6 ms·

I have been using Firefox for a few months and I’ve noticed browsers on Windows are far slower than on Mac (despite much faster hardware). Is that normal / happ

by dzink 7y ago

I have been using Firefox for a few months and I’ve noticed browsers on Windows are far slower than on Mac (despite much faster hardware). Is that normal / happening to you as well? Firefox on Windows seems noticeably slower than Chrome. (Any page from entering address to seeing content feels ridiculously slow) I still use it for privacy, but I wonder if there is something I could do to speed it up.

Neil44 7y ago
I read some similar comments recently and tried switching to Chrome, but did not find it any faster, even on YouTube and gmail. Maybe it’s machine and webpage specific.
guitarbill 7y ago
haven't really noticed it myself. if anything, i though video acceleration works a bit better on windows
bboygravity 7y ago
What I find mind blowing is that it takes gigabytes (of RAM and/or other local storage) to load a couple of websites. Regardless of which browser is used.
- eloisant 7y ago
  What you call "a couple of websites" are actually full-blown applications. Your browser is more a virtual machine than a document reader. Also, applications tend to use RAM when it's available. Think of all the cache, typically that's why back is snappy (it doesn't re-render the page from scratch). Maybe it would make you feel good to see a lot of unused RAM, but since it's there, it's better to use it than not.
  - bboygravity 7y ago
    Well, maybe the point I'm trying to make is that they shouldn't be applications. Hackernews could take 100's of megabytes to load (like pretty much all of the other similar websites do). RAM, page file or otherwise. But it doesn't. It could be a complex application. But it isn't. And it shouldn't be. Also, I don't think having "too much RAM" is the issue on my 16 GB machine. I routinely have to just shut down the browser entirely to be able to properly do CAD work. Party like it's 1995. Even if these websites are "legit applications" for good reasons, putting the processing burden on the client is still a choice. There are efficient ways to leave most of the processing to the server. Example: https://www.phoenixframework.org/ https://www.phoenixframework.org/ Disclaimer: correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just an EE guy with shallow limited knowledge on web stuff.
withinboredom 7y ago
I’ve noticed on some windows machines that Chrome and Firefox run on a single core when in the foreground, and multi core when in the background. Open the cpu performance tab of task manager and set a page to reload every few seconds. I don’t know why that happens or how to make it stop.
winrid 7y ago
DNS config different between machines?
- dzink 7y ago
  Not that I know of. Recently installed Windows Pro on Threadripper with 2080TI vs MBP 2013. Where should I check?
dfsdfklgjljg 7y ago
In this video, the tech lead had a similar problem with browsers acting worse on windows than mac. (even the same browser) I've never seen anything like what he showed in the video, so it could be a bug affecting certain hardware configurations or software versions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnwB8Oh628Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnwB8Oh628Q
earenndil 7y ago
No (don't use mac), but I generally found windows to be much slower than linux, on the same hardware. (Interestingly, freebsd was also much slower than linux--but that's a tale for another time.) I wonder if it has to do with the scheduler? Desktop linux users sometimes install patchsets to their kernels like zen[1] or ck[2], which effectively enable soft-realtime in order to improve desktop responsiveness and latency, but reduce net throughput. iOS also generally feels more responsive than android, given comparable hardware, for similar reasons: more optimal scheduling algorithm. 1: https://liquorix.net/ https://liquorix.net/ 2: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Linux-ck https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Linux-ck
breakingcups 7y ago
That's odd, for me Firefox on Windows is slightly faster than Chrome. Do you have any extensions installed?

by dzink 7y ago

Neil44 7y ago

I read some similar comments recently and tried switching to Chrome, but did not find it any faster, even on YouTube and gmail. Maybe it’s machine and webpage specific.

guitarbill 7y ago

haven't really noticed it myself. if anything, i though video acceleration works a bit better on windows

bboygravity 7y ago

What I find mind blowing is that it takes gigabytes (of RAM and/or other local storage) to load a couple of websites. Regardless of which browser is used.

eloisant 7y ago
What you call "a couple of websites" are actually full-blown applications. Your browser is more a virtual machine than a document reader. Also, applications tend to use RAM when it's available. Think of all the cache, typically that's why back is snappy (it doesn't re-render the page from scratch). Maybe it would make you feel good to see a lot of unused RAM, but since it's there, it's better to use it than not.
- bboygravity 7y ago
  Well, maybe the point I'm trying to make is that they shouldn't be applications. Hackernews could take 100's of megabytes to load (like pretty much all of the other similar websites do). RAM, page file or otherwise. But it doesn't. It could be a complex application. But it isn't. And it shouldn't be. Also, I don't think having "too much RAM" is the issue on my 16 GB machine. I routinely have to just shut down the browser entirely to be able to properly do CAD work. Party like it's 1995. Even if these websites are "legit applications" for good reasons, putting the processing burden on the client is still a choice. There are efficient ways to leave most of the processing to the server. Example: https://www.phoenixframework.org/ https://www.phoenixframework.org/ Disclaimer: correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just an EE guy with shallow limited knowledge on web stuff.

withinboredom 7y ago

I’ve noticed on some windows machines that Chrome and Firefox run on a single core when in the foreground, and multi core when in the background. Open the cpu performance tab of task manager and set a page to reload every few seconds. I don’t know why that happens or how to make it stop.

winrid 7y ago

DNS config different between machines?

dzink 7y ago
Not that I know of. Recently installed Windows Pro on Threadripper with 2080TI vs MBP 2013. Where should I check?

dfsdfklgjljg 7y ago

In this video, the tech lead had a similar problem with browsers acting worse on windows than mac. (even the same browser) I've never seen anything like what he showed in the video, so it could be a bug affecting certain hardware configurations or software versions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnwB8Oh628Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnwB8Oh628Q

earenndil 7y ago

No (don't use mac), but I generally found windows to be much slower than linux, on the same hardware. (Interestingly, freebsd was also much slower than linux--but that's a tale for another time.) I wonder if it has to do with the scheduler? Desktop linux users sometimes install patchsets to their kernels like zen[1] or ck[2], which effectively enable soft-realtime in order to improve desktop responsiveness and latency, but reduce net throughput. iOS also generally feels more responsive than android, given comparable hardware, for similar reasons: more optimal scheduling algorithm. 1: https://liquorix.net/ https://liquorix.net/ 2: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Linux-ck https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Linux-ck

breakingcups 7y ago

That's odd, for me Firefox on Windows is slightly faster than Chrome. Do you have any extensions installed?