Google_Chrome_Material_Icon-450x450Google senior software engineer Peter Kasting this week announced that his team has been working to address Chrome for OS X battery hog complaints by improving the performance of the browser on Mac, especially in areas where Safari appears to do better (via iPhoneHacks).

Chrome for OS X has received multiple under the hood improvements that should result in faster performance and longer battery life while browsing. The browser, for example, now requires significantly less CPU usage when loading the Google search results page and various other websites.

The other technical changes to Chrome for OS X are outlined as follows:

"The team has been working on addressing this; here are some cases that have recently been improved on trunk:

http://crbug.com/460102

Before: Renderers for background tabs had the same priority as for foreground tabs.
Now: Renderers for background tabs get a lower priority, reducing idle wakeups on various perf test, in some cases by significant amounts (e.g. 50% on one test).

http://crbug.com/485371

Before: On a Google search results page, using Safari's user agent to get the same content that Safari would, Chrome incurs ~390 wakes over 30s and 0.3% CPU usage vs. Safari’s 120 wakes over 30s and 0.1% CPU usage.
Now: 66% reduction in both timer firings and CPU use. Chrome is now incurring ~120 wakes over 30s and 0.1% CPU use, on par with Safari.

http://crbug.com/489936

Before: On capitalone.com, Chromium incurs ~1010 wakeups over 30s vs. Safari's ~490 wakes.
Now: ~30% reduction in timer firings. Chrome is now incurring ~721 wakeups over 30s.

http://crbug.com/493350

Before: On amazon.com, Chromium incurs 768 wakups over 30s and consumes ~0.7% CPU vs. Safari's 312 wakes over 30s and ~0.1% CPU.
Now: ~59% reduction in timer firings and ~70% reduction in CPU use. Chrome is now incurring ~316 wakeups over 30s, and 0.2% CPU use, on par with Safari at 312 wakes, and 0.1% CPU use."

Many of the changes will first appear in Chromium before going live on Chrome for OS X.

Top Rated Comments

szw-mapple fan Avatar
126 months ago
Too late chrome.

I'm way too addicted to Safari's speed, efficiency, and UI.
You're staying as my backup browser.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacrumoursUser Avatar
126 months ago
Been using Safari since v2 and never had a thought to switch. Even when i tried to use firefox and chrome i'd come back to safari in couple of days. On Windows Chrome is the best for me hands down.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dargoth Avatar
126 months ago
I've used Chrome for years and never had ANY problems. I don't know WTF everyone's complaining about. If Apple bought Chrome and stuck their logo on it, suddenly everyone here would love it.
Nice theory, but actually, I like chrome in terms of its UI and features. It's just lagging behind Safari in certain areas I care about. Not everyone is as stupid as you think they are. :)
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mrjoedot Avatar
126 months ago
Safari works WAY better on OS X
Chrome works best on Windows
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macintologist Avatar
126 months ago
The performance difference between Safari and Chrome is like night and day. On websites where Safari scrolls in 60 frames per second, Chrome stutters. All you have to do is look at the CPU utilization when Chrome runs a specific website and compare that to Safari, and you will see exactly why I never use Chrome.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
yg17 Avatar
126 months ago
I've used Chrome for years and never had ANY problems. I don't know WTF everyone's complaining about. If Apple bought Chrome and stuck their logo on it, suddenly everyone here would love it.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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