Take The Naked Browser Test : IE8 vs FF vs Chrome vs Opera

[HappyAndyK]

My MVP Lead gave me an idea for a Naked Browser Test.

Microsoft has claimed that IE8 is faster than Firefox or Chrome.



What is your personal experience? Is it really?
Compare it with Firefox / Chrome and/or Opera and post your results here.

1. Make sure you are running the IE8 Release Candidate 1. To make sure that you are on this version, just go to IE Help menu and click on “About Internet Explorer” and check the version.

2. Go to Tools > Manage Add-Ons. In the Manage Add-Ons window, click on each Application and disable the add-on. You can can disable the add-on by clicking on the “Disable” button located at bottom right, once you have selected the application in the upper window.

3. Next, change the home page for the browsers, temporarily, to the same website of your choice; say www.winvistaclub.com

4. Finally, close all the browser windows on your machine. You are all set for the challenge to start.

Browser load test:
Start both the browsers by clicking on the shortcuts on the taskbar one after the another.
Which browser did you see come up faster?

Browsing Speed test:
Type your favourite website address in notepad and copy it in memory (Ctrl + C). then in each browser, paste the URL (Ctrl+V) and press go button. Watch for the status bar at the bottom of browser window to say “Done”.
Which browser completed loading the website first?

Lets find out ... does the Microsoft study make sense ... or not!

[marcEmarc]

Browser load test: Was a close call but Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 just nosed in front.

Browsing Speed test: Again Firefox is the winner.

Having stability issues with Chrome on Vista Home Premium 64bit, so given up testing it.

[seti]

It is IE8 but not by much. However, when you are using it that is a different matter I was amazed at the speed improvements in IE8, for example when I did my personal web page log in and edit IE8 was much faster. I am using Vista SP2 and RC in IE8 so that might be the reason why. I have to say that twice I've done the load test (my own amature one) and this one and have the same conclusion

[nitinagarwal1988]

this is cool idea, i compared the browsers sometimes ago but for me IE8 RC1 works better, i compared FF, IE8 and opera.......FF will work better on the slow dialup connections...

[PC509]

IE8 but a small margin. Firefox was pretty fast, as well. Chrome was pretty quick, too, but not as fast as IE8. Some great improvements to IE8. As long as the page is rendered correctly, the .5 seconds longer it takes to load a page may be worth it. I'd rather have compatibility than speed, and that is another thing that IE has gotten right (so far with my testing) this round.

Firefox is a great browser with a LOT of extensions that make working easier and more productive. Speed isn't everything. But, IE8 and Firefox are neck and neck when it comes to stability. I haven't had either crash for quite a while. Luck or good programming? Not sure.

[HappyAndyK]

Here are my results when I tried it:

Load Test : Fastest to start
Chrome
IE8
Opera
FF

Speed Test : Fastest to load
IE8 / Opera - close
Chrome
FF

I tried with 2 sites and timed it with my watch, the results could be a bit subjective ... yes. But IE8 is faster & better than earlier.