While Google’s Chrome browser is feature rich and packed with functionality, it is a bit of a memory hog, or at least that’s the reputation that it has gotten over the years, although to Google’s credit they have been improving it on that front. However if you’re a Mac user looking for a relatively light browser, going native could be a good idea.
In a report from Kirkville, it seems that Kirk McElhearn has discovered that in the latest version of the Safari browser that is shipped with macOS High Sierra, the browser seems to be taking up much less memory than before. Based on his observations, Safari now uses about 3GB of RAM with more than a dozen tabs open and running for about four days.
Prior to this, McElhearn said that it used to consume anywhere between 5GB to 9GB of RAM. Safari has never really been known to be a memory hog, but we suppose any improvements to how efficiently it uses your computer’s RAM will always be welcome, especially when using it with older Macs or MacBooks that do not come with a lot of RAM.
Of course memory management is just one of the factors users have to decide when choosing a browser, but like we said if you run an old Mac computer and would like a more memory-friendly experience, Safari seems to be a good idea.