Best browser for computer with 256MB of RAM

By Zer0_II
in Web Browser Discussion & Support

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Proficient

Flawed

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  On 23/02/2011 at 23:03, c3ntury said:

Are you kidding? IE uses less then Chrome and Firefox usually.. Chrome running for me is using a fair amount, well over 100mb.

Only because most of IE's components are loaded with the OS. Try running it in wine and see how much extra those html/xml components use.

I use Elinks, or links2 -g for more graphical stuff. sudo apt-get install links2 should do it. You would be better running a compact OS though if that's all the memory you have. I suggest puppy or damn small linux. Download Unetbootin, and have it create a bootable usb stick based on the aforementioned OS's

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XIII

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Don't use older versions of any browser. The RAM you saved is minimal while trading off security, etc... The internet is nasty and you don't want to get infected. My suggestion would be firefox 3.6 but with the NO-SCRIPT addon. It will automatically disable all the flash on the websites you visit and help you save that precious memory. Without no-script, firefox or any other browsers out there can jump up in memory usage pretty quickly.

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Zer0_II

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  On 24/02/2011 at 03:38, XIII said:

Don't use older versions of any browser. The RAM you saved is minimal while trading off security, etc... The internet is nasty and you don't want to get infected. My suggestion would be firefox 3.6 but with the NO-SCRIPT addon. It will automatically disable all the flash on the websites you visit and help you save that precious memory. Without no-script, firefox or any other browsers out there can jump up in memory usage pretty quickly.

Thank you for the warning, but I'm not concerned with security. I have NOD32 and Comodo Firewall installed, and I'm well adept at maneuvering through some of the more treacherous sites on the internet. Aside from that fact, I only plan to use the browser to visit my school website, as well as trusted sites for research. So in this instance, I'm willing to trade off security for RAM usage.

Again, thank you everyone for the advice. It is interesting to see so many different opinions on this matter. I'm sure there are others running ancient systems out there who might stumble across this thread and find it very informative as well. Please keep the suggestions coming. Not only are they informative, but I find the debates over which browser uses less resources to be entertaining. :)

Does anyone know of a way that I could benchmark each of the browsers being recommended so that I can gain a better understanding of the performance of each one, along with the RAM each one is consuming at various points in time?

Grand Master

+Warwagon MVC

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  On 24/02/2011 at 05:17, Raa said:

PC133 ram is cheap. I've got a pile of 256mb sticks here.

I guess you are right. In that case no matter what, go buy more ram! Then you will have a much faster machine and the freedom to use what ever browser you want.

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Zer0_II

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  On 24/02/2011 at 05:16, warwagon said:

how about just add more ram to the machine and be done with it. Rams cheap unless of course it's pc133. If it's DDR you can up the ram to 768 for as little as $22

The machine is a Dell Dimension 8200. I have tried finding cheap RAM from reputable vendors, but it is simply too expensive to warrant buying in my opinion. Last time I checked, I believe it was more than $100 for 500MB of RAM. Aside from that, my financial situation isn't very good at all. I can't afford to spend $22 at the moment, or in the foreseeable future, let alone $100.

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etempest

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Chrome. I've used both Firefox and Chrome on a low end machine and despite Chrome wanting to use more resouces, it provided a smoother and functional experince.

Firefox on the other hand didn't hold up so well.

Also consider Opera.

Veteran

PreKe

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  On 24/02/2011 at 02:27, pickypg said:
Both Chrome and IE use more memory by design through their multi-process, sandboxing paradigm, but they are both safer and less prone to memory leaks.

Not more so than other browsers, no. In fact, tests have fairly consistently shown Firefox's memory usage to be significantly lower, even over time. Of course, this is because Firefox is too eager to dump memory even when it might be needed, but that's a different matter...

  On 24/02/2011 at 05:26, still1 said:
Chrome.

No, as it uses more memory by design.

  On 24/02/2011 at 10:03, amon91 said:
How about Maxthon? I don't use it myself but from past experience it's pretty light. Avoid going with an old browser, old browsers mean security problems and I wouldn't risk that on anything.

I would not recommend anyone to use Maxthon. They've got some spyware thing going, and it's just a new skin/UI for IE (although you can switch between engines now).

Grand Master

Copernic Reporter

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masthead.png

Dillo is a multi-platform graphical web browser known for its speed and small footprint. Dillo-Win32 is an unofficial patched version with several new features, including:

* Support for Microsoft Windows 95 and higher

* Enhanced user interface with improved usability

* Easier installation—one standalone executable

http://dillo-win32.sourceforge.net/dillo/

r04No.png

Pale Moon Project is a Firefox clone that has been optimized for for Windows Operating Systems with current, high performance processors. It looks identical to the standard Firefox browser and supports Firefox extensions, themes and identities. All your existing extensions, bookmarks and settings are imported during the installation, so, except for the logo, you won`t notice any difference in functionality. What you may notice however is a difference in speed due to the optimized code which will results in faster scripting and page rendering as well as (slightly) lower memory consumptions. Pale Moon is based on the Firefox source and offers the same levels of security. The program supports most Firefox features with the exception of accessibility features and parental control features which have been disabled for performance reasons.

http://www.palemoon.org/

Grand Master

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Posted
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chrome...I have a PC in my network with only 256MB RDRAM, and chrome flies on that thing. Everything else seems like running after a glue truck...IE, I click firefox, and MAYBE firefox will open in fewer than five minutes....but, YMMV

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