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Browser Speed Comparison
Rendering, starts, and script execution
Slashdot points to an independent browser speed comparison that compares CSS rendering, cold and warm starts, table rendering, script execution, as well as multiple image display times. The result? Opera is the fastest browser for Windows. Firefox and IE are similar, though the former gets the edge on security.
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rms01
join:2004-12-01
Salem, OH

rms01

Member

I agree...

I use all three, and I agree with the results overall. Opera is no question the fastest, but I think Firefox is much faster than IE...
DraconSlayer
join:2004-03-03
Schiller Park, IL

DraconSlayer

Member

FIREFOX!

FireFox rocks over them all!!!

GlassRail
Premium Member
join:2000-11-02
Retired

1 edit

GlassRail

Premium Member

Re: FIREFOX!

said by DraconSlayer:

FireFox rocks over them all!!!
FireFox cuts my upload speed in half Compared to IE

BinaryXtreme6
join:2004-04-20
Sparks, NV

BinaryXtreme6 to DraconSlayer

Member

to DraconSlayer
I agree. Firefox is just so much faster than IE it's rediculous. I'll stick with Firefox!

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

2 edits

djrobx to rms01

Premium Member

to rms01

Re: I agree...

The thing that kills me about Firefox "speed", and is correctly identified in this nice article, is the cold start time. On the windows box, it took Firefox over twenty seconds to load the first time, vs. only 7 seconds for internet explorer.

I rarely notice rendering and script execution speed issues. I notice the load times more than anything else.

It does not surprise me at all that Opera is the speed demon of the group. It was extremely apparent how efficient their engine was a few years back when I was working with PDAs. Pocket IE on a Pocket PC was so slow, it was practically nearly useless with most real web pages, where Opera was able to render pages quite nicely on the Zaurus, despite it being a slower PDA. Unfortnately there aren't enough advantages and too many compatibility disadvantages for me to use it for my desktop.

At least the web standards are finally making it possible to create decent pages that work on all the browers. The popularity of third party browsers on a Windows is a great thing towards making the internet as a whole browser agnostic. It was a nightmare making nice sites that were compatible with IE 4 and Netscape 4.
quote:
FireFox cuts my upload speed in half Compared to IE
Are you referring to the Java BBR speed tests? That's not really a browser issue but a Java JVM issue. You are probably using the Microsoft JVM under IE, which I have also noticed results in better speed tests. But, those are just tests. It's extremely rare in real everyday use that you would be uploading something using a java applet as the speed tests do.

rbd1999
@midco.net

rbd1999

Anon

Re: I agree...

quote:
-------------------------------------------------------------
The thing that kills me about Firefox "speed", and is correctly identified in this nice article, is the cold start time. On the windows box, it took Firefox over twenty seconds to load the first time, vs. only 7 seconds for internet explorer.
-------------------------------------------------------------
On my modest but well tuned system -
Windows XP Pro
Athlon 1600+
512MB of DDR 2100
cable modem
Firefox COLD START is ~9 secs.
IE COLD START is ~7 secs.

The homepage for both is »www.google.com
The target of the shortcut I use to start Firefox -
"%ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" /Prefetch:1

I find the /Prefetch:1 parameter is important.
Bananas9
Premium Member
join:2004-08-18
Santa Barbara, CA

Bananas9 to djrobx

Premium Member

to djrobx
Maybe it has not occurred to you that windows loads the IE shell script on boot, meaning that IE is already primed and ready to go. Of course you would get faster start times if half of it is already running in the background. But what price for speed and what price for security? Me, i choose security and waiting a few more seconds aint gonna ruin my life.

Nerdtalker
Working Hard, Or Hardly Working?
MVM
join:2003-02-18
San Jose, CA

Nerdtalker

MVM

Re: I agree...

said by Bananas9:

Maybe it has not occurred to you that windows loads the IE shell script on boot, meaning that IE is already primed and ready to go.
Exactly.

It'd be interesting to see these tests run again, this time with firefox prefetched as well:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" /prefetch:1

Speeds load time up for me...

