Web Browser Grand Prix VI: Firefox 6, Chrome 13, Mac OS X Lion

By Adam Overa
published

Chrome 13, Firefox 6, Safari 5.1, and Mac OS X Lion (10.7) have all emerged since our last Web Browser Grand Prix. Today, we test the latest browsers on both major platforms. How do the Mac-based browsers stack up against their Windows 7 counterparts?

Performance Benchmarks: Flash, Java, And Silverlight

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Flash

GUIMark 2 Flash

The chart below lists the results of all three GUIMark2 Flash tests for each of the five Windows 7 Web browsers. 

The next chart has the same data for the four OS X browsers.

This final chart hosts the cross-platform composite scores, which average the results of the three GUIMark2 Flash tests.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 achieves the highest score in the GUIMark2 Flash Windows 7 testing, closely followed by Opera and Safari. Firefox 6 only earns a fourth-place victory, with Chrome 13 in last place.

The highest score from all of our GUIMark2 Flash testing goes to Opera on OS X. Chrome 13 manages to rocket into second place on the Hackintosh, while Safari 5.1 and Firefox 6 practically tie for last.

Flash Benchmark 2008

Safari 5.1 nabs the highest score in Flash Benchmark 2008 in Windows 7, followed by Microsoft's IE9. Opera takes the third-place spot, with Chrome 13 and Firefox 6 far in tow.

Opera for Mac achieves the highest score in all of our testing, more than 10 000 points ahead of Safari's Window 7 victory. Safari takes second in Lion, closely followed by Firefox 6, then Chrome 13.

It appears that Opera on OS X is the Flash performance king.

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Java

GUIMark Java

Firefox 6 leads in GUIMark Java under Windows 7. Mozilla is followed by Chrome 13 with a 5 FPS disadvantage. Opera takes third, followed by Safari 5.1 barely ahead of IE9.

In OSX, Opera takes the lead, followed by Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.

This benchmark shows Windows 7 to have a significant advantage over Mac OS X in Java performance.

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Silverlight

Encog Silverlight

The Encog Silverlight scores are pretty close together. In Windows 7, Opera 11.50 holds onto first place. Version 13 allows Chrome to move from third place to second. Firefox 6 catapults Mozilla up one spot, from fourth place to third. Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 drops from second place to fourth, and Safari remains in last place.

The OS X scores are all very far behind the Windows 7 results (by about double). Firefox 6 takes the lead in Lion, followed by Safari 5.1. Opera settles into third place on the Apple platform, and Chrome finishes last.

Silverlight is the second plug-in where Windows has a serious edge on OS X, but this wasn't entirely unexpected. Afterall, Silverlight is Microsoft's own attempt at a Flash-killer.

Adam Overa
92 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ne0nguy
    The first chart says "higher is better" for the load time
    Reply
  • adamovera
    ne0nguyThe first chart says "higher is better" for the load timethank you, workin' on it
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    Chrome is the best browser out there right now. While FireFox maybe more popular then Chrome is, Chrome has shown why it is the best browser out today. If you haven't used Chrome yet it's def worth a look.
    Reply
  • soccerdocks
    The reader function in safari actually looks really nice. Although I'd never use Safari on principle. I hope other browsers implement a similar function.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    why does firefox(6/8/9) performa so horribly on the IE9 maze solover test?
    chrome13 completely obliterats it.

    and firefox 8/9 are still a memory hog.
    not really surprised by poor show of ie9. moat updates it gets are "security updates".
    Reply
  • tofu2go
    Being on a Macbook with only 3GB of memory, memory is the most important factor for me. I open a LOT of tabs and I keep them open for long periods. For awhile I used Chrome, but recently switched to Firefox 6 and saw my memory utilization drop by well over 1GB. Granted with Firefox I was able to do something I am not able to do in any other browser, I could group my tabs into tab groups. I believe this allows for more efficient memory management, i.e. only the current group uses much memory. Not having done any tests, this is pure speculation. All I know is that I'm seeing MUCH lower memory usage with Firefox on OSX. Despite what this article would suggest.
    Reply
  • @soccerdocks

    Yeah? And exactly what principle would that be?
    Reply
  • andy5174
    @Google:
    Bring back the Google Dictionary, otherwise I will use Bing Search, Firefox and Facebook instead of Google Search, Chrome and G+.
    Reply
  • kartu
    Firefox 6 comes in third for both OSes, representing a major drop from Firefox 5.
    According to the graphic on "Reliability Benchmarks: Proper Page Loads" on MacOS Firefox is actually second, not third.
    Reply
  • LaloFG
    I keep Opera, more memory used and time to load pages is nothing when it load pages correctly; and the feeling in its interface is the greater.
    Reply