Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

salparadise · Aug 2, 2008, 03:27 AM

What is it with OSX (Tiger) and web browsers?
I've tried opera, safari, camino, firefox and seamonkey and all of them end up using vast amounts of memory and running the processor at close to 100%.

Are there any browsers out there I can rely on?

(I don't understand why a 1200mhz chip and half a gig of RAM isn't enough to run a web browser. I'm using Safari at the moment and to have this page open and type this message requires the chip to run at 100%??!).

Chuckit · Aug 2, 2008, 04:28 AM

Web browsers are not low-memory apps. High CPU usage on a page with no Flash or anything is not normal, though. Do you have any extensions or plugins or anything of the like installed? Or do you have a Flash movie in the background, maybe?

CrimsonRequiem · Aug 2, 2008, 05:11 AM

That sounds really odd to me, because out of all the browsers you posted I think Firefox uses the least resources. I browse the web with 20+ tabs all the time and never have any lagg. >_>""

Maybe u need more RAM?

salparadise · Aug 2, 2008, 01:08 PM

I think another 512MB would help loads. I'm on a bottom of the range single core PPC Mac Mini (doh) and maybe expecting too much from it. I'm new to OSX, after having spent the last 5 years or so more or less exclusively on Linux so please excuse any dumb questions.

I seem to spend half my life on the net watching the multicoloured pinwheel thingy. Flash seems to be the culprit. I don't remember it being this ugly on Linux (although the BBC moved from realplayer to flash for their content which has made a difference).
Safari seems to go from 50-60MB to over 100 when in use. Camino hangs regularly. Firefox is OK but also hangs a lot and Opera, well, Opera is Opera. Think I may have to save up for some RAM. It does seem as though it's mostly the web browsers that have this problem. Other apps that aren't web facing don't seem to behave the same way. Hence the original question.

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

Cold Warrior · Aug 2, 2008, 01:28 PM

As you mentioned, 512 MB is too low for Tiger and web browsers to run well.

besson3c · Aug 2, 2008, 01:32 PM

Yeah, Aqua is a real pig when it comes to resource consumption. I guess this is why Apple is working on Snow Leopard...

mduell · Aug 2, 2008, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by salparadise

I seem to spend half my life on the net watching the multicoloured pinwheel thingy. Flash seems to be the culprit. I don't remember it being this ugly on Linux (although the BBC moved from realplayer to flash for their content which has made a difference).

It's not. OS X is the worst platform for flash performance/usability.

Chuckit · Aug 2, 2008, 06:05 PM

Yeah, I don't like Flash on any platform, but Adobe's OS X plugin is just atrocious.

jmiddel · Aug 2, 2008, 06:31 PM

I agree, Flash sites just sit there loading, it's loathsome. I'd feel awful subjecting visitors to my websites to this, which is why, despite the cutsie effects, I never consider using it. And that on a DP G5 with 4 gees of RAM.

But, salparadise, if you can, upgrade RAM to the max, it really does help, as others have wisely said already.