An excerpt from my Linux to Mac Swither's Guide (shameless plug there!):
(
http://www.campbell-tx.net/MacOSX/Linux2Mac/linux2mac.html)
We all spend a lot of time on the web these days. Our web browser may be the one piece of software on our computer that we know better than any other. So which is the best browser for your new Mac? Here is a run down on the best and fastest web browsers available for Macs (in addition to the excellent Safari browser that comes with Mac OS X):
Sunrise: available at
www.sunrisebrowser.com/en
Current version: 0.895.
Memory footprint: 22 MB real memory, 400 MB virtual memory
Bookmark Import: auto imports Safari bookmarks
Subjective: very fast to load and to load pages, supports lots of interesting features, including innovative graphical bookmarks. Somewhat quirky non-Mac looking interface, but very functional nonetheless. Missing only tabbed browsing to be a pretty nice browser. The author reports that tabbed browsing is available in the upcoming 1.0.0 release, to be made available soon.
Camino: available at
www.caminobrowser.org
Current version: 1.0.3
Memory footprint: 28 MB real memory, 396 MB virtual memory
Bookmark Import: Can import bookmarks from Safari, Firefox and Opera
Subjective: Very fast to load and to load pages. Uses same Gecko rendering engine from Firefox. Very much a Mac application, sporting a very nice look n feel that Mac users will be quite comfortable with.
BonEcho: available at
www.beatnikpad.com
Current Version: 2.0.0.1
Memory Footprint: 37 MB real memory, 397 MB virtual memory
Bookmark Import: imports Safari bookmarks
Note: This is an optimized version of Firefox 2.0.0.1. Specific apps are availalable for G5 and Intel processors.
Subjective: Fast to load, feels lightening fast to load pages. A significant speed differential over the stock Firefox offering. Looks, feels and behaves like Firefox in all regards but its speed, which is much better.
As a comparative note, Safari's memory footprint is 90MB real memory and 445 MB of virtual memory. The stock Firefox 1.5 takes 34 MB of real memory and 392 MB of virtual memory. This makes Safari the "heavyweight" of the group.
So, which one is the best? Subjectively, after playing with all of these browsers, BonEcho seems the best of them, given the full feature set, the average memory consumption and the excellent speed of operation. Bear in mind however that it does not sport the tight integration with other Mac software elements that Safari has.
Before making any binding commitments, if you are not strongly opinionated, try out Safari. Stick with it for a week or two (long enough for the "newness factor" to wear off) before deciding if you like it. If you don't, either Camino or BonEcho are excellent choices. Of course if you are strongly opinionated, you don't care what advice I have anyway, so I won't go any further - use whatever the heck you want to!
