Let’s talk for a moment about web browsers. When we think of searching and surfing the internet, we automatically load up one of these beauties in order to do so. No kidding, I’m using one right now. But how does it work, why does it work that way, and what are the ramifications of these things? When I explain web browsers to someone, I mention that web browsers are like flavors of ice cream. They’re all a little different, but they’re still ice cream. The point being that its okay to like different ones. Some folks like Chrome, others FireFox, Others Safari, and of course, Internet explorer. And this is okay. However, there are certain underlying things to keep in mind.
In the Mac world, there are a lot of machines out there from 2010 – 2013. Very popular, and in many cases, a lot of people’s first real portable computer for college and so on. They’re still pretty viable machines as well. But of course, with time, we begin to see some age. To coin another analogy, when you bought that machine, its hardware and operating system were like a car, cruising down a flat road at speed. Everything hummed along and it did that job very well. But as time passed, we update operating systems in order to keep up with everything else out there. Every time an update happens, that road gets a little steeper. Now, factor that out over 5-7 years. We’ve gotten pretty steep. The system requirements for the OS have changed. Sure, you’re 5-7 year old machine will run that shiny new OS, but its going to take more processor and video card power to get there.
Now you’re thinking, and you’re asking, “why does any of this matter? We were talking about web browsers.” And thats true. Here’s why it matters. The internet has gotten much more robust. Its not just GeoCities and Flash games now. The content we’ve come to expect as normal has evolved massively since the days of old. And so has your web browser. The trick however, is that you computer may not have.
lets assume for a moment that you have a 2010 machine. It was pretty boss when you got it. And it was running Mac OS 10.6 when you bought it. Make no mistake, Snow Leopard was a gorgeous iteration of the Mac OS. But the Mac OS has gone through 6 more iterations since then, to version 10.12., or Sierra. Sierra will run on that Scrappy little machine, but its taking most of its horsepower and memory to keep up with a modern OS, which was arguably designed for much newer machines. Now throw the modern internet and modern web browsers at it. That machine is cooking. Why? Not just because you have mail and Word and a couple other things open. It might just be because you have a web browser open.
Chrome and Firefox are smart, modern browsers. They take into account that the machine you’re using is probably way more powerful than you’re going to normally need. So they don’t just use CPU power to do their jobs. They also use the video card. On a modern machine, you’re likely to not notice this, as you’re machine really is strong enough to not even blink. But if you’re cooking along on an older machine, everything just slowed down. Things are taking longer to load. You’re seeing the beachball. overall system response is slower. Why? Because your OS and your web browser are competing for GPU time. And you can do something about it.
In Chrome, if you click on the Settings pips to the right of the URL bar, you’ll open up the main settings menu. At the bottom, click on advanced. At the bottom under System, there’s a checkbox to “Use Hardware Acceleration when available.” Disable and restart the browser.
In Firefox, You go to Preferences, Advanced, and the general tab under advanced. The same option is in the same place. Uncheck and restart.
Your web browser is no longer stealing processor time from your video card. Your OS gets a little snappier, and things are a little less put upon. And this makes such a difference why? Did you happen to notice that while writing your thesis, dissertation, or that big presentation for work, you had a window open that had maybe 20 tabs? 20 websites, all competing for processing, at the same time. Unto thee I say, try thinking about 20 things in parallel, at the same time. Thats what your computer is doing. So if its stealing all that video card time, what is our end result? Our OS redraw and response time nose-dive.
Now, you’re asking, “Okay, that was a big lecture. Bring it all around. Whats the point here?”
Simple. You have a slightly older machine, with a slightly older video card, and a newer OS ? Turn off that browser hardware acceleration. You’re machine will be more responsive, and will thank you for it.
Oh, and cut back on the number of open tabs. You don’t need everything open at the same time. In real world testing, with a dozen tabs open to news sites, Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, and such, my processor usage spiked to 135% for Chrome, just trying to load all those tabs. Close them when you’re done, and you’ll be a lot happier!