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Margin note: Safari and Chimera easy on the processor(s)
Apple's Safari browser is not only arguably the fastest browser for Mac OS X, but it is also comparatively easy on CPU usage. Chimera, the open-source offshoot from Netscape, is also meek with its use of system resources.
Try opening the Terminal and typing top -uw -s5 10. This will bring up a list of running processes, their processor and memory use, and other statistics. It is automatically updated every 5 seconds.
On our in-house Power Macintosh G4/733, we used this Terminal process to gauge CPU usage spikes created by Safari, OmniWeb, and Internet Explorer, and Chimera We rendered several complex sites, running each browser individually. The results showed that while OmniWeb and Internet Explorer routinely spike into 60 or 70 percent processor usage, Safari rarely nudged above 40 percent. Chimera generally produced even lower numbers, sticking around 35 percent for complex sites.
Let us know your findings or comments on browser processor usage: late-breakers@macfixit.com.Resources
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