Firefox 3 beta 4 is just as fast as Safari 3.1 on Windows
By Jonathan Schlaffer
Safari 3.1 is advertised be Apple as the fastest browser on Mac or Windows but it has some competition. Internet Explorer version 7 and Firefox 2 offer no competition to Safari 3.1 or Firefox 3 beta 4 when it comes to speed.
ZDnet decided to benchmark the speeds of various browsers. Included in the test were Firefox 3 beta 4, Safari 3.1, Opera 9.5 beta 1, IE8 beta 1, Safari 3.0 beta, Opera 9.26, Firefox 2.0 and IE7.
Older betas of some browsers were tested but the point of doing so is lost on me; perhaps it was to show the latest versions were faster.
In any case, it comes as no surprise as IE7 was by far the slowest browser on the list by a very wide margin. Firefox 2.0 was twice as fast as IE7 but was the second worst performer in the comparison next to IE7.
Firefox 3 beta 4 and Safari 3.1 were the two fastest browsers on the list. In fact the only way you would know that there was any difference is by running a browser benchmark. No human would be able to tell the difference.
But, just looking at the speeds of IE7 and either Firefox 3 beta 4 or Safari 3.1, the speed difference is clear as day. IE8 beta 1 is faster than IE7 but it’s not as fast as Safari or Firefox 3 beta 4.
The ranking according to ZDnet,
Fastest
- Firefox 3.0 beta 4
- Safari 3.1
- Opera 9.5 beta 1
- IE8 beta 1
- Firefox 3.0 beta 3
- Safari 3.0 beta
- Opera 9.26
- Firefox 2.0
- IE7
Slowest
Nice try Microsoft, nice try. Firefox 3 can only improve with time but the choice is clear if you want the fastest browsers known to man use either Safari 3.1 or Firefox 3 beta 4 if you aren’t too attached to your plugins (note, some plugins are compatible with Firefox 3 beta 4 but nowhere near all of them).
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on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
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Stumble It!
March 21st, 2008
Um, actually in the two other tests they ran (such as the Acid 3 test), Safari was faster than Firefox 3 Beta 4…