DaMaGeINC
The Lan Man
Premium Member
join:2002-06-08
Greenville, SC

DaMaGeINC to rms01

Premium Member

to rms01
I like IE, cause it doesent take any time to load. Ive used Firefox, and it takes a few more seconds to load. I dont like to wait, so I dont use it.
KSC5190
join:2002-03-14
Chicago, IL

KSC5190 to rms01

Member

to rms01
I've been using Opera exclusively since version 3.6 or so. For me, its always been a reliable and fast browser. I'm not obsessed with having the absolute fastest loading browser (Although I think opera wins here). Opera has the features and layout that I've become accustomed to. (I can no longer stand to have my Address or page bars at the top of the screen)And it has run on every GUI-enabled os I've ever used (Windows 3.11-xp, Linux, OS/2 Warp, and OSX).But it is all a matter of personal preference. There is no single ultimate web browser. Like what you will, but theres no reason to insult anyone else's choice in web browsing software (Except for AOL users, they latch onto that stuff like its crack)
I'm joking (kind of)

KSC519
»launch.groups.yahoo.com/ ··· 9_music/

Automobili
@verizon.net

Automobili to rms01

Anon

to rms01
I don't really care what's technically "fastest." Firefox is just a better browser in my opinion. In reality, who can really perceive such small differences in "performance?"

DaMaGeINC
The Lan Man
Premium Member
join:2002-06-08
Greenville, SC

DaMaGeINC

Premium Member

Re: I agree...

said by Automobili:

I don't really care what's technically "fastest." Firefox is just a better browser in my opinion. In reality, who can really perceive such small differences in "performance?"
When 1 program takes less that 1 second to load, and another takes 3 seconds. Thats enough to "perceive".
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to rms01

Premium Member

to rms01
i find a page with lots of pictures scrolls smoother on my laptop with IE then Firefox. even on my high end gaming box FF will scroll a forum post with many screen shots a tad jerky compaired to IE. though im sure its some setting im missing in firefox for smooth scrolling pictures. On the other hand i wont use IE for any site i have never been to before because i know FF will not accidently download some gator scumware behind my back even though i run IE on Medium-High security.

click_310
Eat my shorts
join:2002-12-06
Savannah, GA

click_310

Member

Re: I agree...

same here... Use firefox everywhere but scrolling is hard. There is a smooth scrolling extension for firefox. Never tried it though.
Bobcat79
Premium Member
join:2001-02-04

Bobcat79

Premium Member

Firefox and IE

Firefox and IE are similar?? Not according to that article. It states: "Internet Explorer on Windows was either as fast as - or faster than Mozilla and Firefox for most tasks, with the exception of scripts, where it took over twice as long" (emphasis added).

Perhaps your reporting is a little biased?

RDins
@attbi.com

RDins

Anon

Re: Firefox and IE

IE blows away Firefox and Netscape both on my pc. Not even close.....

dadkins
Can you do Blu?
MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA

dadkins

MVM

LOL!

"So overall, Opera seems to be the fastest browser for windows. Firefox is not faster than Internet Explorer, except for scripting, but for standards support, security and features, it is a better choice. However, it is still not as fast as Opera, and Opera also offers a high level of standards support, security and features."

Nuff said.

cchhat01
Dr. Zoidberg
join:2001-05-01
Elmhurst, NY

cchhat01

Member

Re: LOL!

opera is also not free like firefox.

nuff said

Chump6
Support Bbr Rc5
Premium Member
join:2002-10-27

Chump6

Premium Member

Re: LOL!

there is a free version, yes it does have ads, but your statment is still false.

dadkins
Can you do Blu?
MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA

dadkins to cchhat01

MVM

to cchhat01
said by cchhat01:

opera is also not free like firefox.

nuff said
I paid to support Opera, also to have the fastest secure browser.
lawrence171
join:2001-12-24
Canada

lawrence171

Member

Re: LOL!

said by dadkins:
said by cchhat01:

opera is also not free like firefox.

nuff said
I paid to support Opera, also to have the fastest secure browser.
Note that Opera refuses to find a solution to the IDS exploits/scam.

SpitefulCrow
Insert Witty Tag Here
Premium Member
join:2003-06-04
Berkeley, CA

SpitefulCrow to dadkins

Premium Member

to dadkins
Does Opera support third-party extensions to the browser?
I don't think so.
My Firefox installation (on a source-based Linux distribution (Gentoo), by the way, so installing an outdated ad-ridden binary-only browser is not something I want to do) has a whole bunch of useful and cool Extensions installed, like Sage, a lightweight RSS aggregator sidebar. Let's see a closed-source browser support things like that without having to write them into the main program itself.

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

1 recommendation

pnh102

Premium Member

Re: LOL!

said by SpitefulCrow:

Does Opera support third-party extensions to the browser?
I don't think so.
Considering how bad most of these extensions are, that is probably a very good thing!

