6 ms·

Browsing the web with 5-10 open tabs is enough to use 100% of my cpu (Firefox and chrome). I wonder when and how things got so wrong.

daveguy 9y ago
ublock origin + privacy badger and you will have much less usage. I get 10x10 tabs (10 tabs in 10 windows) with few problems.
- ryandrake 9y ago
  It should be unacceptable that you have to install plug-ins and disable "features" in order to configure your browser to not be actively destroying the web browsing experience--which is the only experience you expect out of a web browser. Browser vendors need to take some responsibility too.
- Jedd 9y ago
  Agreed. Ublock Origin's right-click / Block Element (then optional selection process) is an absolute boon to forever hide these artefacts. Every now and then I'll try reading something on mobile chrome, or a friend's machine, and realise how annoying much of the web is for many people.
  - SomeStupidPoint 9y ago
    I had to turn off JS on mobile chrome for almost all websites, because they just wouldn't run on my phone.
    - JoshMnem 9y ago
      Firefox for Android -- you can install extensions to block extra JS.
- nine_k 9y ago
  uMatrix if you want detailed control.
- altern8tif 9y ago
  Talking about uBlock Origin and Medium, the blocked requests on Medium pages always seem to increase at a regular interval. Seems like they use some kind of tracker that "polls" user activity on the page. I suspect that's why Chrome seems to use more CPU/RAM when I've got more Medium pages opened.
- michaelbrooks 9y ago
  That's all well and good until you get those annoying modals that say something like "We see you are using an adblocker, please disable it to continue". Some sites you can easily dismiss and they'll let you browse after (which makes the modal pointless) and other sites won't let you past unless you disable adblocking for that site.
  - wilkystyle 9y ago
    I've had somewhat-good results by just disabling Javascript entirely for domains like that.
nine_k 9y ago
You open web sites with free content that try to make money off you. They definitely use your attention and collect as detailed profiles of you as possible. But you also pay with your CPU, RAM, and electricity: they'll gladly use as much of it for their purposes as possible.
leggomylibro 9y ago
That's interesting, because I regularly browse with a LOT of Chrome tabs open. Like, 50-200. There'll be a window with a bunch of datasheets I'm intending to process into schematics (eventually,) a handful of articles, some in-progress shopping carts, a few resources that I might want to read more closely at some point in the near future... Really, deciding when to close tabs and what to close is kind of an organic process. I am running ChromeOS on ARM, though, so that may be a bit more optimized for having lots of Chrome tabs open. On x86/64, I'd probably have to use Firefox for that kind of nonsense. But incidentally, I love ChromeOS on ARM. Very energy-efficient, there are some solid models in that rare and coveted 10-11.6" size range, now it has (beta) Android apps, and in dev mode you can pop a full Linux chroot onto it with an extension that lets you surface X sessions to a Chrome tab. Absolutely fantastic, until you run into a closed-source x86/64 binary. Also, since I have to sync everything to a repository or cloud storage or physical media fairly frequently to use a more fully-functioned machine, it also means that if I lose it or it breaks or I have to evacuate and leave it behind or something, nbd. Data's still there, and they're only like $2-300 anyways - not bad for a secondary computer. Hey, Apple - you know that 12" Macbook of yours? The one with a laughable single port? Maybe make an ARM version with a popular hackable core chip; like a newer Allwinner A10 or something. You could charge $400-500, easy.
- keithpeter 9y ago
  "But incidentally, I love ChromeOS on ARM. Very energy-efficient, there are some solid models in that rare and coveted 10-11.6" size range,..." Keyboards that don't bend? What makes do you recommend?
  - leggomylibro 9y ago
    I like the laptop versions that have screens which can fold around 360 degrees to act like tablets. The keyboard deactivates and you get an Android-style onscreen one when you do, but I think some people don't like that because it does mean that your screen will be fingerprint-y. But personally, I also like having a touch screen, especially since a bunch of Android apps run natively now. I have the C100 Flip right now, which I like a lot. It has a Cortex-A17 which doesn't have trouble running a bunch of tools I use like KiCAD, Arduino, etc. but I wouldn't use it for 3D modeling or other intensive tasks. The resolution is also a bit low at 1280x800.
skadamat 9y ago
I've switched to Brave almost exclusively because of this (which has it's own downsides for sure)
- FridgeSeal 9y ago
  I've recently switched to Brave on my phone, I've got Firefox on the as well, but I prefer the UI/UX of Chrome/Brave. What are the downsides I should know about?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
fleetingmoments 9y ago
I use a Chrome plugin called The Great Suspender, it makes a huge difference by 'suspending' all tabs that were not accessed in the past x minutes. You can set it up so it doesn't suspend certain tabs based on URL (Gmail, Drive and Calender for me) It helps a lot on my Macbook Pro with only 8GB.

