There are many browsers available and each advertises the high speed security and reliability . Today we decided to test the most four well know browsers and also the promising new Internet explorer 8 (build in windows 7) . The list of tested browser includes : Internet Explorer 7 (latest patch , fix and update) , Mozilla Firefox (3.0.6 latest release) , Opera (9.63 latest release) , the new promising browser from Google : Chorme (latest available version 1.0154) and also next generation Internet explorer 8.0.
How we tested :
The first step includes a blank page from each browser , we used process timer to measure the load time and windows task manager to check the memory usage . Later we loaded the browser with 1 Simple HTML page (a basic html page with meta tag and about 200 words ,without JavaScript or images) , then we used a HTML valid page (typical Internet web page with image , JavaScript and css) and finally the index page of our site xtreview as it look now (large Internet web page with images , JavaScript and css , advertising ....). In further step we opened similarly 10 page and 40 page from each page version .
Surfing with one page is usually for Internet newbies , 10 pages for advanced users and 40 page for experimented user (web surfer , webmaster , or advanced users) . Therefore, our test will show how different browser perform for most Internet users.
The system used was pretty basic :
- Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 @ 3.6 GHz
- Motherboard : Asus X38
- Memory : 2Gb, 2x1 GB Ocz reaper PC 9200
- HDD : 2 X 500 GB Seagte + Raid 0
- Video Card : HD 4870 1 GB
First let us note that Google Chrome open several threads for one browser instance .

In benchmark we wrote the overall memory and CPU usage made by each thread . In this case Internet explorer 8 also has about the same behavior but with less thread quantity .
Before going with benchmark, here is the download URL for all those browsers :
FireFox 3.0.6
Google Chrome 1.0154
Opera 9.63
Internet explorer 7 is already available on windows xp or windows vista.
Internet explorer 8 is currently only for the new promising windows 7 system .
According to our server statistics 48.41% of our users use firefox , 42.79 use Internet explorer , 5% use Opera ,1.28% user Google chrome .
These statistics are correct since firefox is considered as safe browser. Moreover, it is faster than Internet explorer and propose a lot of add-ons.

Internet explorer in all its version is also widely used since it comes pre-installed with all windows products .

Opera is considered as the fastest browser but the luck of add on , and compatibility makes its Internet user limited to 5%.

And finally Google Chrome which was recently released and well promoted , Google consider it as the fastest available browser (this will be checked in our today review .. Note this is far from being true!!!).

Now let us pass directly to the test :




Opera in this test just chines being the fastest browser. Moreover, eating in the case the lowest memory amount .Firefox shows up as memory hog , Google Chrome in this case required more ram than Internet explorer 8 , but it was faster to load . We note also the big improvement on memory and CPU usage between IE7 and IE 8 (Good job from Microsoft for the OS and Brower ).


Now the browser is loaded with 10 simple HTML page (Note those pages are pretty small with only 100-200 words ) . Again here opera is a king in the memory and CPU usage showing the lowest results . Google Chrome is located between Ie7 and Ie8 on the CPU usage , while it fly alone with 162 MB memory usage (8 times more than opera and 4 time more than IE7) , In this case the firefox performance is moderate without any excessive CPU or memory usage .


The same picture with 10 pages continues here but in larger scale , Google chrome eating a lot of memory and IE7 a lot of CPU . Firefox result is even better than above , Opera remains as the only leader .


Now we deal with some real page but in this case with valid HTML (Valid HTML makes browser render the content faster, and it is coding error free) . With one page only loaded we have : Google Chrome leader in the CPU usage followed by opera , IE 8 , Firefox and IE7 , But in the memory usage Opera restore its first place . For one page IE7 shows a respectable result in the memory usage .


Now let do some web surfing :-) . Opera as always seating in the first place (memory and CPU), Google Chrome Fail the memory usage test but show a respectable CPU load time .Internet explorer 7 , 8 and Firefox shows also a good result with moderate and respectable usage .


Even more page come , and our browser now include 40 pages .Same picture as the previous test : IE7 fails the CPU usage test while Google chrome show a huge of memory usage (in this case we deal with 368 MB of ram for 10 page !!!) . Firefox show here a respectable result with 104 Mb ram and 2.98% CPU usage .


This test includes our index page template (a typical web site) (Flash , ajax, javascript , HTML and its different code) . Here all browser shows the same result except Google Chrome and firefox with a bit higher memory usage .


As this became a tradition when surfing with 10 page + Ie7 shows a high CPU usage while Google Chrome impress by the used ram . Fire fox opera and IE explorer show a good result .


This can be considered as the only test when Opera loose its first place and Firefox became the king . All previous tests, clearly showed that Firefox is doing better and better with high number of page loaded , in this case with 40 complex page , this last already shows the best memory result with 122 Mb vs 127MB for opera and the CPU usage 4% only vs 6.5% for opera . Therefore, if you surf with 30-40 page or Plus firefox should be your choice for better system resource usage . We note also 717Mb of ram for Google Chrome !!! , Alas Google browser failed this test , this was also clear since the previous test , this new browser requires a lot of memory .


And finally here are 2 charts with summarize the hole previous comparison .
Personally, I am firefox user , I require in my daily work many firefox add-ons and the security is pretty robust . Ie7 is also a promising browser but its lack of functionality and some how less safe to surf .
Google Chrome is a new promising browser , the result observed are good enough , but the memory usage is pretty high . Surfing with 40 pages in Google chrome = another loaded windows vista in memory and CPU usage .
Opera is the fastest browser and its highly recommended , I don't know really about the security of this browser but there is some issue with incorrect page rendering .
My Choices are :
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Firefox
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Opera --> ( or Ie8 )
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IE7 -- > or even better IE8 when it will become officially available .
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Google Chrome (stay away if you open a lot of page and your system is low in memory).
Award to 