I have always used Safari as my default browser on all of my devices. I find it faster, more energy efficient and provides more privacy protection. However, at work we use both Office 365 and G-Suite. G-Suite simply does not work as well with Safari as it does with Chrome. So, I’m considering using Chrome as my default browser on the MBP but using Safari as my default on iOS. I use the iPad for most of my writing and other work and always when I’m out of the office. However, when I need to do more work in G-Suite at the office I use my MBP.
I have reviewed other posts related to this but several are from 2018.
I’m curious more than anything else as to how many MPUs use Chrome as their default especially on the MBP or iMac. Any thoughts or the sharing of your experiences will be appreciated.
Safari is much easier on your battery and thus a better choice on your MBP if it is not plugged in. I haven’t noticed it to be faster but your mileage may vary. On my MBP and iMac desktop at home, I try to use Safari exclusively. That said at home there are things that I use Chrome for. Chrome has a vastly richer selection of extensions that I depend on for certain tasks. At work I’m on Windows all day and use Chrome. On iOS I’ve only used Safari. I know there are a lot of people that seem to use iCab for some of its added features, but under the hood all browsers on iOS are required to use webkit for the rendering engine as I understand. Years ago working as a web developer, the go to browser was Firefox with Firebug installed for debugging. That was revolutionary for its time. Today Chrome has an excellent set of dev tools as well.
I am not a Gsuite user, but my main use for Chrome on the desktop is to access Google Maps (which seems to work better with Chrome than Safari). I use Safari for everything else. Given the advantages of Safari (better battery life, better privacy) you might consider just using Chrome for Gsuite and sticking with Safari for other sites.
I’ve been using Brave, which is based on Chromium, the same engine as Chrome. Brave doesn’t have the privacy concerns that Chrome brings. I would give it a shot and see how G-Suite works in it.
Brave also displays my neuroimaging data correctly, where Safari does not.
Chrome on the Mac was, and probably still is, a memory hog compared to Safari.
But like it or not Google Chrome is the most used browser on the internet (around 65%). Now that Microsoft has adopted Chromium as the engine for their Edge browser, Chromium, and mobile Safari, compatibility will be the primary standards for websites, IMO.
As far as privacy, I don’t think the choice of browser really makes a big difference. I was able to monitor what my users did online (what sites were visited, how much time spent, volumes of data transmitted/received). Your ISP will have even more info and of course the sites you visit have the details, as will credit card companies and credit bureaus if you made purchases. And all of it is for sale.
Short of using a VPN, a TOR browser, etc. (if it is permitted by your company) I always assume everyone knows everything. And even those tools aren’t a guarantee of privacy.
My advice is always pick the tool that works best for what you need to accomplish.
My wife and I were just having this very conversation based on a the latest Podcast by Sam Harris (the problem with Facebook!) I buy my iPhones for a number of reasons but privacy is definitely one of them. But once you head into other tools (gmail, gsuite etc as well as points listed above) it seems privacy is a bit of a lottery! (perhaps not event that!)
As with most things digital, privacy and security often come at the expense of convenience.
How do I try to stay secure? I use IOS as much as possible. It is, IMO, much more secure than any computer.
How do I try to stay private? I never place anything in the cloud I wouldn’t want disclosed to the world, and I never use Facebook. There is little I can do about all the tracking online, but I can control that.
It’s always been Firefox for me - at least on Mac. I rely heavily on HTML5 Canvas elements and Firefox enables saving to a PNG file much more easily. (It’s on the context menu.)
Safari has the advantage of integration - on Mac and iOS.
I use Safari 95% of the time because I normally work on a laptop and I am always on the move at work so I need my battery to last the day.
When doing web development, I now test my sites in Brave so I can avoid sending anything to Google’s advertising algorithm. I also use the developer edition of Firefox when debugging websites.
Wow, I’m impressed with the Brave browser. I’d never heard of it. It works exactly like Chrome but with far more security and privacy. Thanks for the suggestion! I owe everyone one!
As much as this fits with my mental model of safari vs chrome, this is problematic. Essentially the tool the author used to capture did not include child processes of Safari.
I’m not disagreeing with that. Safari is my default web browser. Are you able explain why Safari runs “far better” than Google Chrome and why it is “a much better browser” than Google Chrome?
