How fast can your browser run?
I wanted to see which browser has the latest and greatest in both rendering engine and javascript engine, so using three well known tests, I put the latest available browser versions for Mac to the test.
What was tested?
The following browsers were tested:
For those unaware, Chromium is the latest semi-stable version of Chrome, Minefield is Firefox’s latest, and Webkit is Safari’s latest. I couldn’t find a development build of Opera, so used the latest available.
For anyone impatient, I’ll come right out and say it: Webkit and Chromium are tied. Keep on reading to see how.
How were the tests run?
I’m not a scientist. I don’t need untainted results, but I did follow some basic guidelines for each test.
- I used the same machine to test all four browsers. A Macbook, version 10.6.3, 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, with 2 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM.
- All programs on my machine were shutdown except the browser being tested.
- Each browser only ran one test at a time
- Each test was run five times and the best score picked from it
- Webkit with 100/100 and 1.04s
- Chromium with 100/100 and 1.39s
- Opera with 100/100 and 1.67s
- Minefield with 97/100 and 1.56s
- Webkit with 294.4ms
- Chromium with 334.9ms
- Opera with 426.6ms
- Minefield with 777.1ms
- Chromium with 5150
- Opera with 3020
- Webkit with 3020
- Minefield with 818
Results
If each place equaled 1 point, then you end up with:
- Webkit and Chromium tied with 5 points
- Opera a close second with 8 points
- Minefield not even close, 12 points
Conclusion
If you want a nice and fast browser, use Chrome or Safari when they get updated to what is currently in development.
Minefield (eventually Firefox) has a long way to go with JS engine performance before it’ll catch up, and full compliance of the Acid 3 tests might still be a fair way off (from what I hear, it may never be 100%, the developers don’t find the last 3 points necessary features).
I personally made the switch from Firefox to Chrome not too long ago and the speed difference, from loading Chrome to browsing websites, is notably faster in Chrome than it was in Firefox.
