06-25-2010, 03:32 PM

Safari 4 at the moment. Maybe I'll upgrade to Safari 5 when I hear less issues.

- Nick

06-25-2010, 03:43 PM

Just a quick note for the record since this is the browser thread. Only Safari 5 issues I have had is an occasional FLASH lock up. It did it worse on my iMac G4 with Safari 4 then it does with 5.

06-27-2010, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by dtravis7

Just a quick note for the record since this is the browser thread. Only Safari 5 issues I have had is an occasional FLASH lock up. It did it worse on my iMac G4 with Safari 4 then it does with 5.

And that isn't even Safari's fault. Is Flash performing better for you with 5 though because you upgraded Flash to 10.1?

Am I the only one who thinks that, despite performing well on benchmarks, Safari is kind of slow (relatively)? When I compare it to Chrome or Opera, I don't see it as being much, if at all, faster.

06-27-2010, 05:14 PM

I've actually switched to Chrome because I've been having so many issues with Safari 5 crashing or locking up. Could be flash related, but still, Safari needs to handle Flash crashes better if that's the sole cause.

van, I agree that Safari 5 seems really slow compared to Chrome, especially UI responsiveness.

06-27-2010, 05:26 PM

Each to their own on Chrome. I really hate the interface.

I don't find Safari's interface the least bit slow both on my Intel and Power PC Macs.

Yes Van, 10.1 like I said in the other thread is WAY less CPU intensive and for the first time in over a year I can again play You Tube Videos SMOOTHLY on my iMac G5.

Every Safari crash I have had in the last year was Flash related. The funny thing is I have never had one Safari 5 crash doing 50 You Tube videos in a row sometimes on my Intel C2D Mini with 10.6.4 and Safari 5 installed. Not one. Just on the iMac G5 with 10.5.8.

I have also has Flash lock up Opera a few times.

06-27-2010, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by dtravis7

Each to their own on Chrome. I really hate the interface.

I do much prefer Safari's interface and look, I just fine 5.0 just too buggy at this point to use on a regular basis. Maybe when 5.0.1 comes out it might work a little better for me.

The only browser UI that I have always found hideous was Opera. I'm also not a huge fan of the look of Firefox.

06-27-2010, 07:47 PM

Schweb, that last part made me lol as so many love FF on OSX!!

FF is a nice browser and on Windows I use it usually by default, but I do not like the OSX version. Just does not look right to me. Sorry, not trying to hurt anyone.

Have you checked the latest Opera? Large improvement in looks and performance. Vansmith and I have been testing it for a long time now and it's impressive in many ways.

06-27-2010, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by dtravis7

Schweb, that last part made me lol as so many love FF on OSX!!

FF is a nice browser and on Windows I use it usually by default, but I do not like the OSX version. Just does not look right to me. Sorry, not trying to hurt anyone.

Have you checked the latest Opera? Large improvement in looks and performance. Vansmith and I have been testing it for a long time now and it's impressive in many ways.

You can make Firefox look like anything you want. >_>"

Example:

**removed: too large**

06-27-2010, 09:11 PM

Not to sound mean, but I know. I just don't like FF on OSX. Since there is no IE on OSX, FF is the slowest performing browser in every test I have run on all the browsers and it still does not pass (last time I checked) the web Standards tests. That just leaves me cold. Sorry!

I just mentioned the look as I did not want to get into a big FF bashing thing as so many love it on OSX.

06-27-2010, 09:22 PM

Originally Posted by CrimsonRequiem

You can make Firefox look like anything you want. >_>"

True but it doesn't hide the fact that it is the only major browser that doesn't use Cocoa. Because of this, it always seems out of place. For example, things like drop down boxes in Firefox look nothing like the native drop down box of OS X. On the other hand, Opera, Chrome and Safari all use native widgets in their browser. Another example is the customize toolbar window. It doesn't slide down like it should and instead just appears (trying this yourself may make my point more understandable). These are just little things but add up.

On top of all of that, the browser really does lag behind. Firefox is continually beaten by Opera, Chrome and Safari in JS benchmarks. Firefox still can't pass Acid3 either. In my eyes, Firefox still has a long way to go to catch up to the other three.

06-27-2010, 09:24 PM

When I first began using Macs, FireFox was my browser of choice. Several months back I began using Safari and liked it even though it was noticeably slower than FF. It worked well with MobileMe keeping my bookmarks synced between Macs. But since I refused to renew my MobileMe subscription for a 100, I went in search of options and found Chrome to be a nice alternative to Safari. For the last few weeks I have been using Chrome and like the interface. The only issue I have had with Chrome is that Netflix will not work with Chrome. I may be able to find an extension for that though.

06-27-2010, 09:28 PM

I know this will not mean much to a lot of Mac users, but to us G5 users (The G5 is still a VERY useable CPU), Google has refused to support the Power PC, and I default still use my G5 for my daily computing. So even if I wanted to use Chrome, I can't. Even Opera has continued to support the PPC Macs which I highly commend them for doing!

06-28-2010, 04:39 AM

Have been using Safari 4 but switched to Chrome several months ago and never looked back.
Only thing I really want from a browser is to get me the "content" I want as quickly as possible, and Chrome does that very well in my opinion.

Cheers ... McBie

06-28-2010, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by vansmith

Am I the only one who thinks that, despite performing well on benchmarks, Safari is kind of slow (relatively)? When I compare it to Chrome or Opera, I don't see it as being much, if at all, faster.

I thought I was the only one that had this problem. Safari 5 has definitely been slower than version 4 on my Mac. I also read all the benchmarks and other reviews but in real world testing on my computer it does seem slower. I didn't use Safari all that much but this has made me use it even less. It also doesn't have the auto delete cookies on quitting like the other browsers.

I have Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari, and Camino installed on my computer and jump back and forth between them from time to time. I mostly use Firefox and Opera but I would give Chrome more usage if it would simply add the minimum font size feature. It's the only browser I have that doesn't do that which makes it a pain because some websites uses very small text and constantly zooming in and out becomes a chore to do all the time. That's a shame because Chrome is the fastest of them all on my computer.

Part of the reason why I give Firefox so much usage time is that in the past it was the only browser that didn't have problems with some websites I went to. This problem is becoming less common but there are still some websites that don't work or display correctly on other browsers. I also like the 3 finger trackpad gesture for go to top/bottom of web pages that Firefox has. I don't know why the other browsers don't have it. The trackpad gestures on the unibody MBP is very nice and I like using it a lot more than previous generation laptops so not being able to use all the finger gestures is a factor for me.

06-28-2010, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by EndlessMac

Part of the reason why I give Firefox so much usage time is that in the past it was the only browser that didn't have problems with some websites I went to. This problem is becoming less common but there are still some websites that don't work or display correctly on other browsers.

I will give Firefox that - it can handle more pages than the others. It does a pretty good job of handling just about anything you can throw at it. Although, as you noted, this is starting to be less and less of a selling point as WebKit and Presto (Opera) work with more and more pages.

I still can't bring myself to using a browser on a regular basis that is both slower as a browser and slower as an application (Firefox takes longer than the others by far to startup for instance). If I remember correctly, the Mozilla team designed Firefox to be an app thats sole purpose was to be lean and quick. I think they need to re-examine the state of Firefox in my opinion.