SpitefulCrow
Insert Witty Tag Here
Premium Member
join:2003-06-04
Berkeley, CA

SpitefulCrow

Premium Member

Re: LOL!

If it's a bad extension, you don't install it!

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

pnh102

Premium Member

Re: LOL!

said by SpitefulCrow:

If it's a bad extension, you don't install it!
I know you know that. The problem is the 99% of the population that is clueless idiots who install every bad extension known to man.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958 to dadkins

Premium Member

to dadkins
said by dadkins:
said by cchhat01:

opera is also not free like firefox.

nuff said
I paid to support Opera, also to have the fastest secure browser.
I'm with ya here on this one dadkins. Nothing wrong with paying to support good work! Those FF fanboys can send donations in so they can get a full page ad in the NY Times but not pay to support a better browser? Somethings wrong with that picture.

To you people who say gmail doesn't support Opera. Why doesn't it? Sure, it says it doesn't support your browser but all that happens when you sign into gmail is it asks you if you want to sign in anyway and then works just like normal. Google/gmail isn't perfect either!

insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN

insomniac84 to dadkins

Member

to dadkins
Yes but those browsers security rely on the fact that very few people use those browsers so that no one cares to try to exploit them.
cooperaaaron
join:2004-04-10
Joliet, IL

cooperaaaron

Member

Opera..

is the fastest, and I have used all three.. But, I still prefer Firefox... Opera does not work too well when using My Yahoo, under the SBC Yahoo DSL site ( my accounts are linked ) it does not work... If it did I would use it more.

alg
Passionately apathetic
Premium Member
join:2001-04-10
Houston, TX

alg

Premium Member

I'll stick with firefox

because I want to be able to use the same browser in both Windows and Linux.

To add to that, a browser that can be used in both that doesn't suck - such as the origianl Mozilla or Netscape.
Zuralin
join:2001-08-09
Buffalo, NY

Zuralin

Member

Re: I'll stick with firefox

said by alg:

because I want to be able to use the same browser in both Windows and Linux.
Because Opera is win32 only right??? Oh wait...

alg
Passionately apathetic
Premium Member
join:2001-04-10
Houston, TX

alg

Premium Member

Re: I'll stick with firefox

said by Zuralin:
said by alg:


because I want to be able to use the same browser in both Windows and Linux.
Because Opera is win32 only right??? Oh wait...
I forgot to add it to the "that doesn't suck list"
Zuralin
join:2001-08-09
Buffalo, NY

Zuralin

Member

Re: I'll stick with firefox

way to go on contradicting yourself.. and if you use firefox ONLY because it can be used in both win32 and linux you are dumb

maximus_808
Proud Veteran
Premium Member
join:2001-08-27
Rainier, WA

maximus_808

Premium Member

I allways thought...

That Opera 8.0b1 was faster than 7.54 I just didn't realise how much.

F14b0mbk4t
Walmart Is 73h L337 Yo'
Premium Member
join:2004-11-11
Above

F14b0mbk4t

Premium Member

Opera...

The G-Mail page doesn't display correctly with Opera, Opera have alot of nice features and all but there are WAY too many controls.

click_310
Eat my shorts
join:2002-12-06
Savannah, GA

click_310

Member

Re: Opera...

Thats what made me move to firefox from Opera. A while back Gmail could not be opened with Opera at all.
On the other hand Firefox does a sloppy job of rendering a lot of other pages. Not that its entirely its fault.
DarnellP
join:2004-10-12
Las Vegas, NV

DarnellP

Member

I'm an oddball

I like Safari...

platinumsun
Photographer For Life
join:2003-08-29
Houston, TX

platinumsun

Member

Re: I'm an oddball

ata boy
godmachine12
join:2004-04-06
Johnson City, TN

godmachine12 to DarnellP

Member

to DarnellP
said by DarnellP:

I like Safari...
You aren't the only one. I love Safari, but after reading this article I'm going to install Opera on my PowerBook and see how I like it. I used it on an XP box about 2 years ago and wasn't that impressed. Maybe the new version will change my mind...
Chodite
join:2003-08-21

Chodite

Member

Firefox fanboys?

I stopped using Firefox because of load times and it's overall speed being no better than IE. I'm curious as to what other reasons I should consider going back to Firefox?!?

oliphant
I Have 8 Boobies
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
Corona, CA

oliphant

Premium Member

Re: Firefox fanboys?

