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Battle of the Browsers in CPU and Memory usage

Posted By Raymond In Category: Computer

Aug
18
2006

Few years back, I used Internet Explorer because of the compatibility with many websites. Moreover, I’ve already got used to using Internet Explorer. So why bother changing?
Last year, Mozilla Firefox came up very strong and many people were using it. I tried it, and I love the tab browsing and it auto types in my username and password if I’ve saved them. It supports extensions or plug-ins which is great because there are hundreds or maybe even thousands of them in Mozilla’s website. I am not so much of a interface skinning fan. As long as it’s user friendly, I’d go for it.

Recently, I’ve been leaving my laptop on when I go to sleep and in the morning when I check my laptop, its quite hot and everything gets quite slow. I only left Mozilla Firefox on with 6 websites which I usually visit. I checked the Task Manager and found out that Firefox has ate a lot of my memory and my CPU usage was going up and down from 5% to 12%. I made sure that I removed all extensions and themes, tried again by leaving my laptop on when I go to sleep with the same 6 websites and still the same thing.

I searched around for this problem and it’s seems like IT IS a problem with Mozilla Firefox. Some even got hit with 99% of CPU usage from Firefox and the computer nearly hung! Seems like there is no solution until Mozilla developers fixes this problem which I don’t know when will that happen.
I have no choice but to switch browsers. I’ve made a CPU and Memory usage test with 6 websites on Avant Browser, FlashPeak SlimBrowser, Maxthon, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape Browser and Opera.
I made sure that I have all the latest version of the browsers above and I only took the screenshot when all 6 websites are fully loaded. Here’s result of the CPU and Memory usage test.


Mozilla Firefox v1.5.0.6
Mozilla Firefox CPU and Memory Usage
Mozilla Firefox is fluctuating from 8%-12% of CPU usage and 85,080K Memory was used up.
One of the site couldn’t load the data. Meaning Firefox might have compatibility problems.
Mozilla Firefox CPU and Memory Usage

Opera v9.01.8552
Opera CPU and Memory Usage
Opera is doing better than Firefox with 0% CPU usage and only 37,312K Memory was used up.
Also couldn’t load one of the site. Might have compatibility problems.
Opera CPU and Memory Usage

Netscape Browser v8.1
Netscape Browser CPU and Memory Usage
Netscape Browser is now based on Firefox browser. So I don’t think Netscape will do any better.
The CPU usage is quite high from 12%-17% which is higher than Firefox. Memory usage is at 51,952K.
Same thing, one of the site couldn’t load.
Netscape Browser CPU and Memory Usage

Avant Browser v10.2.52
Avant Browser CPU and Memory Usage
Avant Browser showed some good results with only 0%-2% CPU usage and only 35,316 Memory usage.
Avant Browser is able to load the site that Netscape, Mozilla and Opera can’t.
Avant Browser CPU and Memory Usage

Maxthon v1.5.6.42 Unicode
Maxthon CPU and Memory Usage
Maxthon showed even better results than all above with 0% CPU usage and only 19,676K Memory usage!
Maxthon have no problem loading all 6 websites.
Maxthon CPU and Memory Usage

FlashPeak SlimBrowser v4.07.100
FlashPeak SlimBrowser CPU and Memory Usage
As for this final browser that I will be testing, moderate CPU usage at 5% and a whopping Memory Usage of 90,832K!
SlimBrowser have no problem in loading all 6 websites.
FlashPeak SlimBrowser CPU and Memory Usage

Obviously Maxthon is the winner for CPU and Memory usage in Battle of the Browsers. I did not test Internet Explorer because the new IE7 which has tabs is still in beta. Result of the test might not be accurate until it is officially out.
So if you’re a person who visits many websites at a time and leaving them on for a while, you can try using Maxthon to solve the high CPU and Memory usage problem.


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    • http://www.biztoolbelt.com/ colbert

      you can try the Memory Cleaner from Advanced WindowsCare to free up RAM after closing apps..Its quite good

    • Carson

      I’ve used Firefox for years, even while it was still Firebird. The memory problem you mention has always been there. You are correct.

      However, the Internet Explorer and its shells are integrated in your Windows system. That is what one of Microsoft’s biggest antitrust lawsuits ever was about. What that means is that Windows comes up with a LOT of Internet Explorer already loaded. That has two results: (1) You can call up IE much, much faster than Firefox, BUT (2) your memory usage statistics for IE and group is incorrect. You are NOT seeing what memory Windows is contributing to the browser operation.

      In other words, your oven is always on “warm” so it is quickly available to you when you want it “hot”. But only the extra energy shows up.

      Back to your article, everyone really does need to be aware that not all browsers are really browsers. Maxthon, Avant, and a bunch of other ones are just pretty skins or shells on IE. If IE were not on your system, they would not run. To see the whole list, look in IE7 and see the other browsers that Microsoft is quite happy to bring to your attention. No problem for Microsoft; those are not browsers at all.

      IE, Firefox, Netscape, K-Meleon, and Opera are real stand-alone browsers. There are others.

      K-Meleon is maybe the fastest and lightest weight, although Opera is a strong contender for fastest as well. K-M is the most configurable of the bunch, but it is like the foobar2000 media player—tricky to use until you know how, and very plain out of the box. It attracts just a few people, who are pretty savvy around computers. By the way, it REALLY comes into its own on old 98se systems or any system without much memory or speed.

      I run 3 browsers. I almost never use my IE7, although it is much nicer than IE6. Firefox’s memory drain doesn’t bother my system—and I usually do several restarts, anyway, in a day. (Yes, my computer runs all night.) I use K-M as my default, because it is fastest and most reliable. Sort of like a sports car. I run Firefox as my truck to haul things.

      I don’t use the IE shells, but some of them are cute, or pretty. But I’d rather run IE than run an IE shell. Just my preference.

      Hope this helps.

    • http://raymond.cc Raymond

      Carson, thanks for your suggestion and I totally agree with you :)

    • Merlin_Magii

      Fascinating and instructional exchange of views there – thank you both – I learned a lot from that.

    • Luke V.

      thank you very much for this detailed review! it was Exactly what i was looking for!
      keep it up!

    • yman

      Now i’m using the new version of Avant Browser and i think it’s really good. One issue is if Avant Browser is closed improperly, all open web pages are saved and will be automatically reopened at next startup. I got from here: Avant Browser

    • http://MaxthonusesIE Mike

      I think it would have been nice if you compared these browsers to Internet Explorer as well. Fact is Maxthon is a shell around IE, so if Maxthon performs well, IE should too!

      I found this article because my Maxthon browser takes up way too much CPU. Any solutions?

    • Steve

      I was amazed when I saw how little memory Maxthon was using. And the classic version is even liter

    • santanu samanta

      hey freinds, can we have some input on Chrome please?

    • Iswear

      I prefer Avant browser,very low memory usage, very easy to customize (such disable JavaScript, ActiveX, …), being able to block ads and pop-ups. I wonder why MS doesn`t do the same for us.

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