Google Chrome Browser Review
I have never actually gotten the whole idea of the browser wars. While I do think some browsers perform better than others I have always said t depends on the user and the hardware specs. So you can imagine that I was a little apprehensive when I heard that Google was entering the browser domain with their new Chrome. After testing the device on my laptop for the past two months I have decided to give my opinions on it.
It would be an understatement if I said that I am familiar with most of the major browsers out there as I have used every single one of them and currently have Opera, IE7 (and 8), Safari, Firefox and now Chrome on my two computers.
The first thing I noticed when using Chrome for the first time is that the interface looked like a hybrid of all the major browsers on the market. When you are greeted by the start page you have nine panels of the most visited websites. This is almost a direct copy of the start page on Opera.
The browser also includes tabs as well as the ability to drag a tab to a new window which is very useful if you are doing multitasking on a big screen.
The rest of the design interface is very slick and well put together. Buttons are easy to find and in logical order according to most of the browsers on the market.
So far the only major thing that I would like to see in the browser is a better RSS function as it still takes a little getting used to. And it wouldn’t help to include search functionalities for Microsoft’s Live service now would it?
Performance was the only reason why I initially decided to try Google Chrome. While Firefox is good n this area, I cannot help but notice the fact that it is a memory hugger. The same thing is true for Safari which I used to use until Apple decided that I must also install iTunes and QuickTime if I want to use their browser.
So far the performance on Google’s Chrome has been spectacular. Web pages load very nicely and so far have not found any major problems with the rendering of the CSS.
During the two months plus that I have been using the browser it has only crashed twice. In terms of memory usage, Google did a pretty good job of ensuring that the browser uses as little as possibly and even when I have 10+ tabs open the performance lags very little.
Flash plays very well on the browser and of course YouTube and like services work like a charm. On the other hand certain plug-ins takes some tricks to use such as the popular WMP 11 plug-in.
So far I have to say that I have been very satisfied with Chrome. While I do not see a great need for people to stop using their IE’s, Firefox’s and Opera (my personal favorite), if you happen to be n the market for a new browser t wouldn’t hurt to give Chrome a test run. And after all, it’s about time you add some bling to your desktop isn’t it?
