What Is Your Preferred Web Browser?

Chrome is my favourite browser for PC and Soul Browser is my favourite browser for Android Phone.

It used to be Brave, but now I'm fully back on Firefox. Love the new re-design and ability to customize it.

Conifer I love Brave and use them both. Brave doesn't get the attention Vivaldi does but it's severely under-rated browser. It's a tight sharp ship. I'd say AS security conscious at FF--maybe more. It gets a bad rap because people parrot each other on it's bitcoin bent and ad replacement options but once you disable/decline that stuff it never pesters you again and reverts to a highly stable and unsung browser.

They all have their strengths & weakness but I abandoned a single browser maybe 7 months ago to simultaneously use 2-3 browsers to their full strengths so I get the best of all worlds depending on tasks.
Not sure I'd go back to a single browser again while computing.

Firefox ESR

brent With 2-3 browsers on at the same time, don't you get a big slow down, and or freezing?

elfprince No. With 3 browsers (4 today with two vivaldis) on at the same time at least 2 are minimized (not in use per se). Simultaneous in the sense I meant was using one then using the other, then later the other with apps being the gui's being minimized. So when app is minimized for a while in task bar maybe no drainage? Honestly don't know. I'm never doing anything band-width intensive, either.

It's funny you mention that. There's a post today about max (100%) memory usage and GPU so I looked at mine earlier (system settings). Even with 3 browsers open I never hit more than 25%.

Long story short 6 or so months into my multiple browser phase I've never had a slowdown or a freeze. Not even when running zoom on top of it.
I have to wonder elfprince , though, as a man of modest means who never owned more than 8GB of memory most of my adult life...when I bought some craigslist guy's used DIY rig and BEGGED him to keep the 8 stick in there...so I could use with my own 8. You think it's the 16Gb that is making the difference? Don't know.

brent Not sure I'd go back to a single browser again while computing.

A single browser suits me just fine, except for the media machine. My TV provider is fussy about the browser it will work with, but for other purposes I prefer the same browser I use on other computers.

It's wonderful that we have so many choices available. Everyone gets to use the browser (or browsers) that provides the most happiness.

elfprince I just counted, 26 tabs open, so not too bad. My "active" tab was Stadia, playing Destiny 2. No crashes or performance issues.

I use Firefox partially out of historical preference, and partly out of liking and supporting the idea of there is something not chromium based.

brent Amazing, but I have a strong suspicion that it 's the 16G that make all the difference. Web browsers eat ram like there is no tomorrow. I have 8G, and often see over 70% usage just with Firefox and Brave open, with over 30 tabs. Delayed response is a common daily thing.

elfprince I have 8G, and often see over 70% usage just with Firefox and Brave open, with over 30 tabs. Delayed response is a common daily thing.

delayed response was my early Solus life with 4GB^^. It was normal daily to peg out at 99-100% to where you could barely move the mouse.
*and my life with wireless keyboards currently.
( I am 100% wired again and delay-free there). I digress.

with 8GB (I bought a used 4 to go with my 4) I never had 30 tabs open (20 max once maybe?) though but I could certainly finds ways to make it doggy, so if you aren't running heavy programs alongside the browers/tabs your theory (which I share) would seem to confirm 16 is the difference. I still find memory unaffordable and count my blessings the person would part with that 8 without raising the price of the rig.

brent it makes a big difference, the jump from 8-12 for my laptop definitely made noticable improvement. I normally have 20+ tabs, Spotify, and some office program running through.

Brucehankins 8 to 12 also noticeable? good to know. elfprince if you had an extra stick slot...but a quick search shows 4GB up to the $30 mark which seems way overpriced. Sigh.

brent your mobo is the real limiting factor. My laptop for instance, can only handle 12gb, so I'm maxed out. MB will also dictate the max speed you can use, and ideally you'd want to match kind for kind when adding or upgrading.
Your browser itself is also a huge factor, some are just more resource hungry to start, throw in some extensions, and before you know it you'll eat up tons of ram with only a few tabs open. I try to limit my use of extensions to only the absolute essentials. I've also got my browser in permanent battery saver mode when it's not on AC power.

brent Yes, adding another 4G/8G would be nice. I don't know if my intel nuc can handle 16G... Will make some inquiries...

Brave. I also like Vivaldi, but it's not fully open source. Firefox is a no go due to their open support of censorship.

Solus Plasma, fresh restart after updates, only uses _700mb of ram. Only things that are currently running is Steam _350mb and Brave with 3 tabs, (27 Brave related processes) ~ 750mb of ram usage. ₁,7gb used out of 32gb.

Does anyone know if Brave or Vivaldi has an option to enable "full-screen" mode within its application window vs the entire desktop? Here's a screenshot of what I mean in Firefox. Basically, it can let you full-screen a video within the boundaries of the Firefox window so you can have a mini "full-screen" video that can be re-sized and moved around.

h3o can't answer your question but it thrills me that such a thing exists as a summer chess invitational.