Firefox, but at least adblock works on it.

Adguard works very, very well.

dysamoria · March 12, 2021 6:17PM

StrangeDays said:

lordjohnwhorfin said:

If only ad blocking would work on Safari... There are 20 different ad blockers, none of them works anymore. I hate to have to use that POS Firefox, but at least adblock works on it.

How do you mean? I'm using 1Blocker, it's working...

The current blockers work somewhat, but not reliably, consistently, or with a sensible design. Multiple plugins have to be loaded to get around Apple’s dumb content blocking limitations.

There’s a massive difference in ad blocking effectiveness today, compared to before Apple changed the plugin architecture.

As for the article’s subject: Google needs to deal with bloat in all their products, not just Chrome. Their iOS Gmail app is a piece of trash, and it’s gigantic. There’s no justification for such awful software AND such space usage.

gatorguy · March 12, 2021 6:59PM

dysamoria said:

StrangeDays said:

lordjohnwhorfin said:

If only ad blocking would work on Safari... There are 20 different ad blockers, none of them works anymore. I hate to have to use that POS Firefox, but at least adblock works on it.

How do you mean? I'm using 1Blocker, it's working...

As for the article’s subject: Google needs to deal with bloat in all their products, not just Chrome. Their iOS Gmail app is a piece of trash, and it’s gigantic. There’s no justification for such awful software AND such space usage.

https://www.lifehack.org/281071/this-how-you-can-avoid-chrome-using-much-ram

derekmorr · March 12, 2021 9:10PM

lordjohnwhorfin said:

I hate to have to use that POS Firefox, but at least adblock works on it.

Why is firefox a pos?

fastasleep · March 12, 2021 9:42PM

I keep asking people whose Macs I’m helping with why they use Chrome on their Mac. I often get “I don’t know” or “I heard it’s better than Safari”, and when asked if they use it because they sync their browsing with other Chrome browsers, they often say no or don’t know what that means. It’s kind of bizarre.

Especially if you’re an iPhone and Mac user, it’s hard to understate the iCloud Keychain implementation and how that crosses over to app logins now, I cannot imagine using anything other than Safari.

I use FF Developer Edition for work stuff but only to keep that completely separated with its own set of open windows/tabs organized by client etc. The only reason I have Chrome installed is for the rare times I need to test something or reproduce a bug. I don’t even like having it installed due to the Google garbage in the background.

appleinsideruser · March 12, 2021 10:07PM

linuxhead64 said:

What about getting rid of or improving Keystone as well?

When I need Chrome, I run it off its disk image. No install. No Evil Keystone.

Rayz2016 · March 12, 2021 11:08PM

gatorguy said:

dysamoria said:

StrangeDays said:

lordjohnwhorfin said:

If only ad blocking would work on Safari... There are 20 different ad blockers, none of them works anymore. I hate to have to use that POS Firefox, but at least adblock works on it.

How do you mean? I'm using 1Blocker, it's working...

As for the article’s subject: Google needs to deal with bloat in all their products, not just Chrome. Their iOS Gmail app is a piece of trash, and it’s gigantic. There’s no justification for such awful software AND such space usage.

https://www.lifehack.org/281071/this-how-you-can-avoid-chrome-using-much-ram

Or just avoid Chrome.

Osamede · March 12, 2021 11:16PM

fastasleep said:

I keep asking people whose Macs I’m helping with why they use Chrome on their Mac. I often get “I don’t know” or “I heard it’s better than Safari”, and when asked if they use it because they sync their browsing with other Chrome browsers, they often say no or don’t know what that means. It’s kind of bizarre.

Especially if you’re an iPhone and Mac user, it’s hard to understate the iCloud Keychain implementation and how that crosses over to app logins now, I cannot imagine using anything other than Safari.

I use FF Developer Edition for work stuff but only to keep that completely separated with its own set of open windows/tabs organized by client etc. The only reason I have Chrome installed is for the rare times I need to test something or reproduce a bug. I don’t even like having it installed due to the Google garbage in the background.

You can set your device to allow Chrome to access your keychain, which is where your passwords are synced - they are not in Safari

StrangeDays · March 12, 2021 11:20PM

dysamoria said:

StrangeDays said:

lordjohnwhorfin said:

If only ad blocking would work on Safari... There are 20 different ad blockers, none of them works anymore. I hate to have to use that POS Firefox, but at least adblock works on it.

How do you mean? I'm using 1Blocker, it's working...

The current blockers work somewhat, but not reliably, consistently, or with a sensible design. Multiple plugins have to be loaded to get around Apple’s dumb content blocking limitations.

There’s a massive difference in ad blocking effectiveness today, compared to before Apple changed the plugin architecture.

I don't think so. I do think you don't know what you're talking about, tho. Try 1Blocker.

fastasleep · March 13, 2021 3:03AM

Osamede said:

fastasleep said:

I keep asking people whose Macs I’m helping with why they use Chrome on their Mac. I often get “I don’t know” or “I heard it’s better than Safari”, and when asked if they use it because they sync their browsing with other Chrome browsers, they often say no or don’t know what that means. It’s kind of bizarre.

Especially if you’re an iPhone and Mac user, it’s hard to understate the iCloud Keychain implementation and how that crosses over to app logins now, I cannot imagine using anything other than Safari.

I use FF Developer Edition for work stuff but only to keep that completely separated with its own set of open windows/tabs organized by client etc. The only reason I have Chrome installed is for the rare times I need to test something or reproduce a bug. I don’t even like having it installed due to the Google garbage in the background.

You can set your device to allow Chrome to access your keychain, which is where your passwords are synced - they are not in Safari

So it stores your web passwords in Keychain so that you can use those to sign into an iOS app for example?

dysamoria · March 14, 2021 7:05AM

StrangeDays said:

dysamoria said:

StrangeDays said:

lordjohnwhorfin said:

If only ad blocking would work on Safari... There are 20 different ad blockers, none of them works anymore. I hate to have to use that POS Firefox, but at least adblock works on it.

How do you mean? I'm using 1Blocker, it's working...

The current blockers work somewhat, but not reliably, consistently, or with a sensible design. Multiple plugins have to be loaded to get around Apple’s dumb content blocking limitations.

There’s a massive difference in ad blocking effectiveness today, compared to before Apple changed the plugin architecture.

I don't think so. I do think you don't know what you're talking about, tho. Try 1Blocker.

Hey, an ad blocker developer stated as such. Maybe you’re the one missing something...

dysamoria · March 14, 2021 7:06AM

StrangeDays said:

dysamoria said:

StrangeDays said:

lordjohnwhorfin said:

If only ad blocking would work on Safari... There are 20 different ad blockers, none of them works anymore. I hate to have to use that POS Firefox, but at least adblock works on it.

How do you mean? I'm using 1Blocker, it's working...

The current blockers work somewhat, but not reliably, consistently, or with a sensible design. Multiple plugins have to be loaded to get around Apple’s dumb content blocking limitations.

There’s a massive difference in ad blocking effectiveness today, compared to before Apple changed the plugin architecture.

I don't think so. I do think you don't know what you're talking about, tho. Try 1Blocker.

Also, 1Blocker isn’t available to High Sierra users.

michelb76 · March 15, 2021 7:18AM

rotateleftbyte said:

lordjohnwhorfin said:

If only ad blocking would work on Safari... There are 20 different ad blockers, none of them works anymore. I hate to have to use that POS Firefox, but at least adblock works on it.

Adguard works very, very well.

Adguard is the absolute best You can grab a deal for the lifetime family plan and get it for $30.

Google is trying to make Chrome less of a resource hog

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