Browser War 2012

The yearly debate as to which browser is the best rages on and I'm taking it to NBR to declare a victor! Last years victor was Google Chrome who undoubtley, destroyed the competition. Who will it be this year?

The competitors:

Google Chrome

" Chrome is designed to be fast in every possible way. It's quick to start up from your desktop, loads web pages in a snap, and runs complex web applications lightning fast."-Google

Mozilla Firefox

" Proudly
non-profit
Innovating
for you
Fast, flexible,
secure"- Mozilla Firefox

Opera

" Make your web browsing faster. Loading pages and running web applications is really snappy. You can even speed up browsing on slow connections, with Opera Turbo."-Opera.com

Internet Explorer

" Fast and responsive web experiences for Windows."-Microsoft.com


Vote in the poll and comment below as to why you think one is better than the other

Please keep these three factors in mind when voting and discussing:
1) Which one uses the least system resources?
2) Which one is the fastest? (Startup time, page loading time, refresh time)
3) Which one is the most secure?

 

Using Pale Moon here. It basically mozilla with some fat cut out. It's fast enough. Still consumes every resource the computer has to offer. Chrome never sat right with me. It does some things differently than any other browser and I've never gotten used to it. Plus it's all about the ad block and the mozilla extensions are leaps and bounds over chrome.

 

Firefox loses for slow startup and slow performance in my experience. Both Chrome and IE9 seem fast to me, but I prefer IE9's interface. I have no way of proving which is more secure, but I'm more suspicious of Google than Microsoft on that front simply due to their terms of service for everything from cloud storage to webmail (MS's are much better in terms of privacy).

 

I agree with Firefox losing in terms of speed but its extensions are far superior and beyond any other browser.

As for the web browser I use, I'm currently using Google Chrome. Although, once I get my own personal laptop I'll probably go with either Firefox or Opera.

 

I don't modify my car, I don't overclock my laptop, and I don't use browser extensions. I like to use things straight out of the box and have them "just work." For people like me, Firefox really offers no advantage over either Chrome or IE9.

 

Firefox does start pretty slow for me too, but I agree with The Garfield, the extensions are what really sets it apart from other browsers IMHO.

 

I'm kind of shocked that Chrome hasn't gotten a single vote so far. Most PC users I know in real life use it.

For OSX, I will say the latest version of Safari is actually quite excellent.

 

Use both the latest Firefox browser, as well as SRWare Iron (privacy-oriented Chrome). Both do their jobs nicely, both have the features I want, etc. etc. Neither are a hog on my system (though admittedly it's a little overpowered).

Voted for Firefox since it better respects privacy than stock Chrome. Don't care for IE9 enough to use it, and never bothered with Opera (no real need to have multiple browsers installed imo, though I still have Iron installed, just sitting there...).

 

This is a WINDOWS OS and Software area

 

Sorry, forgot which forum this thread was posted in, just read the original post and commented.

 

Firefox is by far my favorite due to customization. True it takes a little longer to start by a couple seconds on an HDD, but since I only have to open my browser once or twice a day, I'd gladly make that few second trade off. Although after installing my SSD, it starts instantly when I click the icon, just like virtually any other program, so speed is of zero concern from that aspect. No other browser comes close to the customization in my opinion. Having a browser that looks and works the way YOU want it to look and work is the most important aspect to me.

Chrome is my second favorite and I do use it every day also. It is fairly good with customization also, but has a few quirks I don't like as well. Not a bad choice by any means.

Opera is fine...but again, I like things the way I want them and for me not enough options to customize like Firefox.

Unfortunately have to use IE from time to time for work...hate it...by far the worst browser in my opinion, with nothing else even close to as bad...just feels "wrong" to me.

I fully realize many will disagree with my assessments (although at this point in the poll over 70% have selected Firefox #1)...this is simply my opinion for my uses, which is what the OP asked. Customization/function outweigh everything else for me.

 

Firefox. It's slower than competitors, but all the add-ons make it worth.
IE9 is would be my number 2 choice. I really like it. And after I added host file, I don't get ads too.
As for Chrome, well, tried it, but didn't like it much. I also think I might have Google paranoia, don't want anything Google installed on my machine .
And Opera is awesome, but I use FF, so no need for another "heavy" browser.

 

I have to admit, last year Chrome came out of the Browser war as the victor and Firefox was not even close to clinching the first spot but it looks like the tables have turned around and now Chrome is no where near first.

 

You don't install adblock? :O



On topic: I don't notice any webpage load time difference between FF and Chrome, there might be a time when chrome DOES boots faster (lower file size?) but, that's about it.

:/

Why is people still using IE? It's like pulling a gun on your own head.

 

No other option?

I use Nightly-UX (64 bit version) which is basically a pre-release version of Firefox with changes that probably won't make it to Firefox release and even with all that I find it to be a lot faster and stable than Firefox for me.

Looks like I'm voting for Firefox then, the extensions alone is the reason why.

 

For me, I am using chrome now for daily and entertainment stuff, firefox for work stuff.

Another thing stand out for chrome is seamless update, I really dun want to spend 5 sec knowing my browser got "updated" and my extension are outdated. And stop asking me to restart browser!

IE is fine nowadays, use it on all my family computers.

 

I use Opera 12 and IE9 about 50/50 nowadays. Opera's current implementation of HWA is rather poor, while IE9's HWA is very, very nice. Those in 2012 who still blindly attack IE9 as providing a horrible browsing experience are simply adhering to prior prejudices, and not current experience: with a hosts file, IE9 emulates FlashBlock and Adblock Plus, without an extension. Add in a mouse gesture extension, and IE9 works perfectly fine for me in most cases.

 

In what area hwa really help at this moment? I recently disabled my hwa on flash cause it seem to cause frame drop on video (although not noticeable with eye, only show on stats)

 

I've noticed significantly faster page loads with HWA enabled on IE9, and much less CPU usage for graphics-heavy sites. On my netbook, this is especially evident given the weak E-350 CPU but relatively capable AMD 6310M graphics.

 

I'm surprised you've abandoned your stance on Opera being the superior browser to all.

 

I've always taken the stance that you really can't go wrong with any modern browser, and before, I used Opera and IE9 about 70/30. But there have been a couple annoyances that I've had with the recent Opera versions that has shifted me to using IE9 a bit more frequently, although there are some interface barriers that have me continuing to use Opera.

 

Well, Its nice to see someone continuing to use Opera, even if it is half the time.

 

Always Chrome, but lately I've had an issue with streaming in Chrome, so I open FF specifically for that. Otherwise, browsing on Chrome is perfect.

 

On the Windows side, I go back and forth between IE and Firefox. I've been using the former a lot more lately, though, as its video processing/acceleration and page zoom/scaling is superior to FF. I'm going to play with/tweak IE a bit more but I might very well ditch FF in its entirety.

On the Mac side, I stick with FF.

I've never liked Safari, Chrome, or Opera.