[SOLVED] Fastest Browser for older computers?

[benali72]

Browser requirements --

1- Fast (due to older computer)
2- Still renders pages properly

Informal test results so far --

FAST -- Slimjet, Chromium, Midori Private Browser
Little Slower -- Palemoon
Slower Still -- Firefox Quantum, Seamonkey, Epiphany
Breaks -- Qupzilla

Which browser do you think is fastest and most reliable for 5 to 10 year old computers ?

Thank you for your feedback!

[kc1di]

Give Opera a try I find it quite fast.

[absque fenestris]

5 to 10 years in computer engineering is a big period...

in 32-bit the selection is tight: Firefox, Chromium, Vivaldi
in my case: Vivaldi

in 64-bit the choice is much bigger: Opera and Vivaldi are always worth a try

[AZgl1800]

Well, FWIW,

I just tried Opera on 4.13.0-37-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia

and I am sadly disillusioned as to that being a good browser. no default screen scrolling, the only Addon that works is herky-jerky,

25 years ago, it was the only good browser and had a good bookmarking system like the current Firefox does.

Now, it is just a bunch of blocks in a solid menu screen ala Windows10...

sorry, but Opera is a POS app, deleting it off my PC

the Settings menu is too sparse to be useful and give me what I like as in FF.

[Schultz]

Have you tried Basilisk?

http://www.basilisk-browser.org/

[benali72]

Some great ideas here, I will try Vivaldi and Basilisk. Thanks.

I should add, the computers involved have 2 to 4 g memory with early dual core processors (Intel Core 2 Duo era). They run 64-bit Mint 17.x with xfce4.

Also, I use the adblocker provided in the browser, or uBlock Origin, or Ad-block Plus. Obviously an advert blocker really helps performance.

I tried Opera, installing from the repository, both the version marked Opera and the one marked Opera-stable. Neither worked for me so I de-installed them. I don't think I did anything wrong but who knows.

[kc1di]

Some great ideas here, I will try Vivaldi and Basilisk. Thanks.

I should add, the computers involved have 2 to 4 g memory with early dual core processors (Intel Core 2 Duo era). They run 64-bit Mint 17.x with xfce4.

Also, I use the adblocker provided in the browser, or uBlock Origin, or Ad-block Plus. Obviously an advert blocker really helps performance.

I tried Opera, installing from the repository, both the version marked Opera and the one marked Opera-stable. Neither worked for me so I de-installed them. I don't think I did anything wrong but who knows.

try downloading opera - from here https://www.opera.com/download
and install with gdebi, make sure you download the .deb 64bit file. good luck.

[Pierre]

using either Opera or Vivaldi - - would be my pick.

even though I'm often using Firefox, as my goto browser.

[benali72]

@kc1di -- thank you, I followed your advice and got Opera from the Opera website. It works fine now. (Why didn't I think of that?)

And wow, I can see why many folks here recommend Opera. Fast, easy-to-use, a simple interface! Definitely a top contender.

I also tried Vivaldi. A great browser that emphasizes its features and customization, but that's a little too techie for my particular needs, I think.

Basilisk's another very impressive tool, but it doesn't meet my particular needs as it says it's "development software" (according to their website). I need something more stable and pedestrian.

Final results --

Slimjet, Opera, and Midori Private Browser seem to offer great speed, reliability, and simplicity, so I think I'll spend more time keying on them.

Thanks for all the good advice.

[Schultz]

benali72 wrote:
Basilisk's another very impressive tool, but it doesn't meet my particular needs as it says it's "development software" (according to their website). I need something more stable and pedestrian.

Glad to see you got your problem solved (and that you marked it as such). As far as Basilisk goes, yes it is called development software, but it runs just as good as any other browser I've used. If it didn't, I wouldn't have recommended it.

[jsgn3]

I switched from Firefox to Chromium because the latter
is much faster. Firefox was not workable. I run Mint 18.3
on a 2 GB Pentium 4 system.

[kanichiro]

I've found Waterfox to be an excellent browser for my 8-year old Sony Vaio.

www.waterfoxproject.org

Waterfox is now my main browser, but I also use Brave, Firefox, Chromium, Midori, Palemoon, and Vivaldi for various tasks.