Don't you want to be cool like all the other kids? You know you aren't cool if you don't run FF.

reflex9
join:2004-02-09

reflex9

Member

CPU speed

The speed of Firefox seems to depend a lot on the speed of your CPU. On older systems i find the user interface sluggish because Firefox uses the cross-platform XUL language. Firefox is a lot better on newer PC's. But i still don't like the way Firefox renders the page before it is complete. IE is less jumpy on complicated pages.
throwdown
You Drink, You Drive, You Spill
Premium Member
join:2002-06-15
Shelton, CT

throwdown

Premium Member

Gmail support?

I love Opera, and I'd use it daily.. but Gmail doesn't support it. I can use POP for Gmail, I suppose... but I wish they'd support Opera!
davidviolin2
join:2005-02-15

davidviolin2

Member

Re: Gmail support?

Its known to most people now that Opera -does- support Gmail... Just download the Opera 8 version. There are some minor bugs that you will discover, but nothing that you can't live with. Enjoy Opera!!!

Maven
Premium Member
join:2002-03-12
Canada

Maven

Premium Member

K-Meleon

I'm a K-Meleon fan myself... All these other browsers are fine, but K-Meleon is customizable in every way, there's no comparison for that.
bdgriff
join:2003-09-03
Universal City, TX

bdgriff

Member

On the fence

OK, I straddle the Browser fence... I use BOTH IE (75%) and Firefox...I like them for different reasons, each with pros and cons. No big deal really is it????
claudeo
join:2000-02-23
Redmond, WA

claudeo

Member

I'd like to see a test over time

I'd like to see a test that compare the performance over time (e.g. what happens after an hour of use). There seem to be some memory leaks in a particular popular browser I'm using, that will cause progressive slowing down of the entire system. It might just be me so I won't name names, but I would like to see some kind of hard data from a systematic test.
godmachine12
join:2004-04-06
Johnson City, TN

godmachine12

Member

Re: I'd like to see a test over time

said by claudeo:

I'd like to see a test that compare the performance over time (e.g. what happens after an hour of use). There seem to be some memory leaks in a particular popular browser I'm using, that will cause progressive slowing down of the entire system. It might just be me so I won't name names, but I would like to see some kind of hard data from a systematic test.
If you are referring to Firefox the same thing happens to me on an XP box.

graycorgi
Premium Member
join:2004-02-23

graycorgi

Premium Member

I installed Opera 8...

...And although it loads much faster, page rendering times take over two times longer. Why?

Firefox 1.0 Latest Nightly w/ Adblock + Filterset.G

Interesting if someone can tell me why Opera 8 renders so slowly for me.

thender2
Glamour Profession
Premium Member
join:2004-05-16
Staten Island, NY

thender2

Premium Member

Re: I installed Opera 8...

If you're not loading the ads, there's less to render. Thus the pages load quicker.

My theory is adblock speeds it up.
thender2

thender2

Premium Member

I like Opera, and its speed, but..

It's cookie handling just disgusts me. Deleting cookies already there and telling Opera it cannot set them again is more irritating than in Mozilla. and if I tell it to ask me about third party and normal cookies, I get far more dialogs than I do with Firefox. If I disallow third party cookies, as I do in IE and firefox, I can't even stay logged in at dmusic.com.

It may be fast, but for me it's far from the best at functionality.

DaDogs
Semper Vigilantis
Premium Member
join:2004-02-28
Deltaville, VA

DaDogs

Premium Member

Im Impressed Guys...

This didn't turn into a browser jihad.

Well done people!
gees6ohv
Premium Member
join:2004-07-29
Torrance, CA

gees6ohv

Premium Member

No wonder

Hardware used, 800MHz Pentium 3 & 256 MB RAM?

These test are using hardware that was available before Windows 2000. I know that with my 2.53GHz processor & 512MB DDR RAM, Firefox out-performs IE anyday.

Viper007Bond
Premium Member
join:2002-09-26
Portland, OR

Viper007Bond

Premium Member

Re: No wonder

The point of using a slow machine is so that differences are noticable.

Speedy8
Premium Member
join:2002-08-22
Alliance, OH

Speedy8

Premium Member

If only...

If only opera had the plugins that Firefox has I'd go back to it in an instant. Well I just want adblock really. Yeah I know you can use filters with it, but it's not as quick and easy and it leaves white blocks on the pages where the ads used to be.
Jonny_eh
join:2004-10-12
Nepean, ON

Jonny_eh

Member

KHTML?

What about the browsers based on KHTML? Such as Safari and Konquerer?

They're both very good browsers.

I enjoyed using Opera, but as long as there is a viable open-source alternative, I'll use that.

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