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Firefox has been my only browser since quantum appeared. However, on my 10inch 2-in-1 tablet with 2gb ram and an Atom Processor, Firefox's performance has been

Firefox has been my only browser since quantum appeared. However, on my 10inch 2-in-1 tablet with 2gb ram and an Atom Processor, Firefox's performance has been subpar. Pages will freeze, tabs become unresponsive. Closing the browser doesn't work. It remains in process, eating up 70-80% of CPU until I terminate the process with task manager. Because of this, I'm back with chromium (Opera and Edge). I thought Firefox 69 would change things but it hasn't. For touch screen friendliness, all desktop browsers suck at the moment (Classic edge's basically unusable for me.) Firefox is definitely better than opera in this regard though. But I want a button to switch to touch mode - make buttons bigger. No need for AI to guess which mode I'm currently on.

Krasnol 7y ago
I have the opposite experience with my old Lenovo B8080-F (Android 4.4.2) 2GB RAM that I use in the bath. If it wasn't for Firefox, this thing would be useless. Chrome takes forever to start up and is pretty much unusable on any modern page.
- dr_zoidberg 7y ago
  Yeah, but that's Firefox for Android, versus Firefox (Quantum) for Windows. Not the same "beast" underneath.
jchw 7y ago
Using Firefox on a 2-in-1 indeed leaves things to be desired. When pinch zooming, it seems to treat the pinching like normal page zooming instead of having a smooth viewport zoom.
- rocky1138 7y ago
  That sounds like the sort of decision made as time to meet the launch deadline ran low, with the intention of circling back and fixing it over time. The result is that the text and imagery does get bigger and easier to read but it's not yet optimal. I have no insight into their dev process but this theory can make sense based on my experience working in the industry.
- vezycash 7y ago
  Thought you'd find this useful: Was really frustrated today. And searched for a way to make firefox a bit more touch friendly. 1. Launch Firefox, click on the hamburger menu and navigate to “customise”. 2. In the customise sub-menu, look out for “Density” settings at the bottom left of the screen. 3. Select Touch Density, and tick the option for using Touch density in Tablet Mode as well. source: https://mspoweruser.com/how-to-set-up-firefox-quantums-interface-for-windows-tablets/ https://mspoweruser.com/how-to-set-up-firefox-quantums-inter...
mkbkn 7y ago
Give "Firefox Lite" a try. It is available in Asian countries only, so find its apk.
- vezycash 7y ago
  I'm on windows thanks.
dahfizz 7y ago
That's interesting. On my (modern i7) laptop, I notice Firefox is much less resource intensive than chrome. Maybe it just thrashes when there's not many cores available?
- vezycash 7y ago
  I have many laptops. But only use two ATM - on the Dell core i5 6GB ram, Firefox runs smoothly. My previous daily driver a hp envy core i5 also has no issues with Firefox. Chrome was SLOOW on the Envy and pushed me over to Firefox. It's the Packard Bell (detachable screen Atom x5-Z8350, 2GB ram) that I'm having issues with. I don't know if it's because I'm always on battery saver mode. Disabling all my extensions didn't help. >Firefox is much less resource intensive than chrome I have the same experience with both core i5 laptops. Installed Opera - not chrome on the detachable. I can't compare the memory usage btw opera and Firefox because I've got more extensions running on Firefox. Please note, I once disabled all extensions but it made no difference.
  - dahfizz 7y ago
    > Atom x5-Z8350 That's a pretty modern 4 core cpu. It's low power, but it's not too shabby. It's a shame Firefox doesn't seem to like it.
curlypaul924 7y ago
Are you running low on memory? This is has been my experience with Firefox on a laptop with 4GB. If the commit size for any of the content processes goes over 1GB, Firefox tabs stop responding. Killing the content process in task manager brings the browser back to life. Sometimes the browser slows to a crawl and CPU usage spikes (making me wonder if it's memory compression kicking in -- though I haven't verified). Other times tabs are responsive but links just make the spinner go (as if I've hit a socket limit). It's almost always fixed by killing the content processes (making sure not to kill whichever one is running addons!). I guess this is a little better than the old days when a few times a day I would just restart the whole browser.

Krasnol 7y ago

I have the opposite experience with my old Lenovo B8080-F (Android 4.4.2) 2GB RAM that I use in the bath. If it wasn't for Firefox, this thing would be useless. Chrome takes forever to start up and is pretty much unusable on any modern page.

dr_zoidberg 7y ago
Yeah, but that's Firefox for Android, versus Firefox (Quantum) for Windows. Not the same "beast" underneath.

jchw 7y ago

Using Firefox on a 2-in-1 indeed leaves things to be desired. When pinch zooming, it seems to treat the pinching like normal page zooming instead of having a smooth viewport zoom.

rocky1138 7y ago
That sounds like the sort of decision made as time to meet the launch deadline ran low, with the intention of circling back and fixing it over time. The result is that the text and imagery does get bigger and easier to read but it's not yet optimal. I have no insight into their dev process but this theory can make sense based on my experience working in the industry.
vezycash 7y ago
Thought you'd find this useful: Was really frustrated today. And searched for a way to make firefox a bit more touch friendly. 1. Launch Firefox, click on the hamburger menu and navigate to “customise”. 2. In the customise sub-menu, look out for “Density” settings at the bottom left of the screen. 3. Select Touch Density, and tick the option for using Touch density in Tablet Mode as well. source: https://mspoweruser.com/how-to-set-up-firefox-quantums-interface-for-windows-tablets/ https://mspoweruser.com/how-to-set-up-firefox-quantums-inter...

mkbkn 7y ago

Give "Firefox Lite" a try. It is available in Asian countries only, so find its apk.

vezycash 7y ago
I'm on windows thanks.

dahfizz 7y ago

That's interesting. On my (modern i7) laptop, I notice Firefox is much less resource intensive than chrome. Maybe it just thrashes when there's not many cores available?

vezycash 7y ago
I have many laptops. But only use two ATM - on the Dell core i5 6GB ram, Firefox runs smoothly. My previous daily driver a hp envy core i5 also has no issues with Firefox. Chrome was SLOOW on the Envy and pushed me over to Firefox. It's the Packard Bell (detachable screen Atom x5-Z8350, 2GB ram) that I'm having issues with. I don't know if it's because I'm always on battery saver mode. Disabling all my extensions didn't help. >Firefox is much less resource intensive than chrome I have the same experience with both core i5 laptops. Installed Opera - not chrome on the detachable. I can't compare the memory usage btw opera and Firefox because I've got more extensions running on Firefox. Please note, I once disabled all extensions but it made no difference.
- dahfizz 7y ago
  > Atom x5-Z8350 That's a pretty modern 4 core cpu. It's low power, but it's not too shabby. It's a shame Firefox doesn't seem to like it.

curlypaul924 7y ago

Are you running low on memory? This is has been my experience with Firefox on a laptop with 4GB. If the commit size for any of the content processes goes over 1GB, Firefox tabs stop responding. Killing the content process in task manager brings the browser back to life. Sometimes the browser slows to a crawl and CPU usage spikes (making me wonder if it's memory compression kicking in -- though I haven't verified). Other times tabs are responsive but links just make the spinner go (as if I've hit a socket limit). It's almost always fixed by killing the content processes (making sure not to kill whichever one is running addons!). I guess this is a little better than the old days when a few times a day I would just restart the whole browser.