Chrome officially goes 64-bit, HiDPI

https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/?platform=win64

Chrome v37 officially supports 64-bit Windows (and OS X, and Linux) in the 'stable' channel. Yay! I guess. The 64-bit version will happily install right on top of the 32-bit one, in Program Files (x86). It will even clean install there. Good job Google.

As well, HiDPI is now detected and enabled. No more blurry! So far at 2560x1440 @ 14" it looks pretty good. The menu icon is *still* slightly off though, and I'm not crazy about the bookmark bar font rendering. Flash is here, the usual Google Docs extensions are here. I'm sure if you're an extension user YMMV. I don't use any that don't come with Chrome.

So uh.. 4GB web pages here we come!? (lol)

 

Well, at least it can handle it now, not that I use Chrome, but I did tried the latest Opera which runs on the same engine and it wasn't pretty at all. Not to mention that opera past v12 had everything that made it stand out axed from it. Anyways, I digress, but finally some good news for chrome users.

 

Sa-weeeet, thanks! Rep'd


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Had to download x64 plugins of Java and Sumatra PDF to get previous functionality back.

"Enable 'OK Google' to start a voice search" option is gone from settings, not that I ever used it. And my plugins list is a whole heckuvalot shorter.

 

What no more blurry. Fonts look terrible in this new version just like they look in IE 11. They give me a headache when I try to read something. Firefox which I am only using now they are super sharp.

 

Great. Now I can't play Battlefield as there is no 64-bit Battlelog web plugin. Can't go back to 32-bit Chrome either as it was overwritten when I installed 64-bit (gee, thanks Google...NOT). Only way to go is to uninstall this and redownload 32-bit build. Why can't 32-bit and 64-bit Chrome co-exist side-by-side as IE does?

I'd suggest everyone stick with 32-bit Chrome for the time being unless you have very good reasons for switching and all your important plugins are available in x64.

 

What about restore to an earlier time With system restore?

 

Wasn't expecting things to break so I didn't make a restore point. Went ahead and uninstalled 64-bit and redownloaded 32-bit.

 

from the battlelog front page, DICE is aware of it

 

Ever since updating my resolution on chrome has been terrible. I've had to scale it to 75% just to get it to look "normal" but in doing so makes font/image quality decrease. Anyone else have the same problem, and/or a solution?

 

Try the solutions in the comments here: Chrome Releases: Stable Channel Update

 

I fixed it by doing this.

 

Weird is how it still installed itself in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application" even though it is a 64-bit program it should have installed in the "Program Files" folder which is for 64-bit programs. I did reinstall the app even deleting every trace on the registry yet is still installs in "Program Files (x86)" folder. No big deal really at least my music shortcuts still work.

 

x64 apps can install in both directories, it's only x86 apps that can't install in Program Files.

 

Learn something new everyday. Thanks.

 

I use dev channel (so extension that not in chrome store works), hardly noticed any performance or rendering difference for the last year ~~

 

Is it that hard for you to use IE to launch?... I'll get you some cranberry juice.

 

What are you talking about? No 64-bit browser is supported, that includes IE.

 

Really?... 32-bit chrome was overwritten. 32-bit IE remains just fine. If you miss the game that much you would have just temporarily switched to IE to launch. Some people...

 

Keep wasting your breath, I'm playing on Chrome 64-bit just dandy! :laugh:

 

Where did you get the Sumatra PDF x64 plugin from? I can't find it. Thanks.

 

XhmikosR's Builds

 

Thanks, but I installed it and the plug-in didn't appear. Is there a specific version you used?

 

Okay, the x64 builds don't include the browser plug-in. I tried a fresh install on a test fresh Windows 7 x64 OS of both Chrome x64 and Sumatra PDF x64 and the plug-in was not installed. Apparently it just doesn't work at this point.

 

Already there, have made several 3GB+ memory consuming spreadsheets on Google Docs. The only (portable) x64 browser that's compatible so far is Waterfox. Think I'll give this Chrome version a try to see which runs faster on the same spreadsheet (some take ~2min. on an i7 ).

Amen to that. They never should have ditched Presto for Blink until it could support everything that v12 could. And we're not alone; you should read the posts on the Desktop Team's blog; there's a whole generation still clinging to a 2-year old browser because there's no alternative that is even remotely in the same league ... it's like Ford introduced its latest model thus:

Sent from my v12.12

 

I found that the latest XhmikosR version doesn't include the browser plug-in. Do you happen to have the older 1.5.2 installer? I can't find it for download anywhere. Thanks.

 

Sorry for the late reply, haven't been watching this thread. Sumatra x64 doesn't install a browser plugin, it's only good as a standalone PDF reader. If you want a native x64 PDF viewer with a 64-bit browser plugin, I'd recommend PDF-XChange Viewer. It's still quite lightweight and fast and its PDF engine is much more powerful. Sumatra is single-threaded and takes forever to render a heavy doc while PDF-XChange Viewer utilizes up to 8 CPU threads and renders it much faster.

 

That's why I still use Opera 12 as my main browser. Firefox for the things that don't work great, but if a site works well in Opera 12, I'm using Opera 12 for it.

 

Yes, the local spreadsheet isn't nearly as heavy on resources and use OpenOffice on flashdrive as well, but Docs allows sharing and updates with multiple users. IT-environment doesn't permit installing anything and only Office 2010 is available, no 365 (and try explaining a portable OO install ...). Plus you can modify the sheet with any mobile device; it will crash the browser when making an edit, of course, but on re-opening the calculations have been done ... so Google's doing this job for you, but only on an unexpected crash ... there's a potential exploit here ...

