Google Chrome killing battery in MacBook Air?

Chrome is a notorious resource hog that infests a Mac with a multitude of obscurely named, burdensome processes running at a privileged level in a manner not unlike a virus, if such a thing were to exist.

Smart Mac users don't use Chrome.

The reasons for different performance results may be hardware related as Chrome remains a buggy 32 bit app. Google has yet to demonstrate the ability to write efficient OS X apps and I doubt their ability to change. They've had more than sufficient time to do so, and I believe Google's resources are being focused on platforms that allow them easier ways to harvest your personal information.

Safari is slow, ponderous, and doesn't work in a way that streamlines any of my browsing needs.

Then something is very wrong with it. Fix it. There is no faster or more resource-efficient browser on a Mac than Safari, but unsupported third party add-ons and system hacks will cause a multitude of problems. Examine these locations for potential culprits: Safari: Unsupported third-party add-ons may cause Safari to unexpectedly quit or have performance issues

Firefox is highly customizable and has a variety of methods to control popups, popunders, advertisements and other annoyances, and it does not require the multitude of system modifications and full-time root access privileges that Chrome demands. Its code is not nearly as efficient as Safari's, but it won't kill your battery.

Marc Feldesman wrote:

I hate Firefox and Safari is dweeby. I have never had a resource problem on any machine (outside of the MBA) with current versions of Chrome. I gave up Firefox because it allowed so many pop up boxes

Install GHOSTERY to remove all popups

Firefox has 100X more addons than Safari or Chrome combined.

Chrome has serious flaws and power issue drains on Macbooks, Google hasnt fixed their browser yet.

Firefox doesnt have this issue.

I've had my MB for close to two years and used Chrome all the while and never had this problem before the last couple of months, incidentally when I started using Netflix. Turns out that the silverlight app makes the Discrete GPU kick in (the heavy power hungry graphics), as it does in other browsers. Chrome it seems just can't seem to switch back to the integrated GPU (Firefox and Safari can). Thus your MB uses the Discrete GPU for as long as Chrome is running. Advanced GPU allso prevents the MB from getting quality sleep it seems.

The solution is obwiously to switch browsers OR, if you're attached to chrome, to install gfxCardStatus (http://gfx.io/) wich lets you know whenever an app switches GPU, and also lets you turn of dynamic switching. Netflix runs fine on integrated by the way, at least on my retinaless 2011.

I think Appleheads and Chromiums are in disagreement on whose fault this is, but Firefox got it right somehow.

Yes, Chrome is a battery hog

Yes, Chrome needs to be fixed

No, this is no issue related to Apple / Macbook Air.

Argow

but Firefox got it right somehow.

Correct

Yes, chrome is a battery hog,

Yes, Chrome runs a multitude of burdensome processes.

No, these processes are not the problem causing 50% battery drain over the span of an hour and therefore this is not helpful information in this case. What causes batery drain on that scale is Chrome failing to let the mac switch back to onboard graphics, causing you to use invidia/ati graphics for, say, text editing. This is easily dealt with by using the gxfStatus app IF you still wanted to stick with chrome. (gfxStatus is also generally a usefull app for letting you know wich programs use the different graphics).

What you prefer in a browser UI is largely a matter of taste and therefore a pointless discussion. I used chrome from habit as i converted from PC's some years ago, and in windows, at that time chrome was the only alternative as firefox was turning big and sluggish (I dont want to see the word "loading..." when opening an internet browser). What finally tipped me off the chrome-wagon though was the news that you could teach your grandma to retrieve saved passwords in less than a minute, and googles mindblowing arrogance in the discussions that followed.

Still habits die hard so *IF* you wanted to continue using chrome on a mac, and you dont care about their policies regarding password security, then the workaround is simple, even if the fact that they can't fix this themselves is slightly irritating.

I've got a MBA 2013, which *only* has intel graphics, so the graphics switching stuff isn't an issue, and chrome still uses significantly more battery than firefox or safari for me.

The task manager often shows chrome using significant energy, even idling with a few tabs, its ridiculous. With safari I get insane battery life, and with firefox I only get slightly less. I can't even consider using chrome on my MBA until they get that under control.

I've also done a clean install of chrome, and am using no addons.

Yes, yes and yes.

Google Chrome is a nasty battery hog.

Oink.

I want to know if it's just me but I stumbled along this forum trying to find if Google has recently updated Chrome to take up less power. I did a few tests running both browsers doing the same functions and while Safari did seem to have the upper hand a majority of the time, my power consumption menu still has Chrome at 5.57 for average energy impact while Safari sits at 10.73. This is on my just recently purchased Macbook Air which to me has insane battery life after just switching from a Samsung Ativ 9 Plus before previously owning a late 2013 edition Macbook Pro so again I may not be seeing the impact percentage wise because any impact would still be giving me better battery than before. Your opinions are appreciated.

Google Chrome does not play very well with Mac OS X.

Google Chrome also runs many processes in the background such as "Google Software Update" and adds a bunch of garbage to the system folder.

I use Mozzila Firefox as my browser of choice and it does not use much memory or power.

I would HIGHLY reccomend using Mozzila Firefox.

In Chrome try going to Preferences-Advanced-Content-Settings-Advanced-Plugins-Click To Play, this means you will have to click to activate plugins.

Download Mozzila Firefox- http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

I hope I helped 🙂

I have a mid-2013 MacBook Air (Haswell) with Mavericks and have tested all 3 major browsers at length (since all 3 support the extensions I use on a regular basis). Chrome is cool but ***** the life out of a Mac, FireFox is hit or miss (I stopped using it simply because CPU seemed to be running away quite frequently with one minor tab opened), and Safari, while lacking in some features......just works. I go on a lot of day trips to other offices and NYC and never bring my AC adapter. I've owned laptops for over 20 years (first laptop was a b&w Thinkpad) and have never believed any battery life claims....until now. Using Safari (with at least 8 or 9 tabs open at a time, including FB and GMail), I am consistently getting 8-10 hours per charge. However, one important tip - Safari suffers from memory leaks so make sure to quit and restart your browser once or twice a day to keep RAM utilization under control.

Just installed Chrome just to try something new. And I immediately noticed my fans kick in full blast as I was watching a Youtube video. (Which pretty much NEVER happens with Safari) So I checked the Energy usage, and it averaged around 340.0, but was as high as 400.0 "energy impact." Lmao. So, just out of curiousity. I played that same video from youtube, at the same resolution on the Safari browser. At it averaged around 25.0 energy impact. ( The highest it got was about 40.0)

And I also have the gfxStatus app. And it never even switched to the Discrete graphics card. So it just seems that Chrome is simply not nearly as energy efficient for MacBooks as Safari is. Not even close.

Chrome and Firefox are resource hogs!! Is safari the only browser that isn't like that?

The whole power thing is a pretty big issue - but unfortunately because of lack of support for favicons and idiotic flat aesthetic tab handling etc... power users/browsers stick with Chrome.