I have used Mozilla Firefox, as my default browser for a couple of years now. Mainly because it was lightweight, fast and secure.
However, a couple of months ago, it started to feel gawky, slow and unstable, with several crashes. I uninstalled it, and did a fresh install. Nevertheless, even though things where, almost, back to normal for a while, the problems did come back, this time with vengeance.
Every time I started Firefox, my computer started to behave like a stubborn child, refusing to do anything. After a little check up, I discovered the problem, Firefox where consuming almost 1GB of memory!
Instead of fooling around with it anymore, I decided that this would be a good time to take Google Chrome for a spin. Said and done, I went to http://www.google.com/chrome and installed it.
I launched it, and the first thing that struck me, was the clean layout and absent of annoying buttons and menu bars. I thought that this was clearly a browser made for one purpose only, browsing the web, without any resource hungry bells & whistles, just what I wanted.
As I started to surf around, I got the feeling that everything worked smoother and faster, than with Firefox. I decided to check the memory usage and found the answer. Chrome was using only 70MB, to serve up 3 tabs.
Exuberant, I deiced to use Chrome as my default browser, to see how it would perform over a longer period.
That was 2 weeks ago.
Needles to say, Google Chrome is now my default browser and that thanks for a couple of key features that, in my book, are crucial;
Speed
In my environment, Chrome starts as I click it and it provides fast, hassle free and smooth browsing, without any strange hiccups or memory consumption.
Simplicity
In Chrome, you have an address bar, and nothing more. That gives the web more room to ‘breathe’ and you, a more pleasant and streamlined workspace.
If you need to search for anything, all you need to do is to type in the keyword in the address field and hit enter, simple. Need to bookmark a page, just click the little star and you’re done, simple.
However, the biggest reason for my switch is that Chrome stays out of the way and doesn’t bother me as I surf and work online, as if it were not there at all!
Therefore, if you’re looking for a fast and hassle free browser, without any bells & whistles, I can truly recommend Chrome.
Since this is my experience of Chrome, I think it would be interesting to hear yours. Do you use or have used Chrome, what was your experience, what did you like or dislike about it?
{ 1 trackback }