4 ms·

I find Safari on iOS to be nice, and Safari on macOS to be horrifically slow and inadequate, even on the newest M-series processors. It's like two different wor

I find Safari on iOS to be nice, and Safari on macOS to be horrifically slow and inadequate, even on the newest M-series processors. It's like two different worlds, you can really tell that all of the engineering time is going into iOS because that's where all the money is at.

frizlab 2y ago
I use Safari on macOS and don’t find it particularly slow
ethbr1 2y ago
I heard someone recently describe Apple as a great hardware company with a few software people. Rings true! Most of the iOS / MacOS software issues are things that more bodies could fix.
- segasaturn 2y ago
  Indeed, although most of the real work on the hardware side is done by TSMC on the processors, and Apple just does a good job wrapping that piece of silicon into a shiny glass and metal body. Apple's real superpower is getting people to spend money inside their ecosystem. They've essentially turned into a finance corporation pretending to be a tech company.
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    I'd strongly disagree. Apple designs their own processors (now), specs/sources their components (e.g. screens), and then does all the integration engineering. That's the bulk of device work. Which isn't to say that semi manufacturing isn't hard, but is to say there's a lot of effort between a chip and a device.
    - segasaturn 2y ago
      Sure, that design work and firmware development is probably a miniscule part of their business in comparison to the scale of their App Store and other service revenues though. And Apple does no manufacturing at all, the screens come from Samsung and the phones are assembled by Foxconn.
      - ethbr1 2y ago
        TSMC builds the chips, according to Apple's designs. Foxconn assembles the phones, according to Apple's designs. I don't think you realize how much work goes into building and cerifying a working, mass market device.
Corrado 2y ago
In my quest to move away from Chrome I tried to daily drive Safari on my new work supplied M4 MBP. I really tried, but it was just too slow in daily use. At first I thought something was wrong with my networking or Internet connection, or possibly all the web apps I use were having a bad week. However, booting up Firefox (or rather Zen browser) immediately solved all of my performance problems on all of my web apps. There were some other problems with Safari as well; profiles didn't work quite the way I needed them to, limited extensions (no uBlock Origin!), etc. I probably could have worked around them but I didn't need to; Firefox was almost perfect.

frizlab 2y ago

I use Safari on macOS and don’t find it particularly slow

ethbr1 2y ago

I heard someone recently describe Apple as a great hardware company with a few software people. Rings true! Most of the iOS / MacOS software issues are things that more bodies could fix.

segasaturn 2y ago
Indeed, although most of the real work on the hardware side is done by TSMC on the processors, and Apple just does a good job wrapping that piece of silicon into a shiny glass and metal body. Apple's real superpower is getting people to spend money inside their ecosystem. They've essentially turned into a finance corporation pretending to be a tech company.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  I'd strongly disagree. Apple designs their own processors (now), specs/sources their components (e.g. screens), and then does all the integration engineering. That's the bulk of device work. Which isn't to say that semi manufacturing isn't hard, but is to say there's a lot of effort between a chip and a device.
  - segasaturn 2y ago
    Sure, that design work and firmware development is probably a miniscule part of their business in comparison to the scale of their App Store and other service revenues though. And Apple does no manufacturing at all, the screens come from Samsung and the phones are assembled by Foxconn.
    - ethbr1 2y ago
      TSMC builds the chips, according to Apple's designs. Foxconn assembles the phones, according to Apple's designs. I don't think you realize how much work goes into building and cerifying a working, mass market device.

Corrado 2y ago

In my quest to move away from Chrome I tried to daily drive Safari on my new work supplied M4 MBP. I really tried, but it was just too slow in daily use. At first I thought something was wrong with my networking or Internet connection, or possibly all the web apps I use were having a bad week. However, booting up Firefox (or rather Zen browser) immediately solved all of my performance problems on all of my web apps. There were some other problems with Safari as well; profiles didn't work quite the way I needed them to, limited extensions (no uBlock Origin!), etc. I probably could have worked around them but I didn't need to; Firefox was almost perfect.