Firefox Quantum: Is it worth it?
Back in November, Firefox Quantum was a new thing and everybody were foaming in the mouth over it, and even drew in former users of Firefox. It may be fast and more "modern" and such but, is it really worth it?
I only ask because apparently, Firefox 60 ESR uses the Quantum engine which may not agree with a system that's years old and would prefer to just stick to the current version I have, even though support for it ends in early September. Also that some folk had problems with it individually, again depend on their system. I suppose Quantum requires a more modern-age system should it perform the way it should.
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FWIW back when my secondary computer was an old HP with a C2Q Q6600 CPU, Firefox Quantum ran just as well as the previous versions of Firefox did, no slowdowns whatsoever, so you should be fine.
If anything, why don't you give a portable version a try? That way you can decide whether or not it's worth upgrading your Firefox version. I'm sure your current system should be good enough, if it isn't, how hard would it be to upgrade its components? (For example: if your current computer has a traditional mechanical hard disk, what's stopping you from getting a solid state drive?)
A portable version? I didn't know that existed. As long as it doesn't overwrite my current version then I can give it a shot.
Also, upgrades cost money and SSDs don't appeal to me. Not to mention that it's a pain in the backside too when it requires the laptop to be dismantled completely then put back again, so I'm just leaving it as it is, thank you.
It's on PortableApps.com I think.
Honestly, I didn't notice any difference with Firefox Quantum. I did notice several extensions that stopped working and a slightly different interface, but otherwise it was basically just the same old Firefox. And it certainly wasn't enough to get me to switch away from Chrome.
So, no improvement in speed for you then? And yeah, I was aware that some extensions wouldn't work and it seems that hasn't changed. If I suspect that uBlock Origin doesn't work or even AdBlockPlus then it would be a very bad day.
uBlock Origin works. Just make sure you've updated it (if necessary).
Source: I use Firefox Quantum sometimes. Like BlueSun said, not enough to get me to switch full-time from Chrome.
Well, at least it's better than Chrome, right? And thankfully, I never used that overrated garbage. Also not happy of it never without a menu bar. I need that for stuff!
I didn't notice any speed improvement when I tried it. It really just seemed like exactly the same as the previous version. Keep in mind that's just my perception. I didn't run any tests or benchmarks to get a concrete comparison. But to me there was no perceptible difference.
I used to love Firefox back in the day. All the customization and personalization you could do. I had everything set up just the way I liked it.
Then chrome came out and I decided to give it a try... and then I just never stopped using it. It was so much faster to load and it just kind of got out of my way. Which I found I really liked.
I still had a fondness for Firefox and every update I kept hoping they'd make it faster / better and maybe I'd wind up switching back, but instead they just wound up poorly imitating Chrome. So why use a cheap imitation when you can use the real thing?
At some point I gave up on Firefox and replaced it with Pale Moon. Pale Moon was everything they took away, so I really like it. Unfortunately, it's not enough to get me to switch away from Chrome at this point. One of the things I really like about Chrome is that it syncs with my Google account. So my browsing experience is the same across all of my machines.
Firefox and Pale Moon do have a sync thing, so I may have to give that a try at some point.
The sync on Firefox works pretty well. I use it at work pretty often, and you can send tabs between different devices. I'd say it works just as well as Chrome's does, but I only use Chrome these days if for some reason the site doesn't open in Firefox (which is very rare) and to use the friends list tracker add-on which isn't available for Firefox.
Just to bump this, I finally have Firefox Quantum myself (well, 60 ESR in my case) and I have to say it's great. Some websites that I frequent (such as Google Maps and Discord) now respond much faster than ever before and, I can still keep the separate search bar next to the address bar (in where you can actually choose between a unified search bar or keep them separate). Good stuff
I have to say that it's true. I've switched from Chrome to Firefox some time ago, and I have to say that there are no regrets. Firefox Quantum has got really fast, it has improved a lot and just got quite refined with every new version. And with Firefox Sync, it gives the same functionality that Chrome gives, plus more personalization and control over your browser.
I am stuck with an almost 10 years old i5 and 2GB RAM. The very-little-RAM-problem is killing my patience from time to time.
On those old computers I recommend falkon. Neither chrome nor firefox is usable for stuff except winworld, newspapers and a few other small sites.
Playing a stream on popular video sites does not work at all. It lags, sound is stucking, ....
And when both are hanging, I cant tell which one is faster, firefox or chrome.
A few years ago chrome was a super-weapon against low computing power, but this has changed...
The reason for it struggling probably is because it plays video on the max resolution it can play (e.g. 1080p, 1920x1080), but the RAM is bottlenecking the processor, so you should try playing video at 480p or 720p and see how it runs. Also take in mind that net is a crucial factor, and what could be running in your PC and whether you have Win10 are also factors for it running slow
Can you not upgrade the memory? Also, what OS are you using? If you can get away with running Linux, it generally does better on lower specs than Windows. Especially since the spectre and meltdown updates.
Also it is worth mentioning that migrating to Firefox has another advantage: privacy. With Chrome spying everything we do, I prefer to use Firefox and Bing (And I know Bing spies too, but I trust more at MS than Google)
You're only as good as the weakest link. You could use the most privacy paranoid browser on the market, but if you run it on an OS that's gathering data or connect with an ISP that gathers your data, it doesn't really matter does it? I suppose you're limiting which companies get your data, but if we're donning a tinfoil hat, then I'd just assume all the companies are exchanging data with each other like currency, so they probably all have something on you.
And how do you know that Chrome is spying on you and Firefox isn't? Have you personally reviewed every line of code in both browsers to confirm it? Probably not. All you or I have to go on is the statements of the companies producing these products, and as far as I'm aware, Google hasn't made a statement to the tune of, "Hey guys, we're gathering all of your data and selling it to the highest bidder." Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though.
If you want to go down rabbit hole of paranoia, you might want to try out Qubes OS and encrypt all the things. But at some point you have to trust someone and personally I place Microsoft and Google at around the same trust level. Microsoft might be a notch or two below Google though.
The Firefox code is reviewed by a lot of people and can be freely viewed by anyone. I'm sure if there were any privacy concerns to be worried about, someone would have broken the news by now. Firefox does collect telemetry data by default when you install, but it pretty much tells you it's doing so shortly after you open it for the first time, and will ask you if you want to turn it off.
And to add, the data that they collect is merely just technical stuff. Nothing about browsing habits or whatever. Although, I had turned it off because I don't think it's even necessary (and I did see it as the "pingsender.exe" process that appears for a few seconds).