There are performance enhancements in the company’s Google Chrome browser with what Google claims to be rolling out 2020. “This month’s update shows the biggest gain in Chrome’s performance over the years,” Matt Waddale, Chrome’s product director, wrote in a blog post. Sounds pretty exciting on the surface, doesn’t it? Waddell says chrome has increased on some fronts due to hood under-the-hood changes and optimization.
The first has to do with tbs. Chrome will now prioritize your active tab over others in the background, “reducing CPU usage by 5x and extending battery life to 1.25 hours (based on our internal benchmark).” Google describes in more detail what Chromium is doing to keep tabs on the blog (hint: it includes JavaScript throttling).
Also Opening Chrome should look faster. The browser will now launch 25 percent faster – hopefully you’ll see a difference. It loads pages up to 7 percent faster, “and does all this using less power and RAM than before.”
Google is also adding tabbed searches, which is what it looks like and may be a godsend for those of us buried under avalanches. “Now you’ll be able to see a list of your open tabs – regardless of the window they’re in – then quickly type to find the one you need.” This feature is debuting on Chromebook first and then extending to other desktop .p versions of Chrome.
The address bar is getting a little more useful with something like Google Chrome performing actions, “a quick way to get things done with just a few keystrokes.”
For example: When you type “edit passwords” or “delete history”, you can now take action directly from the bar. Our first set of actions – initially available on desktop – focuses on privacy and security, so you can increase your peace of mind in just a few clicks.
And last but not least, when you open a new tab in Chrome, you’ll soon notice “Cards.”
To get back to activities like planning a meal, researching holiday gifts, or finishing with a video, we’ll be adding cards to your new tab page in Chrome soon. Clicking on them will take you to recently visited and relevant content on the web and save you time in the process. ”
For now, the cards will only appear under the “For some users” shortcut field; Google says it plans to add entertainment-focused cards in 2021.
All of these things together will add a significant update to the world’s most popular web browser. And they come on the same day that Apple is being praised for the speed and functionality of its new M1 Mac computers. Speaking of which, Chrome also gets a new icon for macros that is more suitable for the latest Big Sur release. But if optimization actually meets Google’s claim, I’m more excited about improved functionality. An update to Chrome to 87 is starting today.
