Thinkpads Forum

Which browser would you recommend? Internet Explorer 8, current version of Chrome, current version of Opera, or Firefox 3.5? Or maybe one that I didn't list? And why?

This is not an OS question....it's more of a poll really. Moving thread to correct forum and created poll.

I was a long-time user of IE6. Tried Opera about a year or so ago, and never have used IE again. The latest version utilizes a data compression technology which really improves browsing speed for those of us still stuck on dial-up.


FireFox can suck it.

wasn't there a poll like that recently not so long ago?

tete's optimized firefox is noticeably faster than the original firefox on older/slower machines : http://www1.plala.or.jp/tete009/en-US/software.html

On this machine I have to choose between speed (startup mostly) and memory usage.
SlimBrowser on top of IE6 has always worked out for me. I tested IE7 one day and thought it used too
much memory. Went back to IE6. Later I tried IE8 and that was a no go. I don't remember what options
I chose during its install but it pretty much hijacked my system. Caused programs to take forever to
start (like some on-access virus scanners might do). There were other issues I don't remember so I
got rid of it. I eventually settled on IE7 as a compromise.
Various websites with a lot of flash-based content will cause memory use to increase in short order.

Firefox 3.5.x is extremely slow to startup (there are workarounds for that I hear) and uses up a bit too
much memory in my opinion. I've always used and liked Firefox from the beginning but on this machine
it's relegated to tertiary status.
(Tried to use an optimized build once but it required a dll only available if some MS development tools
were installed which I didn't have at the time)

As of late SeaMonkey has been getting a lot of use from me. It seems so stable memory-wise.
I can browse for a long time without memory rising. Plus if I need to send an email via a mailto URL
I don't have to worry about the extra overhead of a separate mail program starting (Thunderbird was
my previous handler but it's also slow to start, frustrating when you want to send out a quick mail -
The Bat! is my current handler).

Opera is good I suppose (been using it since the Win3.x days) but in general any browser I use
regularly must support the RoboForm toolbar.

Still testing Lunascape with its triple-rendering feature.

So, on a 512MB T21 it's either SlimBrowser or SeaMonkey.

here is how i break this down:
for ramdisk usage IE8 seems to be the fastest browser
for hard drive usage FF3.5 seems to be the most user friendly browser
for hard drive usage chrome is the fastest browser

p78 wrote:tete's optimized firefox is noticeably faster than the original firefox on older/slower machines : http://www1.plala.or.jp/tete009/en-US/software.html

On this T21 I see a definite improvement in both startup times and general feel.
If all goes well Firefox/Shiretoko will be bumped back up to secondary status.

SlimBrowser keeps crashing as of late. I suspect a conflict with either some IE7 add-on or
the recent big Patch Tuesday offerings.

Marc

Yeah, after reading about tete's Firefox here, I had to try it on my 600X. It does feel a little faster, but, startup is where I notice the most improvement. I can't remember the last time I used anything other than Firefox.

My favorite browser is not listed, but then that is because I run a Mac 90% of the time. My choice is Safari.

+1 for Safari on Mac's and Firefox for other OS's.

kmeleon 1.6 alpha 3 is out and is very lean and fast, noticeably on old PCs ...
download : http://sourceforge.net/projects/kmeleon/files/

IE8 all the way for me...

Opera 10.5 is out and it (actually its betas) got me to ditch Chrome from my previous Opera - Chrome tandem.

firefox for me on my winXP and win7 boxes.

IE8 for windows updates -and a few ActiveX ( I assume) webpages.

Firefox 3.5.8 for almost everything

Chrome is needed to get reasonable speed out of Google. (I am certain that there is some sort of priority placed on Chrome/ Google searches. Sometime I can wait for 10 minutes or so for a response from Firefox/ Google; Place the same search into Chrome and get an instant response - meanwhile Firefox is still waiting...)

So it is not a case of which one is best (Firefox, on my opinion) but different horses for different courses. You need all three.

Firefox 3.6 for me!
Lots of neat skins. Speed is a bit better than IE8 on my A31p's. It's blazing fast on my xServer.
IE8 is agonizing on start up on my Dell Optiplex 2.6 at work, while FF 3.6 is very quick.
Of course, there are a lot of sites that do not work correctly with FF, but that's where that little FF ad-in comes in handy (render page as IE)

Just my observations.

I use an older version of firefox, as the newer one blur/antialias pixelart on pixeljoint when zooming in, but everytime I open the task manager it's always munching around the 100mb mark.

Harryc wrote:My favorite browser is not listed, but then that is because I run a Mac 90% of the time. My choice is Safari.

Good choice. I love Safari on OS X. I hate the Windows build of it though.

Under Windows and Linux I run Firefox. It has the extensions I want for security and ad/flash blocking, is very customizable and in general a better browser than IE. I have tried Chrome and while it's speed is impressive, its lack of flash/ad blocking, no script, ghostery and so on have relegated it to being run once a week or less.