Which Internet Brower do you use?

[Lord Banshee]

I have been using firefox for sometime now but the memory footprint is annoying on my laptop so I decided to open up 4 of the same website in tabs in four different browers and this is how it ranked.

Memory footprint:
Flock: ~77MB
Firefox 3 beta2: ~65MB
IE7: ~33MB
Opera: ~25MB

I also found that IE7 and Opera releases memory when minimized:
Flock: ~77MB
Firefox 3 beta2: ~65MB
IE7: ~7MB
Opera: ~4MB

So personally i think i might try and get used to using Opera and when there are sites that are not compatible use IE7.

Thoughts from everyone else?

 

[Scouzer]

I use Firefocks.

As I said in the Opera thread, I love Opera but it fails at rendering properly.

 

[mechBgon]

I use IE7 Protected Mode (Vista). 32-bit for some stuff, 64-bit for others. So I guess that's "IE7" on your poll.

Bigger picture: if your lappie is running out of RAM to the point that an extra 30-50MB makes it or breaks it... then you need more RAM, IMHO. And not just for browsers.

 

[Lord Banshee]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
I use IE7 Protected Mode (Vista). 32-bit for some stuff, 64-bit for others. So I guess that's "IE7" on your poll.

Bigger picture: if your lappie is running out of RAM to the point that an extra 30-50MB makes it or breaks it... then you need more RAM, IMHO. And not just for browsers.

lol Yeah but when i tend to run out of memory is when i am working on a project and have many tabs open with many pdf's open and firefox has gotten in the 150MB+ range. My laptop has 1GB of RAM and do i wish it had 2GB, but the price isn't worth it. It is my work's laptop and i have already spent my own money going from 512MB->1GB.

But if the difference factor of IE7 vs Firefox is not 30MB but 1/2 the memory intake then it would be worth switching if my firefox starts to travel over 100MB, wouldn't you agree? I am not sure this is the case but only more testing will tell.

The reason for the post was more on the lines to get rid of one program that is taking up 10-20% of total system memory as there are alternatives, but my other programs I have no luck changing without completely losing normal everyday routines.

Thanks for the comments so far, keep them comming if there is more to add.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Lord Banshee

Originally posted by: mechBgon
I use IE7 Protected Mode (Vista). 32-bit for some stuff, 64-bit for others. So I guess that's "IE7" on your poll.

Bigger picture: if your lappie is running out of RAM to the point that an extra 30-50MB makes it or breaks it... then you need more RAM, IMHO. And not just for browsers.

lol Yeah but when i tend to run out of memory is when i am working on a project and have many tabs open with many pdf's open and firefox has gotten in the 150MB+ range. My laptop has 1GB of RAM and do i wish it had 2GB, but the price isn't worth it. It is my work's laptop and i have already spent my own money going from 512MB->1GB.

But if the difference factor of IE7 vs Firefox is not 30MB but 1/2 the memory intake then it would be worth switching if my firefox starts to travel over 100MB, wouldn't you agree? I am not sure this is the case but only more testing will tell.

2GB of Kingston lappie ram is, like, $46 shipped. How much "testing" and ongoing aggravation will you endure in order to avoid spending $46 to permanently fix the issue? I know it isn't fair that your employer isn't footing the bill, but still, think what your sanity is worth.

 

[Lord Banshee]

lol, actually you assume my laptop is newer than it is

My laptop is an IBM t42 so it uses DDR-333 SO-DIMM, which is around $115 for 2GB lol, ok still not very much but if it was only 46 dollars than i would get it

I am only going to have the laptop for another 4-5 months so i think i can bare it a little longer lol.

 

[Quiksilver]

Firefox + IE7, IE7 for those sites that don't want to work right on firefox, or just in case I happen to need it.

 

[Scouzer]

Wow... Opera with one tab open = 344MB. I've only had it open two hours! WTF?!

 

[Nothinman]

I also found that IE7 and Opera releases memory when minimized:

Actually they don't, their working set gets trimmed but when you restore and start using it again they'll just get that data paged back in.

 

[Doom Machine]

i use firefox with IE extension for sites that need ie.
trying out opera right now, not sure i care for it.

 

[lxskllr]

I like Firefox do to the extensions and themes. For a vanilla browser, it doesn't matter that much to me. I guess in vanilla state I have a small preference for Opera, then Firefox and IE7 are about equal for a super close second.

 

[compman25]

I use Opera because I like it, no other reason. If I do come across a site it doesn't play well with I use IE7. Tried Firefox and never cared for it.

 

[ForumMaster]

Originally posted by: Scouzer
I use Firefocks.

