Mac|Life - December 2009

¡Lucha Libre de Web!
TESTiNG METhODOLOGy
To gauge basic performance levels, we used Mozilla’s Dromaeo JavaScript testing suite ( dromaeo.com), which
aggregates a number of tools, including Apple’s SunSpider suite and Google’s V8. We measured CPU and
memory usage with iStat pro ( www.islayer.com/apps/istatpro). Streaming video playback was determined by
comparing how smoothly the same set of three You Tube videos played in each browser.
We tested the browsers on a Mac Pro ( 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 8GB of SDRAM running Mac

OS 10. 5. 7) and a MacBook Pro ( 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 8GB of SDRAM running Mac 10. 5. 7). Each browser ran in its default configuration with no third-party plug-ins and a minimum set of bookmarks. That’s the closest we could get to creating a level playing field, but there’s a flaw here: A browser’s performance may slow as information is added to its database during long-term usage, and extensions can also bog things down.

GENERAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS

Overall, Safari was the fastest of all the browsers we tested, with

Camino a hair behind Safari. Firefox exhibited the slowest startup time, but it beats Safari by an average of 2 seconds in speedy page rendering, primarily due to its new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine. Safari’s speedy ways were also evident in the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, a real-world test of how the browser renders JavaScript.

Opera

Safari

Firefox

Camino

Flock

6. 4 7. 4 6. 8 9. 2 6. 9 9. 3 7 9. 3 7. 4 10. 7

Flock didn’t score well at all, coming in dead last in all of our tests, but its unique capabilities are what makes this browser attractive to some, not its performance.

The bottom line. Safari is a strong performer across the board, but Opera, Camino, and Firefox upset it in some of our tests. Read on for detailed breakdowns of all our test results.

11

8. 25

Seconds

5. 5

2. 75

0

8 Tabs

Opera

Safari

Camino

15 Tabs Firefox

Flock

TAB-LOAD TEST

Opera was a bit faster than Firefox in startup times, but really shone in the tab-opening tests, opening up eight and then 15 tabs faster than the other browsers—although, we’re talking fractions of a second here. Safari was the next fastest on the tab test, with Firefox and Camino near the back of the pack.

This graph displays the tab-opening times in seconds; shorter bars are better than taller ones.

Winner: Opera.
STARTUP TiMES

The startup test is just what it sounds like—how long it takes each browser to fire up and open an about:blank page. The graph shows the times in seconds, and as usual, the smaller the bar, the better.

Remember, we tested these browsers with no third-party plug-ins, so your results will vary once you install extensions or plug-ins, which slow startup. Still, with less than 1 second separating the first-place Safari and Camino from the dead-last Flock, our guess is that you can wait. Winner: Safari and Camino tied.