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Web Process + Safari now hogging 50-75% more memory than Safari 5.0.5 did

Now that Apple has split Safari into two processes — Web Process (handles page loads and other traffic) and Safari (handles interface, bookmarks, history, etc) — these two processes together are using 50% to 75% more memory than Safari did before the upgrade to 5.1.


Three days ago, the most RAM I'd ever seen Safari hog (after several hours of surfing multiple tabs) was 1.1GB (still way more than it needed, once back down to 3 or 4 tabs).


Today, after surfing only an hour:


WebProcess 1.3GB

Safari 552MB


Anyone else seeing this? And anyone have ideas about limiting this memory hogging?

Macbook Pro 13, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 10.6.7

Posted on Jul 27, 2011 2:04 AM

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72 replies

Jul 28, 2011 10:31 PM in response to 100 Watt Walrus

Hey,


I have the same problems, and I'd like to add that Safari seems significantly sloppier, too, since this very recent update.


Could this be because this new Safari version is optimized for Lion, and the "old" OS X doesn't handle this well?


Honestly, after noting this significant difference. I am surprised at not seeing more cases of this from the community, nor any fixes.


Beta ( http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2085630,00.html )?

Jul 29, 2011 12:31 AM in response to endeavourer

endeavourer wrote:


Safari seems significantly sloppier, too, since this very recent update.


Definitely. Examples:


Sometimes when switching to tabs or windows that have been idle for a while, the page is blank and white for about half a second before it load.


When I first updated, 5.1 seemed **** fast, and now it's slower than 5.0.5 was.


Etc.

Aug 1, 2011 8:45 PM in response to 100 Watt Walrus

Experiencing the same. Can't figure out what is causing the problem. Have all extensions disabled. I do have many tabs open, but 5.0.5 was able to handle the exact same tab set without such issues. It is causing my macbook pro to run 40 odd degrees hotter than usual, and for the fans to run high constantly. It isn't bad enough to cause the computer to become unresponsive, but it does create a miniscule lag on everything, and will inevitable cause damage to my hardware. I know that Apple's engineers troll these pages. Apple this needs to be resolved. For the time being, I am going to force a reinstall of 5.0.5, as per:


http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1192965

Aug 16, 2011 2:43 PM in response to 100 Watt Walrus

I too have switched to Chrome, as Apple has been completely silent on this matter.


After 2 days of constant use with a dozen tabs remaining open and active on render-heavy pages with lots of data (project management software, admin tools, a CRM, a CMS, and more), Chrome is currently using 110MB of RAM.


After quitting Safari twice in the same time frame, and using Safari only for personal surfing (20% of my use, no more than a 8 or 10 tabs at a time), Safari is using 650MB and and WebProcess is using 2.12GB.

Chrome is getting the job done with 96% less RAM.


There's just no way Apple didn't realize this would be a problem. It will be interesting to see if they fix it, or just pat us all on the heads and tell us to just do things their way and everything will be fine. I can hear it now: "It's not like you're using that RAM for something else, right? The system will give it back if you need it."

Aug 16, 2011 6:44 PM in response to 100 Watt Walrus

Well, to add a little more frustraton to this thread, a few weeks ago, when I first saw all the bugginess with this "update", I called Apple, was handed up to a higher-level tech person. He told me they were aware of all these problems, and promised me a fix would be released "ASAP". Well, a few weeks later, & of course, no fix. About a week ago, I called again, & was handed to a different higher-level guy, but this time he gave the same tired, "you should disable all your extensions & plug-ins" blah, blah, blah... And worse, he told me that he's heard nothing from users about issues with Safari!!!

Well, I then asked him if the problem really was one or some of the add-ons, why couldn't Apple just give us a list of at least some of the more popular ones that don't work. Why should ever single user have to go thru a one by one, trial & error, add one, then restart, then another, etc, since Apple could just do it, & let us know. Of course, that's never happened, so everyone has been trying anything they can, &/or resorting to using other browsers, & posting here & other places. I sure hope Apple quits stonewalling everyone, you would think they would address this, either by fixing it quickly, or at least letting everyone know they are aware of it, and that a fix will be coming, but pretending they no see, no hear nothing, and it's all in our heads, well, ...... it shucks.

Sep 1, 2011 7:12 AM in response to 100 Watt Walrus

Same here: very cloggy and at times unusable system.


Safari currently eats 1.50 GB and WebProcess even 1.88 GB!

Wow, that's over 3 GB for just my 3 basic tabs (Gmail/Calendar/Docs) plus this Apple Support post open in 2 windows.


Safari now seldom uses below 30% CPU, WebProcess jumps from nothing to up to 100% when I have more pages open.



Also, at times Safari just seems to randomly refresh windows when I switch back and forth between tabs - giving another extra delay and resets playing Vimeo video's and other flash content like Soundcloud mixes. Bleeeeh...


I hate to say this, but I'm giving Chrome another chance....

Web Process + Safari now hogging 50-75% more memory than Safari 5.0.5 did

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