Lightweight browser??

Slime101 · 25 Mar 2009 at 17:10

I run a netbook 99% of the time now, and was wondering if there was a light alternative to IE7 which i currently run.

I've run Firefox in the past but not sure if its really any lighter on resources so was looking for somthing ultra compatible (must work with all websites, flash, adobe etc).

Do they make lite versions of IE?? or Firefox??

Whats best?? (Please dont just start MS bashing for the sake of it)

jbloggs · 25 Mar 2009 at 17:12

Try (Google) Chrome...

swinnie · 25 Mar 2009 at 17:19

Could try Firefox Portable, and run it from a memory stick?

Or you could try - http://www.mozilla.org/projects/fennec/1.0a2/releasenotes/ Which is a new 'mobile' version of firefox. Not exactly sure on its uses.

redballoon · 25 Mar 2009 at 17:25

Chrome.

Slime101 · 25 Mar 2009 at 17:28

I shall try chrome.

Many thanks.

Rainmaker · 25 Mar 2009 at 17:33

Chrome's nice, but does still have some little issues, especially in rendering certain sites. You might also want to check out Opera. I use Firefox myself, before anyone thinks I'm just proffering my favoured browser; I'm not.

However Opera is light, small, fast and does what it says on the tin. I use it on the youngest's ancient laptop (which has a tightly N-Lited XP install and struggles to run Firefox) and it goes like blazes. Worth a look.

Slime101 · 25 Mar 2009 at 17:38

I might try opera, got chrome installed and it looks awful - i know i asked for small and light but it looks like it was designed by a 5yr old!

Ratbag · 25 Mar 2009 at 17:50

There are skins for it. I'm an Opera user but I have to admit that Chrome (or more specifically Iron as I'm no fan of Googles privacy policy) is a very fast and responsive app.

V4NT0M · 25 Mar 2009 at 17:51

I actually like the way chrome looks.

Matteysan · 25 Mar 2009 at 19:07

Skyfall said:
I actually like the way chrome looks.

Definitely me too, Especially with Aero running. Doesn't look as good without Aero.

Strife212 · 25 Mar 2009 at 19:09

What is light weight about chrome, it uses loads of CPU time compared to the other browsers.

NathanE · 25 Mar 2009 at 19:15

IE7/8 is the lightest weight browser nowadays.

Slime101 · 25 Mar 2009 at 19:17

NathanE said:
IE7/8 is the lightest weight browser nowadays.

IE8??? I guess thats not on commercial release yet??

Rainmaker · 25 Mar 2009 at 19:19

Slime101 said:
IE8??? I guess thats not on commercial release yet??

Yes it is.

See HERE.

Slime101 · 25 Mar 2009 at 19:34

Oh, how come it isnt on windows update?

smogsy · 25 Mar 2009 at 19:36

wouldnt say IE8 is tbh.
although i do like it.
4 tabs open 4 processes. 104MB Ram Usage.

It only come windows update after month or two. as it is NOT High Proirity yet.

Ross1234 · 25 Mar 2009 at 19:38

NathanE said:
IE7/8 is the lightest weight browser nowadays.

Got anything to back that up? Sounds like ******** to me...

smogsy · 25 Mar 2009 at 19:57

read above ross

NathanE · 25 Mar 2009 at 20:06

Ross1234 said:
Got anything to back that up? Sounds like ******** to me...

It's just obvious. Certainly is not ********.

90% of IE is already loaded into memory for use by Explorer and many third party applications that use it for rendering a HTML GUI.

Obviously it's not quite as simple as that but even by comparing from a conventional point of view... IE still strikes me as the lightest weight. Opera is a heavy weight. It has all sorts of crap built into it. Firefox is somewhere between the light to middle weight. Both of these browsers support all manner of extensions/addon systems that are highly proprietary. Whereas IE simply supports ActiveX control addons and the foundations for this are already built into the OS.

Google Chrome is more of a development/operating platform and a web browser second. Although not many people realise this yet. It is certainly not lightweight. For starters it spawns tons of processes, one for each tab. This is not the sign of a lightweight web browser.

Ross1234 · 25 Mar 2009 at 20:09

NathanE said:
It's just obvious. Certainly is not ********.

90% of IE is already loaded into memory for use by Explorer and many third party applications that use it for rendering a HTML GUI.

Obviously it's not quite as simple as that but even by comparing from a conventional point of view... IE still strikes me as the lightest weight. Opera is a heavy weight. It has all sorts of crap built into it. Firefox is somewhere between the light to middle weight. Both of these browsers support all manner of extensions/addon systems that are highly proprietary. Whereas IE simply supports ActiveX control addons and the foundations for this are already built into the OS.

Google Chrome is more of a development/operating platform and a web browser second. Although not many people realise this yet. It is certainly not lightweight. For starts it spawns tons of processes, one for each tab. This is not the sign of a lightweight web browser.

I just tried IE8 It is awesome :eek:

SO much faster than firefox and chrome. IE7 was terrible, but 8 is really good so far. Thanks Nathan!