Google said Tuesday it’s making several changes to the Chrome browser to make it less of a MacBook battery hog. Modifications include adjusting timers to wake the CPU less often, tuning memory compression and further optimizing Energy Saver mode.
The company’s tests using a 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro suggest the tweaks may help folks browse for 17 hours or watch YouTube for 18 hours on a single charge.
Google is tinkering with a version of its Chrome web browser for iPhone that does not use the WebKit rendering engine. The same is true for Mozilla and the Firefox browser.
Releasing these is currently impossible because of Apple’s browser rules, but the iPhone-maker may be forced to drop that restriction soon.
Google tweaked the desktop version of Chrome so that background tabs take up less memory. The widely used browser will also use less power when a laptop’s battery is getting low.
The changes are coming soon to the macOS version as well as other desktop OSs.
How do you kill that which cannot die? The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro boast industry-leading battery life. In the PC world, the high power consumption of Intel processors means you generally must choose between battery life and performance.
The latest MacBooks use Apple’s own custom chips, cut from the same cloth as the iPhone and iPad chips Apple has been designing since 2010 (and, in a roundabout way, the one they made for the Apple Newton in 1994). This is what powers them to last all day at full speed.
If you want to take your M1 Max MacBook Pro to the coffee shop to get work done, and you leave your power cable at home — even if you’re editing 8K ProRes video streams in Final Cut Pro — you still might be ordering lunch and staying through dinner. How could one possibly need more battery life, and how do you get it?
Google says that the latest version of the Chrome browser beats the macOS version of Apple’s Safari in benchmark tests.
The company has worked hard to improve the performance of Chrome because Google wants Mac owners to use its browser so Google can track them for advertising reasons.
Google, which makes Chrome, and Mozilla, which makes Firefox, warn that those web browsers are about to reach version 100. And that could mean major websites stop working properly with them.
Why? Coded to recognize two-digit version numbers, websites may have trouble identifying browsers with three-digit numbers.
Google has rolled out its newest Chrome beta with a new WebGPU API that finally adds support for Apple Metal. The version 94 release should lead to improved rendering performance for websites and web apps.
Google promises improvements to the Chrome browser to keep “your Mac cooler and those fans quiet.” The latest version of the browser uses less memory and achieves lower Apple Energy Impact scores.
Apple has rolled out a somewhat surprise Google Chrome extension that allows users to access iCloud Passwords on Windows machines.
You can use it to sync all the passwords you’ve created on Mac, iPhone, and iPad to your Windows desktop. And to sync any passwords you create in Chrome to iCloud Keychain for use on Apple devices.
We’ll show you how to get set up.
At long last, Adobe Flash Player is finally dead. Not only do you no longer need to have it installed on your Mac, but as of January 12, Adobe will actually begin blocking Flash Player content from working at all.
We’ll show you how to remove Flash Player from your Mac right away.
