Best Browser for New Macbook Air M1

[dave walters]

Hi,

What do you regard as the best all-round browser for a new Macbook Air M1?

Thanks for your time and advice.

Dave

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Honestly, whatever you were using before. ? If you were using Safari, use that, or Chrome or Firefox. They should all work.

As time goes on, they might optimize themselves to the M1 specifically for something, but don't worry about it.

 

[dave walters]

Hi Ashwin,

Forgive my sloth....work et al interposing!

Many thanks for the reply.

I found myself posing the Q in light of speed and RAM issues whilst using Chrome and a review of various pertinent articles thereafter. Most seemed to advise/caution that Chrome was a ravenous memory muncher; which appeared to sustain my limited experience.

I read on to find Brave written up as perhaps the most secure/private, while others were recommended on the basis of speed, add-ons, ease of use etcetera.

On balance and from my own experience, I think Chrome has had its day with me and I shall migrate to either Safari (though a different article claimed that Safari was also heavy on memory) or even the tiny Brive?

Many thanks for your time and advice.

Dave

 

[pine man]

From my own experience I would advise keeping at least two browsers on your device if you are 'migrating' to Safari.

I have found from time to time that some sites won't open or operate correctly with Safari but they will with, for example, Firefox.

Just an observation

 

[ferrarr]

Personally I use Safari with most of the sites I visit. But I have a few different content browsers enabled. I don't enable the options that allow them to see any sensitive info and all webpages.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Hi Ashwin,

Forgive my sloth....work et al interposing!

Many thanks for the reply.

I found myself posing the Q in light of speed and RAM issues whilst using Chrome and a review of various pertinent articles thereafter. Most seemed to advise/caution that Chrome was a ravenous memory muncher; which appeared to sustain my limited experience.

I read on to find Brave written up as perhaps the most secure/private, while others were recommended on the basis of speed, add-ons, ease of use etcetera.

On balance and from my own experience, I think Chrome has had its day with me and I shall migrate to either Safari (though a different article claimed that Safari was also heavy on memory) or even the tiny Brive?

Many thanks for your time and advice.

Dave

Dave, Brave is based on Chromium, which also powers a number of other browsers out there. Most web browsers tend to be memory hungry due to the websites that we visit and the number of tabs you keep open.

This was true prior to the M1 and remains true now.

I use Brave on my 2018 Mac Mini 6-core machine with 32GB of memory. I run no less than 15 tabs at any given time with some tabs being around for a long time. To that end, I have an extension called The Great Suspender running which suspends tabs that I haven't visited in a long time.

Right now Activity Monitors tells me that I have about 31 Brave Browser Helper processes running and the Brave Browser app itself. Collectively, it's using approx. 3-4 GB of memory. However, since it's the beginning of my day right now, 12 of my 18 tabs are suspended.

So your M1 with 8GB of memory will be totally fine.

Safari is indeed the browser that Apple has been putting a lot of effort into and if there was going to be anything to leverage the M1 better, it will show up there first.

 

[dave walters]

Hey,

Many thanks for the observation and advice.

Much appreciated.

Dave

 

[dave walters]

Personally I use Safari with most of the sites I visit. But I have a few different content browsers enabled. I don't enable the options that allow them to see any sensitive info and all webpages.

View attachment 33451

Hey Ferrar,

Very grateful for the perspective and advice.

Many thanks.

Dave

 

[dave walters]

Dave, Brave is based on Chromium, which also powers a number of other browsers out there. Most web browsers tend to be memory hungry due to the websites that we visit and the number of tabs you keep open.

This was true prior to the M1 and remains true now.

I use Brave on my 2018 Mac Mini 6-core machine with 32GB of memory. I run no less than 15 tabs at any given time with some tabs being around for a long time. To that end, I have an extension called The Great Suspender running which suspends tabs that I haven't visited in a long time.

Right now Activity Monitors tells me that I have about 31 Brave Browser Helper processes running and the Brave Browser app itself. Collectively, it's using approx. 3-4 GB of memory. However, since it's the beginning of my day right now, 12 of my 18 tabs are suspended.

So your M1 with 8GB of memory will be totally fine.

Safari is indeed the browser that Apple has been putting a lot of effort into and if there was going to be anything to leverage the M1 better, it will show up there first.

Hi Ashwin,

Your take on the issue is very much appreciated.

From the kind responses received, to date, it seems as if Brave and Apple's own Safari get the nod.

Very grateful for your time and experience.

Dave