Safari vs. Chrome
I’ve been following the news and reviews of Google’s new web browser, Chrome. While the Chrome beta is currently only available for Windows, Google has promised to release Mac and Linux versions in the near future.
Chrome is actually based on the same browsing engine that powers Safari, an open source project called WebKit. WebKit isn't a complete browser; it’s a rendering engine used by popular browser applications, including Safari, KHTML, and now Chrome.
Chrome looks to be an excellent browser, one I may very well use as my default browser in Windows once it exits beta testing. One thing I noticed right off was that Google has tweaked the JavaScript engine used in Chrome to produce incredibly speedy results from web sites that use JavaScript. Google wants fast JavaScript capabilities because it wants Chrome to be the browser for choice for individuals who use Google-based services, which use a lot of JavaScript.
Handling JavaScript-heavy web sites is one area where Safari could use a good tuneup. So I decided to test Safari against Chrome on Google's JavaScript test site. This site only tests how quickly a browser can run Google's JavaScript tests; it's not indicative of how fast a browser actually performs. Still, it was an interesting comparison. The JavaScript test site uses five tests to check various types of JavaScript performance.
Here are the results of my test of Safari 3.1.2 and Chrome, on a 3 GHz Mac Pro.
- Overall score: 231/9720
- Richards: 133/7033
- DeltaBlue: 190/8844
- Crypto: 203/8212
- RayTrace: 295/13377
- EarleyBoyer: 439/12698
As you can see, Chrome, which is heavily optimized for JavaScript, left Safari in the dust, at least when it comes to running JavaScript. Most banking sites and many online services, such as web-based email and other web-based applications, use JavaScript.
All I can say is I hope Apple decides to give Safari a JavaScript tuneup in the near future.
Read what Marziah Karch, the About.com Guide to Google, and Scott Orgero, the About.com Guide to Web Browsers, have to say about Chrome.
Comments
Excellent write-up! You answered just what I wanted to know as a Mac user.
Sincerely.
hi, ive got a browser detection written on php, but when i used google chrome its the same as safari.
yeah your right guys google chrome umtimized javascript. and i read some inside news that they might use google chrome as operating system.
Thank you for the information.
I’m using the Windows XP and Mac OSX on my MacBook. I was wondering, is the difference of OS affect the result? My personal opinion is yes.
Well, I really want to use the Chrome on Mac, but until Google shows the Chrome for mac, it’s kind of hard to distinguish between them.
I say that Google Chrome is excellent for speed, performance, and security. I was very impressed with Google Chrome and enjoy using it, however I just had to switch to Apple Safari. Both are based on Webkit and I believe that Webkit is the best rendering engine for any web browser. Apple does have it’s reputation for the iPhone being still the most popular and unmatched mobile device. Apple Safari, even though Firefox took control, has been gaining more market share then ever and Google Chrome as well.
My point is, Apple Safari should be the king of all web browsers when it comes to ease of use, performance, and speed. Google Chrome definitely takes over speed, however when it comes to their UI and structure of their web browser, Safari takes the lead.
You may read my blog post here about my opinion with Google Chrome and Apple Safari: http://www.boricuaspacepr.net/profiles/blogs/google-chrome-might-actually