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Question

Seeking comparison for browser that uses least CPU and RAM

Aug 8, 2012 4:38PM PDT

Hi, I've been thru many browsers. I'm currently on Chrome. I like Opera, but I do not want to move into the entire Opera community again. I need the ability to log into my browser and access bookmarks and such from any pc.

Chrome opens multiple instances in task mgr for each tab opened - at minimum, FOUR per tab. The amount of CPU usage is astronomical, as well as memory. I'm looking for something much more efficient - less drain on resources, but can be logged into from anywhere to retrieve my settings and saved information.

I've seen many comparison sites, but many focus on the top known browsers and I am sure there is something out there that is better. I refuse to use IE, and FireFox lost me years ago when they ate up my RAM as well.

Does anyone know of a trusted, reliable site for comparison of web browsers that would show statistics of CPU and memory usage? Thank you!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
It's a good question.
Aug 8, 2012 5:14PM PDT

But I don't think such a site exists.
And with RAM being abundant in newer PC's and laptops and CPU's becoming faster and faster it's getting less and less interesting, so I doubt if it will ever be done.

But if you feel like making and maintaining such a site: go ahead!

Kees

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Answer
Browsers?
Aug 9, 2012 12:33AM PDT

Not so sure your issues are really with browsers specifically but more likely with search engines, website and their use.

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pgc3 & Kees
Aug 9, 2012 7:27AM PDT

kees, no way i have the time for a site LOL

pgc3, that isnt the case - i usually test w/ google.com or my yahoo email. i have compared, and chrome does open mp instances in task mgr and uses a total of more resources than most. that's w/ just one tab opened. i just compared the two sites bc theyre my most used. regardless, somewhere there should be a comparison. surely someone's done it. what search TERMS could i use on cnet to find a "lite" browser - as in using less resources? any ideas? the term "lite" doesnt get me to that point. also what terms would one use to search for the ability to log into the acct from any pc? as chrome and opera do?

lol, i'm an old school techie but my brain's decaying too quickly... and i havent kept up w/ tech in 8 yrs... whoa did i miss a lot! Happy it's sad when phones are smarter than me!

thanks - tiff

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one quick point
Aug 12, 2012 8:56AM PDT

the processes on chrome is intentional. The idea is to prevent whole browser crashes and even individual tab crashes. A flash game can end up freezing without freezing the rest of the tab due this architectural feature. It also prevents persistent memory leaks: If you close a tab all the processes for that tab are ended instead of the browser 'saving' the memory for the next tab (so to speak). For example if a tab with flash running has a persistent memory leak, you could close that tab and reopen it and the memory leak would start over. At least, thats the idea.

I definitely agree it consumes more memory than most. My computer is top of the line, only 6 months old. Facebook, ESPN, and many other sites that run many scripts are incredibly choppy for a fairly brand-new computer.

The only comparisons I've found are generally feature comparisons with maybe a couple comparisons on page loading speed or startup speed, but only with ranking scores and not hard data.

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lloydCDB
Aug 14, 2012 3:37PM PDT

thank you! i thought that may be the case for chrome, but wasnt quite sure. it just seemed logical. but so many ppl recommend it bc it "uses so much less of your resources" and i have to point out that they are totally incorrect. that feature is nice, when needed, but i do not wish to pay the higher price of the cpu and memory cost.

it's hard to believe there are no comparison sites out there that address this. i havent found any. if yall cant, i guess no one's done it. perhaps i may have to do it all on my own. *sigh* i would like to narrow it down to browsers that allow you to log on from anywhere into your acct and get your bookmarks and pswds. dont suppose there is a list of those at least somewhere? would greatly narrow my work down! what is the technical term for that function? i will need it to search. "allow multiple log on"? "allow anywhere log on"? ??? "access from anywhere"? there must be a techie term for that, yes?

i have a major virus problem to address first. no - not related to the browser issue, that has always been, before the v. but this v is a whopper! it's the "windows is not genuine" crap and residing on more than just the OS drive, so it's all over the others. Sad i cannot just wipe them all clean or i would gratefully do that. reformatting didnt work since it was reinfected immediately from other hd's. but i suppose that's for another forum.

thanks to all and thanks for the helpful info lloydCDB!

tiff

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My comment about it "uses so much less of your resources"
Aug 15, 2012 3:13AM PDT

Actually, after chatting with others about that, the usual PC user may say that but in reality you are right.

But why do they say that? My thought is that Chrome uses more of your PC's resources and since it's design can leverage multiple CPUs then it seems to run smoother and more. Your average Joe may think because it works better it must be that it "uses so much less of your resources" .

You get the idea after talking to a lot of folk.
Bob

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Answer
A suggestion
Aug 16, 2012 7:03PM PDT

You know what comes into my mind? There isn't a site which can compare the cpu and memory usage for suggesting a most suitable browser for you, nevertheless, there do exists a tri-core browser whose performance is very excellent, called avant browser ultimate version. As others say that chrome prevents memory leak by using extra processes which lead to the over-consumption of memory. This Avant Browser has built in the engine of firefox and chrome as well as can call ie engine integrated in windows when it's demanded to do so. Using different engine, it makes use of different memory management strategies.For ie and chrome engine, it triggers multiple processes for the goal that one page's freezing doesn't freeze other pages, while for firefox engine, it starts only one firefox.exe which could be economy at the start but not be able to prevent the persistent memory leak, however, even though the memory usage jumps to a very high level, you can still end the firefox process from the task manager for releasing all memory taken by firefox engine without exiting avant browser,of course, you can get the same purpose by closing all open pages, this action won't close the browser as avant browser has a independant main process avant.exe which manages all tab processes in correspondance with different engines.
What I want to say is that you may compare the memory and cpu usage of all engines more easily in avant browser since they're all available in one browser,kept up-to-date and handy. Meanwhile, you may discover other valuable usages.

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Answer
Lastpass+xmarks with least hungry browser
May 23, 2013 1:55PM PDT

Another option that comes to my mind is to use lastpass (to save passwords) and xmarks (for bookmarks, tabs, etc) in a least hungry browser. These are available as add-on's, plugins for most browsers. I have used these plugins across IE, Firefox and Chrome and they work wonder!

Did you get a chance to compare the most common browsers using Avant (as suggested in post below)?

So, if you got hold of a browser with least resource usage, you could just add these plugins into it to get the other necessary features.

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Pass.
May 23, 2013 2:28PM PDT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avant_Browser notes it uses the same engine as Firefox. We usually see folk that are either spammers or just fans post to old discussions like this. It's an old post so why bother with Avant at all.
Bob
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Why post
May 25, 2013 4:17AM PDT

I was facing the same problem and hence wished to suggest an option.

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IMO, not a good option.
May 25, 2013 4:20AM PDT

It's a good try by them but they use the same engine and inherit the same issues PLUS they can't keep up with all the patches and more.

At least you didn't pick a browser that was based on the IE engine!
Bob