Informatics-Tech

 

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a slow computer. When you need to wait 30 seconds for your browser to open... Then it's time to take action.

Slow computers aren't generally used for gaming or intensive rendering work. Most of the time, they are simply used to browse the web, which is a non-intensive task. Nonetheless, most people use browsers which take up a lot of resources and slow down their overall internet experience.

I have a netbook which was starting to run extremely slow, even when doing something as simple as checking my emails. I tried several browsers to try and get a better, more responsive experience, and this is what seemed best:

 

Google Chrome

Chromium has quickly become one of the most widely-used browsers since it first came out in September 2008. It is known for its sleek interface and good speed. Indeed, I found Chrome to work very nicely on low-end computers. It is quick and responsive while providing TONS of options. The biggest problem with Chrome is its memory usage. On Windows 64bit, a single tab would easily gobble up to 100 megabytes of ram! This isn't a big problem on most computers, but for those with 2GBs or less... it's not superb. You can always try CoolNovo though (a modified version of Chrome), it uses a lot less memory.

Operating systems: Android, iOS, Linux, Max OS X, Windows

Homepage/Download Link: https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/

 

Midori

Midori is my personal favourite browser for netbooks. It doesn't offer as many features as Chromium, but it is considerably more lightweight. I also find that, while the browsing experience isn't much quicker than on Chrome, videos run A LOT smoother on Midori. What stutters and lags on Chrome is impeccable.

The interface is far from remarkable though and it tends to freeze occasionally on Windows (although very rarely). It's worth noting that I don't have this problem on Linux.

Note: This Browser comes with DuckDuckGo as default search engine, which is surprisingly good.

 

Operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, BSD

Download Link: http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Midori-Download-173947.html

Homepage: http://twotoasts.de/index.php/midori/

 

Pale Moon

I didn't include Firefox in this list because I found it to be quite slow on low-end computers, (which is unfortunate since it's one of my favourite browsers). This is where Pale Moon comes into play. It's an optimized version of Firefox that is specifically designed to run as efficiently as possible.

I was really surprised by this browser, the speed is very impressive. It does use up more RAM than Midori, but also offers more features! The biggest downside is that it's only available on Windows.

 

Operating systems: Windows

Download Link: http://www.downloadbestsoft.com/Pale-Moon.html

Homepage: http://www.palemoon.org/

 

SlimBoat

SlimBoat is... well... slim. It uses a ridiculously small amount of memory while providing a nice amount of features (It even comes with an Ad blocker and Automatic form filler). It is fast and safe, while sporting a good, albeit not superb, interface. I liked the fact that you can choose from a variety of themes in the "View" menu.

For a browser that offers such a wealth of features out-of-the-box, this is a very fast and lightweight program.

 

Operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

Download Link: http://www.slimboat.com/en/dlpage.php

Homepage: http://www.slimboat.com/en/

 

Links

This is only for REALLY slow computers. Links offers a text-only environment that is reminiscent of the DOS days. Fortunately, it has image support, so you still see most of the content you'd get on a "normal" browser. The biggest downside is the absence of support for both Flash and JavaScript (which means no videos or games)

Nonetheless, if you just want to view text and images, this browser works wonders. It is the fastest in this list and also the least resource-intensive.

 

Operating systems: Mac OS X, OS/2, Windows, Unix-Like

Download Link: http://links.twibright.com/download.php (and scrool down to Archives)

Homepage: http://links.twibright.com/