“The problem is that there are no widely accepted tests that can accurately gauge real-world Web browsing, which includes page loading, running JavaScript, and performance on Web-based services such as Gmail. In my experience, Safari felt slightly faster than Chrome on the Mac, but on the PC, I was unable to discern any difference between the two,” Gralla reports.
“I put Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer through the most widely accepted browser speed test, the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark suite… So who is the speed king? In real-world use, you’ll likely find Safari and Chrome indistinguishable,” Gralla reports. “How does Safari stack up against Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer? When it comes to speed, Safari’s at the head of the pack — at least, on the Mac. Its new Reader feature is unique among browsers; as a result, for reading long Web articles, Safari is clearly the best browser.”
“However, even though Safari now supports extensions, at the moment there are few available, so it’s far behind Firefox and even Chrome in this area. Its address bar is the least functional of all the browsers, and its bookmarking, which is no different from the last version, is still very basic and leaves something to be desired,” Gralla reports. “The upshot is that anyone who already uses Safari should upgrade immediately. Those who have yet to use Safari may well want to download it as well, if only to check out the Safari Reader for reading long articles, and for experiencing speedy Web browsing.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Safari 5 is available for both Mac OS X and Windows as a free download at www.apple.com/safari
I just wish that they would add Reader to Safari for iPhone. It’s good on the Mac, but it would be insanely great on the iPhone.
Safari 5 crashes nearly everytime i’m ón amazon with tabs open. With closed tabs it works fine, strange
Safari 5 works great for me. I especially like the “Reader” feature.
Cmnd Shft R alone is worth the price.
anyone notice chunky looking text on the new safari 5?
I tried to use Safari 5 while managing a Google Adwords account over the weekend. The site put up a message saying that I was using an “old” browser and should consider using a “modern” browser such as Chrome or Firefox.
Yes, but Opera 10.6 beta… again faster javascript engine… 😮 50% faster than Safari! Go Apple, go! Work never stops!
I find it crashing at times and an issue with the larger text as well. I do like the added features, however I don’t find it running any faster on my MacBook Pro.
Pith Helmet for Safari 5 does not install for me under 10.5.8 on PPC. It apparently only works with Snow Leopard/Intel.
I hope that gets fixed soon, those accidental popup ads when you cursor runs over text on this site are a *royal* PITA.
@Pithy
I have it running well on a Dual 867 G4 and a 1 ghz G4 under 10.5.8. So there must be some other quirk within your system that makes it not with on your PPC.
Bookmarks very basic? WTF?? I love the way that bookmarks work on Safari.
@Pithy, gow: On my Quicksilver with 10.5.8, SIMBL installs but Pith Helmet doesn’t not even with Pacifist. The bundle is in the right location but nary a peep out of it. For now, I’m using AdBlock but it ain’t as funky.
=:~)
just read an article in todays paper that says Opera is the fastes browser and is number 1 in other countries, blowing IE out of the water
I love the new Safari but found it crashed constantly with the AdBlock for Safari extension installed. I uninstalled it and Safari stopped crashing. The developer at http://safariadblock.com/ says the latest version should stop the crashing, and I’m testing it now.
From the Google Chrome install web site –
“Your operating system is not supported.
Google Chrome is available for Mac OS X 10.5 or later, Intel only”
Safari 5 works great on both my G5 tower & my G4 PowerBook!
Thanks Apple!
I’ve got the lastest SL and Safari and the current AdBlock. I have absolutely no problems. I have always been a proponent of “repair disk permissions” in utilities.
I’ve had an odd problem since I installed Safari 5. RSS feed articles don’t get marked as read either after I read them or when I select mark all as read. In fact, when I select mark all as read, the regular (non-RSS) web page gets loaded. Go back to the RSS page, articles are still marked unread. Didn’t have this problem before. The site in question is roughlydrafted.com
From the story: “Its new Reader feature is unique among browsers; as a result, for reading long Web articles, Safari is clearly the best browser.”
Hardly unique. I’ve had it for a year, at least, using Firefox. It’s here, and with more options than Safari provides:
http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/
The new always open in tabs feature rarely works. I’ve tried “always” and the default “automatic” – no go. Still command-clicking (or two finger/right click and choosing “open in a new tab”).
I would love to ditch Firefox on my MBP in a heartbeat, if only Safari had the options to start in Private Browser mode (and/or auto-reset at browser exit), and offered the extensions I use daily: NoScript, NoSquint, BetterPrivacy, Zotero etc. I am under the impression that replacements for Flashblock and AdBlock plus are now somewhat available for Safari.
ClicktoFlash works on my Safari, but I definitely need the rest, especially BetterPrivacy. Look it up, if you are not aware how slimy Adobe/Google are.