Wishlist, but it's close to re-introduction ... after two years ... hurrah?

Great tangent, funny how easy it is to get worked up about this (a non-user would never understand). We can hope they listen to their v12 user base, but am not hopeful. They're no longer developing the engine themselves, an obvious cost saving measure that would be hard to reverse. Yet a browser is nothing more than the gui for the engine, Opera Blink is now trailing Chrome instead of being the vanguard for every browser. There's a reason it was such a favourite amongst developers ... †

 

Thanks, I'll give it a try. The built-in Chrome one is okay for occasional use but not much else.

 

My commiserations on the IT environment in that case! I'm glad my current employer is relatively lenient with the IT environment. Where I work, I can install whatever will make the job easier, as long as it's legal and properly licensed. Although as an intern in 2010, I worked at a place where most people still had IE6 and couldn't upgrade. I was lucky to be on a team free with some more freedom and we had IE8, Firefox, and Opera. But it definitely sucks to not be able to install software that will make the job easier. You'd think they'd realize that would raise both productivity and morale.

I think we're only at a year and a half since Blink was announced, though it is coming up on two years since 12.10. But it is feeling increasingly like forever since there was a real update. I agree that non-users probably wouldn't understand (which may explain the lack of replies). A very good point about the browser being pretty much a GUI for the engine. Cost-savings likely was the reason, but it has taken away pretty much any reason to use Opera 15+ over Chrome or Chromium. Oh, how I long for the glory days when Opera came out with Speed Dial, and Link, and all sorts of other features we now take for granted (like tabbed browsing), and was way ahead of the curve. Presto's installer is still lightning fast - that alone converted one person when I was installing Opera as he was present. Presto is still the best in a fair amount of those areas, although I don't think I'm alone in the Presto userbase in looking for alternatives. Just today I found what appears to be a fairly good Speed Dial add-on for Firefox, after realizing what a poor imitation of Opera Presto's speed dial the one built in to Firefox is but wanting Speed Dial for some sites whose Presto support is mediocre at best.

And I do still use Presto every day, both at home and at work. Firefox is a necessary side browser now as well, though still a minority one for me. At work, I also use Dragonfly fairly regularly for debugging, and have made sure that even if Presto isn't officially supported for the product I work on, it works just as well or better than any other browser. That's also why when I added our "upgrade/switch your browser" message for IE8, I recommended "a recent version of Firefox, Chrome, or Opera", and not "the latest version of Firefox, Chrome, or Opera". Opera Presto is recent enough to work. Opera Blink? It probably does, too, since Chrome does, but as far as I know no one has ever actually tested our product with it.

 

thanks for the heads up ....

 

Chrome 37 on my 1080p 22" displays is unusable now. I hate how small the text is. I'm using IE11 now, thanks Google!

 

One more Opera-Presto feature that makes it stand out of the crowd:

Had to download a 1.3GB and 2.1GB database file over http (no dedicated ftp). Ok, fine, except the file's server is separate from the authentication web-server and no-verification = no-download, which means ' start from zero' upon user-login-time-out. Brilliant ... so that would've required clicking something/anything on the authentication site every minute or so ... for 30 minutes ... never skipping once since that'd be like Prince of Persia I (no save games ... ).

Enter Opera v12;

Spoiler: Opera (Presto) reload

No plug-ins/add-ons/apps or whatever; native feature, that is. Heck, that's old-skool DOS-capability embedded stock in your browser ... . Opera v12 v2.0 ... $100 would be a decent price for a more-than-decent browser ... †.

 

^Have you checked out Vivaldi?

 

About to (just re-read @Apollo13's post):

Spoiler: Vivaldi x64 TP

Well ... that's a sight for poor eyes . Though it is a long (non-comprehensive) list that it'll have to measure up to:

• panels
• free customisation
• mouse gestures
• one-button shortcuts
• dragonfly
• source
• validate
• site preferences
• site style sheet / css (this forum is a *^&! without that ...)
• open with (browser xyz)
• identify as (browser xyz)
• reload every (x seconds)
• block content (wildcards; ipfilter.ini)
• wand.dat (encrypted this time ... *ahem*)
• user keyboard
• user mouse
• user menu
• user alt-menu
• user agent
• user js
• user style sheets
• customised one-letter search engines
• opera : config
• opera : plugins
• +++

And that's top-of-the-list ... to think they once offered a paid non-ad version ... ought to have gotten that instead of blocking their ads in the free-version ... Urgh, $200 then? Pleeease? Or $1000 life-time ???

Gave it try and no ... Vivaldi's just another chrome-clone; perhaps 1/5th of Presto. Perhaps there's tons of add-ons that'll get it up to half-v12, but can't be bothered with searching & installing all that. Maybe it'll develop into something of worth, the will is there, at least, but as it's still a chrome shell it will be inherently limited by that. Damn shame that the source wasn't released when they threw in the towel ... but maybe they're willing to sell ...

For reference, this is the v12.16 config page:

Spoiler: Opera v12.16 x64 (Presto) - preferences

That's 22 pages of user customisable settings ... . Chrome/Vivaldi's is 2 at most:

Spoiler: Vivaldi/chrome - preferences

Chrome does at least have one mitigating feature; Google Cloud Print.