“Google yesterday advanced its 64-bit Chrome browser to beta status, and told owners of the very earliest Intel-based Macs that they would soon be left behind,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld.
“Google trumpeted the 64-bit Chrome for Mac as faster to start, less of a memory hog and more secure,” Keizer reports. “Chrome has long had a voracious memory appetite, in part because of its design, which runs each tab as a separate process. That feature allows Chrome to continue running even when individual tabs crash.”
“Unlike with Chrome for Windows, the Mac browser will not be maintained in separate 32- and 64-bit versions: People running the beta will automatically be updated to the latter. And when Chrome 38 reaches Release status, the 32-bit Chrome will be retired,” Keizer reports. “Macs sold by Apple from January 2006 to August 2007 at the latest will not be able to run the 64-bit Chrome.”
Much more in the full article here.
don’t use spyware anyway
Exactly. Why use Chrome anyway?
Much as Google needs to be kicked for some things, you can’t blame them for no longer supporting Chrome on early-Intel Macs when Apple themselves stopped updating OSX and Safari for them a few years back.
I almost forgot about this 32-64 bit hassle since I switched to Mac. Looks like I avoid one sluggish problem other machines have.
Same here. Dodged that bullet on my 2007 Mac Pro anyway. So why did Apple proudly & loudly emblazon the original box “64-Bit Ready” when it really wasn’t?
which box was that? The earliest Intel laptops, iMacs and Mac Minis used 32 bit CPUs (core duo, core solo). Their boxes did not blare, “64 bit”. The Xeons in the Mac Pro were always 64 bit.
The box for the mid-2007 Mac Pro. It was one of those funny 32/64 bit hybrid Xeon machines, like only partially 64 bit capable. I can only run Lion now as a result.
they can do whatever they want. i use Safari 99.8 % of the time. once in a blue moon i’ll open firefox
I use Safari for everything except Facebook (why not let one spying company spy on the other) and for websites that require flash (Chrome uses its own plugin so I don’t have to have it installed on Safari).
“Beta.” Isn’t that Google-speak for “about the best we can do”?
This is NOT exactly accurate:
Macs sold by Apple from January 2006 to August 2007 at the latest will not be able to run the 64-bit Chrome.
If your Mac runs 64-bit processes (Core 2 Intel CPUs on up) then you should be fine, that is unless Google doesn’t know what it’s talking about, which would not be the first time.
Meanwhile: I dumped Chrome anyway. I do have Aviator (White Hat refined version of Chromium) around in case it comes in handy.
A great free tool for figuring out your Mac’s capabilities is
MacTracker:
http://www.mactracker.ca
I only use Chrome very rarely because of a particular YouTube plugin they support. Other than that, it’s Safari all the way for me. I can’t imagine there are that many Mac users that rely on Chrome in the first place.