Woohoo, the SPEED is back: Google Chrome

[cribbj]

I have a somewhat resource challenged laptop. OK it's a P4 "M" running 1.8 Ghz, with a gig of memory, but that just doesn't seem to cut it anymore under Windows, especially with Firefox gobbling up 100's of meg's of memory with multiple tabs open. The laptop is well overdue for a Format C: and a fresh reload, but <groan> that's such a PITA. That's why I usually run Ubuntu for browsing, and revert back to Windows for stuff that has to have Windows.

Anyway, I just downloaded Google Chrome & gave it a whirl, and everything feels quick & nimble again in Windows. Lextreme pops up almost instantaneously, as do the other forums I frequent. It "feels" like a fresh reload, without all the hassle.

I haven't given Chrome a good thrashing yet, and it's still a beta product, but I LIKE what I've seen so far.

So for any of you who are struggling with Firefox or IE, with less than a Core 2 Duo or Quad setup, give Chrome a try.

 

[jibbby]

I also have an older AMD Desktop HP computer. It Runs on either 1.8 or 2.2 GHZ and not too much memory either, I honestly forgot. It got painfully slow running windows, firefox and many other current programs. This is a back up computer for internet use only.

Instead of selling the computer for peanuts or tossing it in the garbage. I got the brilliant idea to delete just about every program I ever loaded on that computer to the recycling bin. Itunes, Word Perfect, picture storage programs, etc. etc. you name it, I deleted it... I just have the basic programs to operate Windows only. Guess what? The computer now fly's thru programs and thru the internet. It feels almost as fast as my Core Duo laptop now if you can believe that. I have like 3 icons representing my three or four total programs. I am now only using like 5% of my total memory space, problem solved... He He..

It is now perfect for internet only use..

 

[Lextreme II]

I tried Chrome.. but didnt like it. Perhaps I am not use to the new features...

 

[MWP]

Consider Opera too.
Opera is almost as fast as Chrome, and Opera has most of the features that FF users commonly want.

 

[cribbj]

David, running Chrome for me has been like giving this laptop a shot of NOS.

Yesterday I had two sessions of FireFox open, with about 4-6 tabs in each, two Excel spreadsheets going, and some other miscellaneous stuff, and it just froze. Task Manager reported I was using all my available physical and paged memory, and my HD LED was just on steady. It stayed like that for around 5-10 minutes (well, enough time for me to go upstairs, get a cup of coffee, come down, and drink half of it.) So I decided to download Chrome and try it out. This morning I had three sessions of Chrome going with 4-5 tabs each, a session of Excel, plus a letter in Word (a terrible resource hog), and I also have Outlook going (another terrible hog), plus MS Money, and I'm only using around 575 MB of physical memory.

This feels like a real winner; now if they could only come up with a Win compatible O/S.....

MWP, you're right about Opera, I used it for years before FireFox came out and it's still fairly small & nimble. Everybody raved about FireFox initially, but I think it's now become more of a bloated hog than IE. It takes forever to launch, first time of the day, still doesn't handle PDF's very gracefully, and has a few other bugs like jerky YouTube videos, etc.

 

[Jake Breyck]

ill check it out when there is a linux version. if its workign well in windows, it should scream in linux.

 

[MWP]

You can also try unofficial builds of Firefox to get extra speed.
Unofficial builds of the Firebox beta-releases/trunk can be a lot quicker.

Im currently using this one: http://weblog.pigfoot.org/pigfoot/category/it/gecko/