As I said in the Opera thread, I love Opera but it fails at rendering properly.

can you give me an example of such a site? if that site fails to render properly, then even though Opera doesn't render it properly, the site's code is buggy. Opera is one of the only browsers that pass all the web standards test.

anyway, opera version 9.5 is coming out soon with a completly new engine. fastest browser out there without a doubt.


do i really need to mention that i use opera?

edit:

Originally posted by: Scouzer
Wow... Opera with one tab open = 344MB. I've only had it open two hours! WTF?!

wtf? what version are you using? i have had opera open with like 20 tabs for around an hour. it is consuming 40MBs.

 

[jadinolf]

SeaMonkey here.

Went from Netscape to Mozilla to SeaMonkey over the past 13 years.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Wow I'm the only one here that uses Opera + Firefox? I use Opera exclusively unless the page doesn't render correctly then I use firefox. I love the mouse gesture. Mouse Gestures FTW.

 

[loup garou]

IE7 in Vista
Safari in OSX

 

[Scouzer]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster

Originally posted by: Scouzer
I use Firefocks.

As I said in the Opera thread, I love Opera but it fails at rendering properly.

can you give me an example of such a site? if that site fails to render properly, then even though Opera doesn't render it properly, the site's code is buggy. Opera is one of the only browsers that pass all the web standards test.

anyway, opera version 9.5 is coming out soon with a completly new engine. fastest browser out there without a doubt.


do i really need to mention that i use opera?

edit:

Originally posted by: Scouzer
Wow... Opera with one tab open = 344MB. I've only had it open two hours! WTF?!

wtf? what version are you using? i have had opera open with like 20 tabs for around an hour. it is consuming 40MBs.

9.5b.

Youtube fails to render properly.

 

[Lord Banshee]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I also found that IE7 and Opera releases memory when minimized:

Actually they don't, their working set gets trimmed but when you restore and start using it again they'll just get that data paged back in.

That is correct, i thought that is what i meant in my OP but i guess i worded it wrong. But that one method is something i wish firefox did, if i can minimize something and not using it right now but do not want to close it i am happy it decides to only use 1/4th of its original footprint as when it is in focus, well i think it is a good idea at least.

Anyway unfortunately i am back to firefox, i tried to use Opera and IE7 and i can not get used to them as fast as i wanted to... maybe when i have time and more patience i will try again

 

[Nothinman]

That is correct, i thought that is what i meant in my OP but i guess i worded it wrong. But that one method is something i wish firefox did, if i can minimize something and not using it right now but do not want to close it i am happy it decides to only use 1/4th of its original footprint as when it is in focus, well i think it is a good idea at least.

I guess it depends on your perspective. Most people get frustrated when they go to restore something and it takes 30s while data's paged back in from disk.

 

[will889]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster

can you give me an example of such a site?

Heavy flashsites like rr.com (roadrunner) takes opera much longer to load than FF or IE. I posted this in the opera forums about a year ago and got no response at all, and none of the fixes I tried worked. Other people I had test out the site had the very same issues with rr.com, in fact the slightly older version of opera took around 10 seconds to render the page and even when done loading it didn't display properly (tried on 2 systems with completely different configs). The newest version of opera renders it correctly but the speed is still not there compared to FF or IE. It seems to only be with heavy flash sites though and other than that I would probably switch (even though I'm careful about flash-security and various sites).

 

[Lord Banshee]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

That is correct, i thought that is what i meant in my OP but i guess i worded it wrong. But that one method is something i wish firefox did, if i can minimize something and not using it right now but do not want to close it i am happy it decides to only use 1/4th of its original footprint as when it is in focus, well i think it is a good idea at least.

I guess it depends on your perspective. Most people get frustrated when they go to restore something and it takes 30s while data's paged back in from disk.

Yeah i would be mad too if it took 30s to restore my page, good thing when i was messing with the two it only took a second or two.

 

[Nothinman]

Yeah i would be mad too if it took 30s to restore my page, good thing when i was messing with the two it only took a second or two

I generally have ~4 windows open with ~12 tabs each so trimming the working set and paging all of the non-shared data back in from the pagefile would suck. Now, it's not a great comparison because I'm talking about Galeon on Linux and using straight FF on Windows is different since I wouldn't have multiple desktops there but I am a very tab-heavy user so memory usage does stay pretty high even with just 1 or 2 windows open.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
...but I am a very tab-heavy user so memory usage does stay pretty high even with just 1 or 2 windows open.

Me too. My Firefox runs at about 300mb with all of my tabs open. I run a minimum of 12 tabs at all times, and sometimes go to 20 or more.

 

[BD2003]

Opera FTW.

And as I said in the other thread, opera does NOT have a problem with youtube. I've been using it for years on youtube.

 

[Scouzer]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Opera FTW.

And as I said in the other thread, opera does NOT have a problem with youtube. I've been using it for years on youtube.

... YOUR Opera does not have an issue with Youtube, mine does.