Safari 4!

[fugibo]

Safari 4 FULL RELEASE is out!
http://apple.com/safari

Apple has finally decided to update its WebKit-based browser, and trust me, its waaaaaaaaaaay better than the v3 version. I'm using the Mac version, and it definitely beats Fx and Opera -- it borrows a lot of elements from Google Chrome, but it has its own Apple twist.

The Windows version now uses native widgets, and fits in even better than Google Chrome I think

I tested Safari 4 against Fx 3/3.5b4 and Opera 9.64/10b for Mac (these are the only stable Mac browsers as far as I know ATM) at the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark, and it won hands down (In the order Safari, Fx, Opera, with the Betas for Fx and Opera beating out the current stable version). Here is the summary:

Safari 4: (Upgrade from my Beta Install, which was an upgrade from my Safari 3 install; very slightly customized with Safari AdBlock and some plist mods): 816.4ms
Fx 3: (My personal install, up-to-date, customized with theme/a few add-ons) 3523.6ms
Fx3.5b4: (Fresh install, might have carried over a few things from my old install) 1404.0ms
Opera 9.64: (Very nice chrome I must say, has a couple features I'm considering adding to my Safari 4, fresh install): 6686.2ms
Opera 10 Beta: (Fresh install) 5701.6ms

I'll try to have some more statistics and such up tomorrow; for now my opinion is this: Fx for pure customizability, Opera for its native awesome/tiny footprint, Safari 4 for raw speed/performance (and customizability on par with Opera on Mac). Safari 4 is a typical Apple product in that it is dumbed down for the end user, but (especially on Mac) power users can fiddle around to get some of Fx/Opera's functionality integrated into the world's fastest, (Mac, at least) standards-compliant, stable browser.

[Fantasist]

Sure! I've been using Opera for too long and I comfortably made the switch to Chrome. Let's see what Safari's gotta offer.

[Blizzard]

Can you give some more info on it? How about a screenshot or two? What about locking tabs and cycling through open tabs? They removed cycling in Opera and that made me very sad. :/

[Landith]

Sweet, I'm checking it out now, I like how it uses your windows theme instead of the built in theme it used to use.
It seems pretty fast too.

[tSwitch]

if they have an adblocker, then it'll be worth switching from FF

[Landith]

I'll look into it and see if they have an adblocker. But it's super fast... I can barely tell certain pages are loading.

[fugibo]

I'll link you to Ars, Blizz. They have some critique on it, plus some screenies
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/02/hands-on-safari-4-beta-fast-mixes-polish-rough-ui-edges.ars

Unfortunately, I don't know of an AdBlocker that works with Safari 4 on Win BUT, it has Acid3 support, woot!!

By beats Opera/Fx, I mean on Mac -- though I definitely think it gives Fx some really good competition, it might not beat Opera. Its got everything IE7/Chrome have and more, though

[tSwitch]

I've got a custom CSS override that is working as 1/2 an adblock solution (blocks the ads, doesn't close the frames)

it's noticeably faster than Fx, that's for certain, but it looks kinda ugly if you're running custom skins. (the title bar bugs a bit)  Hopefully they'll fix that.

edit: WOW, cpu spikes all over the place and it uses huuuuuuge amounts of Ram.  I think I'm going back to Fx.

[fugibo]

0_o That's surprising.

*looks at his activity monitor*

holy crap, this is using 120mb more than Fx on the exact same stuff but oh well, not that noticeable for me, so I'll keep trying it. Hopefully they'll get THAT fixed, that's insane.

[tSwitch]

0_o That's surprising.

*looks at his activity monitor*

holy crap, this is using 120mb more than Fx on the exact same stuff but oh well, not that noticeable for me, so I'll keep trying it. Hopefully they'll get THAT fixed, that's insane.

wow, so I'm not the only one.

[fugibo]

That's probably just bulk from stuff like the Cover Flow crap. It might get sorted out after the Beta. I hope it does

but other than that, its working great for me. Surprisingly few bugs for it, just little weird stuff from WebKit so far.

[fugibo]

*bump*

Sorry, but I just ran the SunSpider JavaScript test on both Safari 4 and Fx3. It's probably a little biased, but... I got Safari 4 with 3x the speed on my comp X(

[Reno-s--Joker]

Last time I downloaded a beta of a program it was made of bugfail... so I'm going to wait for the full version to come out before I try it. In the meantime, this is a good thread and I'm going to stalk it.

if they have an adblocker, then it'll be worth switching from FF

Agreed... >.<

[fugibo]

*BA-DUMP, UPDATED*

S4 is out of Beta. Try/discuss/flame all you want. Note that SunSpider might be a bit biased towards Apple's browser, since they maintain the test, but w/e, I'll do some more testing tomorrow on my Alum MB (2ghz C2D/2GB/Leopard).


EDIT:
Holy snikes, either my net speed spontaneously jumped *again* or Safari 4 is even faster than I thought. CP pages load *instantly.* As in, I click a link, and the page is there, with no wait at _all_. 0_0

[Blizzard]

Lol, sounds like Opera 10. xD

[fugibo]

Lol, sounds like Opera 10. xD

That was a pretty good browser when I tried it out, actually, and I'm pretty certain it _has_ to be the most lightweight of them all (it's Opera, that's what it's the best at), but at JS at least it was around 8x slower than Safari 4. That's a HUGE difference. I'm gonna do some more benchmarking today (Dromaeo, V8, etc), but as it stands Safari 4 is the fastest by far 0_0

Still the most insecure though, lol!