Safari 4 benchmarked: 42x faster than IE 7, 3.5x faster than Firefox 3

C-Net UK ^ | 02/25/2009 | Nate Lanxon

[Swordmaker]

Safari 4 benchmarked: 42x faster than IE 7, 3.5x faster than Firefox 3

By Nate Lanxon on 24 February 2009, 6:01pm

Proving itself a staggering 42 times faster at rendering JavaScript than IE 7, our benchmarks confirm Apple's Safari 4 browser, released in beta today, is the fastest browser on the planet. In fact, it beat Google's Chrome, Firefox 3, Opera 9.6 and even Mozilla's developmental Minefield browser.

We used the SunSpider suite of JavaScript tests to determine which browser was the quickest, and the Safari 4 beat every browser in terms of speed, on both a PC running Windows XP SP2, and a Mac running OS X 10.5.6 with all updates applied.

Below are the actual figures if you want to see how all seven browsers scored against each other, but for quick reference we determined on a PC that Safari was a whopping 42 times faster than Internet Explorer 7, just over six times faster than Internet Explorer 8, 3.5 times faster than Firefox 3, and 1.2 times faster than Google Chrome. Here's Safari versus the rest, excluding IE 7:

Add IE 7's results to the PC graph and witness the shocking truth. These are results from a PC with a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo:

1) Safari 4 (Total time: 910ms)
2) Mozilla Minefield 3.2a1 (1,136ms)
3) Google Chrome (1,177ms)
4) Firefox 3 (3,250ms)
5) Opera 9.6 (4,076ms)
6) Internet Explorer 8 (5,839ms)
7) Internet Explorer 7 (39,026ms)

On Mac OS X, Safari was four times faster than Firefox 3 and a depressing (for Opera) 7.5 times faster than Opera 9.6.

Results (fastest at the top) on Mac OS X (2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo):

1) Safari 4 (Total time 967ms)
2) Minefield 3.2a1 (969ms)
3) Firefox 3 (3803ms)
4) Opera 9.6 (7322ms)

We'll be bringing you a full hands-on report with the new features of Safari very soon, but you can download it yourself already here.

[KarenMarie]

Ahhh...Sorry.

This thing is only about 4 days old so I just figured it came with the newest version of software.

my mistake.
:)

[Rev DMV]

Switched to Chrome sometime back, nice to see it’s almost as fast.

It certainly smokes IE7(reason I made the switch), I occasionally have to use IE for a couple of sites and amazing how much slower that beast is.

[Swordmaker]

This thing is only about 4 days old so I just figured it came with the newest version of software.

Stick with Safari 3 until you get the hang of your new Mac. You don't need a beta test version introducing random chaos (not that I expect any) while you're learning a new system. If you have any questions or need help, freepmail me.

[Swordmaker]

This thing is only about 4 days old so I just figured it came with the newest version of software.

Since you've just got your Mac, I suggest you click "Software Update' under the black Apple menu on the menu bar... computers in the delivery stream usually need to be updated to the latest and greatest versions. Also there was a security update released about a week ago you need to install. That will be done by the Software Update routines.

[jeffc]

I really can't believe how bad IE7 is. It hangs all the time on a system I used IE6 for over a year with no problems at all.
Good thing it's on my gaming rig - no web surfing done there - strictly games with a very stripped down XP OS (250gig HD with 192 gig free!).

[Westlander]

[CodeToad]

IE loads fast for me. So what if a browser can load even faster than I can detect.

[KarenMarie]

That is very sweet of you to offer!

I gotta say, building computers for all these years, I balked at what apple were asking for their machines. Spec for spec... I did not understand how they could charge so much more that PC based systems.

Until I got one. Right out of the box I noticed a difference. This is a gorgeous, amazing machine... the look, the feel, the performance! After one hour with the trackpad, I am annoyed by my other laptops and that is just the start of the differences!

I put this little macbook next to my dell laptop, my HP laptop and there is NO comparision.

Thanks again for the offer, I just might take you up on that!

:)

[antiRepublicrat]

They said “up to 30 times faster” and it’s 42 times faster. A computer company UNDERSTATED how much faster its product is? I’m impressed.

We need one of our Apple haters to say “They promised 30x and gave 42x. Apple lied to me!”

[Mr. Blonde]

I agree on the trackpad. After switching I found windows laptops practically unusable. People complained about the one button, but to me the way they did it made more sense. I don’t know if they are still complaining about the full trackpad button.

[antiRepublicrat]

I really can't believe how bad IE7 is.

IE7 is by far the slowest browser I've ever used. It can look like it's hung for minutes while it's crunching the JavaScript on some modern pages. May the gods watch over you if you control-click a bunch of links rapid-fire to open them in new tabs, and those sites have complex JavaScript.

I have noticed Firefox hesitates a little on my Mac with the complex pages, which adds up when opening 10 pages at once, so maybe that'll be the kicker that finally moves me to Safari.

[Uncle Hal]

I have been using Safari for the last few weeks and it appears to be the fastest browser out there, at least for me. I downloaded the latest version yesterday. I cannot go directly to outlook express from Safari which is a major drag. But its speed makes up for this. Like any new browser it is just a matter of getting used to it.

[KarenMarie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VeAOK8Rxoo <-— absolutely amazing!

hahaha. Still getting used to it, but it is just ... well, amazing!

I just put iWorks and i Life on the machine last night so I will have loads to learn over the coming weeks. I have never used a mac before.

:)

[ansel12]

“Stick with Safari 3 until you get the hang of your new Mac. You don’t need a beta test version introducing random chaos (not that I expect any) while you’re learning a new system.”

---

That is such great advice for so many people, whether PC or Mac I am amazed at how many people that are clear novices are bombarded with instructions to switch to all kinds of operating systems or browsers etc., when what they really need is to just start computing for a while, and then start the nerd stuff later.

[Big Giant Head]

I downloaded it this morning. I guess maybe I need to reboot or something, because I don’t sense the speed. Opera and Chrome fly, but so far Safari seemed about the same as Firefox.

I haven’t found a way to import my bookmarks yet.

[itsahoot]

Firefox is fast enough and it doesn’t force me into a single source for hardware

Neither does Safari, or do you just log on these threads to pi$$ on Mac user?

[itsahoot]

Why would I want to load javascript 3.5x faster?

Because JavaSript infects the web at every turn.

[fnord]

hooray! the speed with which javascript loads is the most important thing I consider when choosing a browser, lol

[astyanax]

Because JavaSript infects the web at every turn.
All the more reason to let it run only when absolutely necessary.

[webschooner]

I am still on IE6 and Media Player 10 (Media Player 11 sux). I don’t download any new versions of Windows programs for our 3 XP machines.

I may try the Safari beta to compare it to IE6.