daveguy 9y ago

ublock origin + privacy badger and you will have much less usage. I get 10x10 tabs (10 tabs in 10 windows) with few problems.

ryandrake 9y ago
It should be unacceptable that you have to install plug-ins and disable "features" in order to configure your browser to not be actively destroying the web browsing experience--which is the only experience you expect out of a web browser. Browser vendors need to take some responsibility too.
Jedd 9y ago
Agreed. Ublock Origin's right-click / Block Element (then optional selection process) is an absolute boon to forever hide these artefacts. Every now and then I'll try reading something on mobile chrome, or a friend's machine, and realise how annoying much of the web is for many people.
- SomeStupidPoint 9y ago
  I had to turn off JS on mobile chrome for almost all websites, because they just wouldn't run on my phone.
  - JoshMnem 9y ago
    Firefox for Android -- you can install extensions to block extra JS.
nine_k 9y ago
uMatrix if you want detailed control.
altern8tif 9y ago
Talking about uBlock Origin and Medium, the blocked requests on Medium pages always seem to increase at a regular interval. Seems like they use some kind of tracker that "polls" user activity on the page. I suspect that's why Chrome seems to use more CPU/RAM when I've got more Medium pages opened.
michaelbrooks 9y ago
That's all well and good until you get those annoying modals that say something like "We see you are using an adblocker, please disable it to continue". Some sites you can easily dismiss and they'll let you browse after (which makes the modal pointless) and other sites won't let you past unless you disable adblocking for that site.
- wilkystyle 9y ago
  I've had somewhat-good results by just disabling Javascript entirely for domains like that.

nine_k 9y ago

You open web sites with free content that try to make money off you. They definitely use your attention and collect as detailed profiles of you as possible. But you also pay with your CPU, RAM, and electricity: they'll gladly use as much of it for their purposes as possible.

leggomylibro 9y ago

That's interesting, because I regularly browse with a LOT of Chrome tabs open. Like, 50-200. There'll be a window with a bunch of datasheets I'm intending to process into schematics (eventually,) a handful of articles, some in-progress shopping carts, a few resources that I might want to read more closely at some point in the near future... Really, deciding when to close tabs and what to close is kind of an organic process. I am running ChromeOS on ARM, though, so that may be a bit more optimized for having lots of Chrome tabs open. On x86/64, I'd probably have to use Firefox for that kind of nonsense. But incidentally, I love ChromeOS on ARM. Very energy-efficient, there are some solid models in that rare and coveted 10-11.6" size range, now it has (beta) Android apps, and in dev mode you can pop a full Linux chroot onto it with an extension that lets you surface X sessions to a Chrome tab. Absolutely fantastic, until you run into a closed-source x86/64 binary. Also, since I have to sync everything to a repository or cloud storage or physical media fairly frequently to use a more fully-functioned machine, it also means that if I lose it or it breaks or I have to evacuate and leave it behind or something, nbd. Data's still there, and they're only like $2-300 anyways - not bad for a secondary computer. Hey, Apple - you know that 12" Macbook of yours? The one with a laughable single port? Maybe make an ARM version with a popular hackable core chip; like a newer Allwinner A10 or something. You could charge $400-500, easy.

keithpeter 9y ago
"But incidentally, I love ChromeOS on ARM. Very energy-efficient, there are some solid models in that rare and coveted 10-11.6" size range,..." Keyboards that don't bend? What makes do you recommend?
- leggomylibro 9y ago
  I like the laptop versions that have screens which can fold around 360 degrees to act like tablets. The keyboard deactivates and you get an Android-style onscreen one when you do, but I think some people don't like that because it does mean that your screen will be fingerprint-y. But personally, I also like having a touch screen, especially since a bunch of Android apps run natively now. I have the C100 Flip right now, which I like a lot. It has a Cortex-A17 which doesn't have trouble running a bunch of tools I use like KiCAD, Arduino, etc. but I wouldn't use it for 3D modeling or other intensive tasks. The resolution is also a bit low at 1280x800.

skadamat 9y ago

I've switched to Brave almost exclusively because of this (which has it's own downsides for sure)

FridgeSeal 9y ago
I've recently switched to Brave on my phone, I've got Firefox on the as well, but I prefer the UI/UX of Chrome/Brave. What are the downsides I should know about?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

fleetingmoments 9y ago

I use a Chrome plugin called The Great Suspender, it makes a huge difference by 'suspending' all tabs that were not accessed in the past x minutes. You can set it up so it doesn't suspend certain tabs based on URL (Gmail, Drive and Calender for me) It helps a lot on my Macbook Pro with only 8GB.