Web Browser Grand Prix: Chrome 18, Firefox 11, Windows XP

By Adam Overa
published

Over the past two years, we've tested the top five Web browsers using modern PC hardware. But today, going against all that is sacred to the enthusiast crowd, we're breaking out an old beige box to bring you Web Browser Grand Prix: Windows XP Edition!

Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, And Safari

Web Browser Grand Prix Champions

The table below lists all of the previous Web Browser Grand Prix winners, with links to their respective articles.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Web Browser Grand PrixChampion
Web Browser Grand Prix: The Top Five, Tested And Ranked

Web Browser Grand Prix 2: The Top Five Tested And Ranked

Web Browser Grand Prix 2: Running The Linux Circuit

Web Browser Grand Prix 3:  IE9 Enters The Race

Web Browser Grand Prix 4: Firefox 4 Goes Final

Web Browser Grand Prix 5: Opera 11.50, Firefox 5, And Chrome 12

Web Browser Grand Prix VI: Firefox 6, Chrome 13, Mac OS X LionWeb Browser Grand Prix 7: Firefox 7, Chrome 14, Opera 11.51

Web Browser Grand Prix VIII: Chrome 16, Firefox 9, And Mac OS XWeb Browser Grand Prix 9: Chrome 17, Firefox 10, And Ubuntu

Web Browser Grand Prix Contenders

ChromeVendor:GoogleDebut:9/02/2008Current Version:18Layout Engine:WebKitJavaScript Engine:V8Supported Platforms:Windows, Mac, LinuxHTML5 Hardware Acceleration:NoWebGL:Windows & OS X-OnlyWBGP Wins:5Download Chrome!

Chrome 18 on Windows XP

FirefoxVendor:MozillaDebut:11/09/2004Current Version:11Layout Engine:Gecko 2.0JavaScript Engine:JaegerMonkeySupported Platforms:Windows, Mac, LinuxHTML Hardware Acceleration:YesWebGL:YesWBGP Wins:3Download Firefox!

Firefox 11 on Windows XP

Internet ExplorerVendor:MicrosoftDebut:8/16/1995Current Version:9Layout Engine:TridentJavaScript Engine:ChakraSupported Platforms:Windows (Vista and 7)HTML5 Hardware Acceleration:YesWebGL:NoWBGP Wins:2Download Internet Explorer!

Internet Explorer 8 on Windows XP

OperaVendor:Opera SoftwareDebut:12/09/1996Current Version:11.62Layout Engine:PrestoJavaScript Engine:CarakanSupported Platforms:Windows, Mac, LinuxHTML5 Hardware Acceleration:NoWebGL:NoWBGP Wins:1Download Opera!

Opera 11.62 on Windows XP

SafariVendor:AppleDebut:1/07/2003Current Version:5.1.4Layout Engine:WebKit 2JavaScript Engine:NitroSupported Platforms:Windows, OS XHTML5 Hardware Acceleration:OS X-onlyWebGL:NoWBGP Wins:2Download Safari!

Safari 5.1.4 on Windows XP
Adam Overa
61 Comments Comment from the forums
  • wheredahoodat
    "Both Opera and Chrome feltmuch smoother on our old PC than Firefox"

    I do kinda feel the difference with Firefox's responsive going from my main modern desktop to my older labtop that has regulated to a makeshift HTC. I believe Firefox XUL interface is the culprit; it was a big enough problem for Firefox mobile to abandon it in favor of native Android GUI, but who knows at this point. I guess might actually give Opera a chance.
    Reply
  • agnickolov
    How come only a single reader requested numerical composite scoring, that's the most logical way of scoring after all! With that said, I'd have liked if you didn't use the rankings but the raw scores after a more intelligent transformation as the input for weighted averaging...
    For example, for each category you could subtract the lowest-placed score from all scores and then normalize in the range by dividing all adjusted scores by the topmost adjusted score. This way the top perfomer always has 1 and the worst performer always has 0 modified score (you'd need to invert them for tests where lower is better of course, e.g. subtract these from 1). Then apply your ranks to these scores and you get the composite score. It's not a perfect transformation, but it certainly has more fairly distributed weight (pun intended) than what you have used here.
    Reply
  • gwiz1987
    Why is IE8 being benched and not IE9?
    Reply
  • aznjoka
    Thats my Opera, for those who have never tried Opera. It's an amazing piece of software, it does the job, and it does it better then most.
    Reply
  • confish21
    Interesting move to make this article. Well done! Don't waste your time on a vista run though... Im so close my release date. xD
    Reply
  • csbeer
    aznjokaThats my Opera, for those who have never tried Opera. It's an amazing piece of software, it does the job, and it does it better then most.
    XP can't run 9. Need to upgrade OS in order to get higher IE.
    Reply
  • dameon51
    gwiz1987Why is IE8 being benched and not IE9?XP doesn't support 9, only 8.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    excellent review!
    some points:

    1.A lot of corporates still use IE7. maybe you should include that too in your benchmarks

    2.if you remove HTML5 (with and without H/W acceleration), i think Opera's victory margin will be quite huge.

    3.Regarding smoothness, i beleive FF is quite poor in this. But the developers know about it and are very activle working on it. I thik FF13 will be the release when smoothness will improve. look at "Firefox Snappy".

    4. i would like to have a subjective recommendation at the end of the article, something you subjectively felt was the best amongst all the browsers, even though it may be trailing in numbers.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    Why did you use the AGP? I bet 99.99% of those Pentium4 era computers use the onboard Intel IGP.
    Also that would definitely disable the H/W acceleration of browsers.

    Reply
  • Anyone who is still stuck using Windows 2000, Opera supports you.

    Reply