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User profile for user: Roger Mad-eye
Roger Mad-eye Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Lightweight browser?

Hi folks
I looked at Activity monitor while running Safari3 on the iBook, as my son complained that an internet game (Runescape - a java based game) was slow compared to the MacBook Pro (duh, of course it's slower!). Activity Monitor showed the CPU running at capacity while on Runescape. I was curious about whether there was a browser that I could use that was lighter on the CPU. Maxxing the RAM has helped, as there was still some unused!
I Googled, but wondered whether this forum might give a more reliable answer?
Anyway, best wishes for the holiday season, and I look forward to the replies.
Roger

MacBook Pro, iBook G3/500, 10.4.11, 640MB, 30GB

Posted on Dec 20, 2007 3:23 PM

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9 replies
User profile for user: Roger Mad-eye
Roger Mad-eye Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Dec 21, 2007 12:57 PM in response to Roger Mad-eye

Well, how it goes is not much different to Safari really, according to the Activity Monitor. Which is fine for most things in reality. I guess the question for my son is how much does he think it is worth to play this particular game. And then he can dig deep and shell out for the upgrade. As it stands this old iBook is fine as a computer, but not as a games machine.
Anyway, thanks for the suggestion.
Regards
ROGER
And if anyone else has any lightweight tips, I'd be happy to read them.
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User profile for user: Ronda Wilson
Ronda Wilson
User level: Level 8
42,650 points

Dec 21, 2007 3:42 PM in response to Roger Mad-eye

I have noticed that Firefox is not usually as big a memory hog as Safari.

It may help to close all other applications excepting the browser he's trying to play the game in. If that doesn't help, restarting the iBook before launching the browser and loading the game may help.

As alternative browsers, you can try Camino, Opera, SeaMonkey, OmniWeb, or Shiira.

The iBook G3 500 MHz came out in 2001, so you are looking at a six-year-old computer and it's not going to run all of the newest things, obviously.
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User profile for user: y_p_w
y_p_w
User level: Level 6
17,642 points

Dec 24, 2007 1:51 PM in response to Ronda Wilson

Ronda Wilson wrote:
I have noticed that Firefox is not usually as big a memory hog as Safari.

It may help to close all other applications excepting the browser he's trying to play the game in. If that doesn't help, restarting the iBook before launching the browser and loading the game may help.

As alternative browsers, you can try Camino, Opera, SeaMonkey, OmniWeb, or Shiira.

The iBook G3 500 MHz came out in 2001, so you are looking at a six-year-old computer and it's not going to run all of the newest things, obviously.


I've got a 12" iBook G3 600. It got noticeably slow trying to process complex Java or Flash browser embedded applications. The complexity of the embedded application is going to be the reason for maxing out CPU usage and not the browser. It probably would help to close as many applications as possible, but the machine just isn't well suited for many more recent Java application.

It's also a little bit flaky with AirPort, but I hardly used it after getting my 14" iBook G4 1.42. That was considerably faster, and even that's outdated compared to my new Santa Rosa MacBook.
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User profile for user: Ronda Wilson
Ronda Wilson
User level: Level 8
42,650 points

Dec 24, 2007 2:28 PM in response to y_p_w

My MacBook is the one just prior to the Santa Rosa (I think), but at 2.0 GHz and with 2 GB of RAM, it does positively put the old iBooks (G3 and G4) to shame.

Still, Safari does grab memory like crazy. I use Safari all the time, so I see it daily.

Sometimes Firefox can handle applications that Safari simply cannot, so trying a different browser is a good idea. Firefox is my (distant) #2 choice of browsers.
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User profile for user: y_p_w
y_p_w
User level: Level 6
17,642 points

Dec 24, 2007 3:18 PM in response to Ronda Wilson

Ronda Wilson wrote:
My MacBook is the one just prior to the Santa Rosa (I think), but at 2.0 GHz and with 2 GB of RAM, it does positively put the old iBooks (G3 and G4) to shame.

Still, Safari does grab memory like crazy. I use Safari all the time, so I see it daily.

Sometimes Firefox can handle applications that Safari simply cannot, so trying a different browser is a good idea. Firefox is my (distant) #2 choice of browsers.


I was told that Safari might not be 100% compliant with cascading style sheets while Firefox is. Hotmail wasn't working on Safari for a while (someone at Microsoft wasn't standards compliant?) To this day the scout.com message boards don't allow me to quote or access certain editing features using Safari. Perhaps Safari does use a bit more resources, but I find that the important reason for having a backup browser is just that Firefox handles some web pages better.
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Lightweight browser?

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