“Up to 1.5x speedier at running JavaScript and nearly 2x more responsive”: Testing conducted by Apple in September and October 2020 using JetStream 2 and Speedometer 2.0 performance benchmarks. Performance will vary based on usage, system configuration, application workload, network connection, and other factors. Page load performance tested using snapshot versions of 10 popular websites under simulated network conditions with prerelease Safari 14.0.1 and Chrome v.121 on macOS. Tested with prerelease Safari 14.0.1, Chrome v.75, and Firefox v81.0.1 on macOS, as well as Chrome v.75, Microsoft Edge v86.0.622.38, and Firefox v81.0.1 on Windows Home, with WPA2 Wi-Fi network connection. Scores represent browsers that completed the test. Performance compared to other browsers on Mac and PC using JetStream 2, MotionMark 1.1, and Speedometer 2.0 benchmarks and Windows 10 Home, version 2004, running in Boot Camp. Not all features are available on all devices. Safari tested with HD 1080p content, Chrome and Firefox tested with HD 720p content, all on macOS. Battery life tested with display brightness set to 12 clicks from bottom or 75 percent. “World’s fastest browser,” “industry-leading battery life,” and “loads frequently visited sites an average of 50 percent faster than Chrome”: Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 on production 1.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i5-based 13-inch MacBook Pro systems with 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, and prerelease macOS Big Sur.

It just used the Rosetta2 translation layer, which impacts performance and battery life. In our testing, earlier versions of Chrome worked just fine with M1-based Macs (as did Firefox and Edge). Some of these features will be rolling out gradually over the next few weeks.

Other new functions include the ability to search for an open tab in the search box and even perform direct actions within it (like typing “clear cache” or “update browser”). Mac users have long complained about the battery drain and resource usage of Chrome relative to Safari, so perhaps this will help even the score. It also starts up 25 per cent faster, loads pages seven per cent faster, and uses less RAM. But you’ll really care about the changes under the hood.īy prioritising active tabs and throttling background updates on other tabs, CPU utilisation is cut way back (Google says “up to 5x”) and battery life has been greatly extended. Superficially, there’s a new app icon that blends in with the visual theme of macOS Big Sur.

MacOS Big SurThere are other reasons for Mac users to be excited about the new Chrome release.

Google chrome download for mac big sur