Safari 5 announced, boasts twice the speed of Firefox 3.6

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Matthew DeCarlo

Matthew DeCarlo

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In addition to officially uncorking the latest iPhone handset and operating system, Apple also announced Safari 5 today. The new build touts improved DNS prefetching and page caching, making it 30% quicker than Safari 4 (based on SunSpider 0.9.1, a JavaScript benchmark), 3% faster than the recently launched Chrome 5, and over two times the speed of Firefox 3.6.

Safari 5 features over a dozen new HTML5 technologies, including full screen playback and closed captions for HTML5 video, HTML5 geolocation, HTML5 sectioning elements, HTML5 draggable attribute, HTML5 forms validation, HTML5 Ruby, HTML5 AJAX history, EventSource and WebSocket. Apple has also launched the Safari Developer Program to let developers create Safari Extensions, which are sandboxed and signed with a digital certificate from Apple for security.

Another key feature is Safari Reader, a function that lets users "read single and multipage articles on the Web by presenting them in a new, scrollable view without any additional content or clutter." When the browser detects an article, users can click an icon to display the post for "clear, uninterrupted reading." Safari Reader has a few tools, such as the ability to enlarge, print, or send via email.

Interestingly, the press release for Safari 5 has disappeared on PR Newswire. That said, one is available on Apple's site, it shouldn't be long before the rollout. When Safari 5 goes live, both Mac OS X and Windows users will be able to download it here.

Update: It seems to be available now, although there is a minor error on the page. We assume someone's scrambling to get it out the door.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/39224-safari-5-announced-boasts-twice-the-speed-of-firefox-36.html

 
I'm old, set in my ways, and I dislike all things Apple. So it looks like I'm just going to have to be patient with my beloved Firefox.
 
all of these browsers feature and play 'speed wars' with each other. does it really make a difference to anybody if your page loads in .0003 as opposed to .0006 seconds? is there a an application where it makes a difference? maybe it does, would like to hear from someone that a thousandth of a sec matters.
 
red1776 said:
all of these browsers feature and play 'speed wars' with each other. does it really make a difference to anybody if your page loads in .0003 as opposed to .0006 seconds? is there a an application where it makes a difference? maybe it does, would like to hear from someone that a thousandth of a sec matters.
Click to expand...
You really are old and jaded when a 3% speed improvement over Chrome doesn't rock your world.
 
Then again Firefox keeps slowing down with certain JS. Unfortunately no other browser is up to par in terms of customization and useful add-ons available.
 
Julio said:
Then again Firefox keeps slowing down with certain JS. Unfortunately no other browser is up to par in terms of customization and useful add-ons available.
Click to expand...
Really, nice dark themes like "NASA Night Launch", "Old Factory", and my favorite, "Metal Lion 300" by Frank Lion. Oh, then there's "No Script". This all makes for a relaxing, tranquil, uninterrupted browsing experience.
 
gather round chillin.....

captaincranky said:
You really are old and jaded when a 3% speed improvement over Chrome doesn't rock your world.
Click to expand...

...why in my day, we had nNtscape and 9600 baud. the time between pages gave us time to plow the fields or whittle...that's the way it was and we liked it!....weeee loved it!
 
I just tried it for Windows. It is a competent browser. If you were using Safari 4 with now probs on windows, then Safari 5 is all under the hood stuff that you may not notice.

However Safari 5 again seems a lot better on the OS X than Windows. My standard macbook run Safari with snap and excellent GUI responsiveness, while the Windows versions seems to be a step back even though it is the same machine through bootcamp. That said I still use Firefox as my mainbrowser when I need to do work, and Google Chrome for everything else.
 
Guest said:
However Safari 5 again seems a lot better on the OS X than Windows. My standard macbook run Safari with snap and excellent GUI responsiveness, while the Windows versions seems to be a step back even though it is the same machine through bootcamp.
Click to expand...
Sort of makes you wonder if Apple planned it that way, doesn't it...?
 
I stopped using Firefox, its noticeably slower than Chrome. Firefox has more add-ons, but I was starting to notice that some pages were loading annoyingly long.
 
Julio said:
Unfortunately no other browser is up to par in terms of customization and useful add-ons available.
Click to expand...

Indeed, one of the main reasons I love FF and don't plan to switch anytime soon. I'll still use Chrome as a secondary browser though.
 
Safari, no matter how fast it will become it won't be able to compete on a PC with firefox. (or even chrome). But i'm a bit skeptic about those speed claims. I need some benchmarks.
 
Uhm, hmm, I'd rather stick with Opera and Chrome. And by the way, Opera 10.60 alpha beats every browser in JS performance, with Chrome 6 devel in second place.
 
The "Reader" feature in Safari is REALLY nice. I've been browsing some tech sites using it and I'm very impressed. I can't get away from my NoScript, AdBlock+, and Firefox Sync though...
 
Basher said:
The "Reader" feature in Safari is REALLY nice. I've been browsing some tech sites using it and I'm very impressed. I can't get away from my NoScript, AdBlock+, and Firefox Sync though...
Click to expand...

Same! I like the feature but Firefox with AdBlock+ and NoScript with Fasterfox and its still unbeatable.
 
can anyone confirm how fast this is on windows?
rather than 1 person?
or will i have to download myself...
 
Humm I run Palemoon http://www.palemoon.org/ (firefox opensource with stuff stripped out for speed) and it is superfast. I wouldn't run anything apple as they just feed your a bunch of BS. Twice as fast.... I would love to see actual proof of that...lol
 
captaincranky said:
I'm old, set in my ways, and I dislike all things Apple. So it looks like I'm just going to have to be patient with my beloved Firefox.
Click to expand...

Haha...reminds me of the fanboy article posted a few days ago :p

windmill007 said:
Humm I run Palemoon http://www.palemoon.org/ (firefox opensource with stuff stripped out for speed) and it is superfast.
Click to expand...

Ditto. If you use firefox, installing Palemoon just puts it over firefox. You don't have to import your themes and bookmarks and whatever else. As soon as you install it, it's as if you were still using firefox...nothing changes other than the speed.
 
My Browser's Faster than Your Browser...Waddya Think of That..?

Actually, I think you all sort of missed my original point. (Well I may have stretched the truth a bit also).

I pretty much don't care about the script handling of FF, because 90% of the time, I block it.....http://noscript.net/

I have 1 Meg DSL, so it's likely as much responsible for pages loading slowly as Firefox.. It this case, ignorance is really bliss.

So, After combining "No Script" with the privacy settings available in FF, I won't be switching to "Chrome" or anything Apple anytime soon.

Oh BTW, you can absolutely, positively put that Chrome browser someplace where the sun doesn't shine. This because the minute you fire it up, Google has its nose up your place the sun doesn't shine.

Again call me a fanboi if you must, but I'm still sticking with Firefox
ikesmasher said:
i have insanly slow download speeds
Click to expand...
Ouch, sorry to hear that. But switching browsers won't do anything to improve that.
 
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