Google Chrome memory hog

Every update it seems they do not fix the memory issues like they have been saying for years.

I can open the same exact tab in Edge, and Edge would be using like half or less or the memory that Chrome is using.

But edge is slow at times to be using it full time.

Conversation 19 comments

  • ranbaldo

    15 May, 2018 - 3:47 pm

    <p>Would you like it more if Edge performs how you desire if it consumes more memory? You can't have it both ways…</p>

  • YouWereWarned

    15 May, 2018 - 3:50 pm

    <p>Yet another reason to avoid Chrome. If you wasted a day and looked at all of the data-mining code associated with ANYTHING from the not-Evil one, you'd realize why they don't fix "memory issues" — the code is fat because rendering HTML is not Job One. Maybe Job 5 or so…</p><p>And if you avoid Edge and Chrome by using Firefox, Google still insinuates itself via their Widevine DRM plug-in. Sure…It's FREE for everyone!</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      15 May, 2018 - 7:42 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#275928"><em>In reply to YouWereWarned:</em></a></blockquote><p>"Yet" another? 🙂 There are many more reasons to use Chrome than the opposite.</p>

  • ErichK

    Premium Member
    15 May, 2018 - 3:51 pm

    <p>Hmm, I don't know. I did a quick test just now, and I pointed both Chrome and Edge at just one site, AllPar.com, one of my favorites (a site for Chrysler enthusiasts). To my surprise, Edge was using more memory than Chrome.</p><p><br></p><p>I guess it all depends on a lot of factors, how many tabs, the sites used, etc. I can't scientifically claim one is better than the other.</p>

    • Martin Pelletier

      Premium Member
      15 May, 2018 - 8:29 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#275930"><em>In reply to ErichK:</em></a></blockquote><p>Same for me, I usually see 1gb of ram just for Edge on my system.</p>

  • Piras

    15 May, 2018 - 6:59 pm

    <p>What make's a huge difference is how many extensions are running in the background.</p>

    • arunphilip

      16 May, 2018 - 2:16 am

      <blockquote><a href="#275987"><em>In reply to Piras:</em></a></blockquote><p>Big +1 to this. Given that many popular extensions modify the DOM (ad blockers, tracking filters), these extensions tend to hold their own copy of a page's DOM in memory. So, to the OP – what's the situation with the extensions you've got in Chrome. </p>

  • BlackForestHam

    16 May, 2018 - 12:09 am

    <p>Since Quantum launched, I've switched exclusively to Firefox on Windows and Linux environments. Check it out if you haven't.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      16 May, 2018 - 3:12 am

      <blockquote><a href="#276102"><em>In reply to BlackForestHam:</em></a></blockquote><p>I never liked Chrome, but when Firefox had problems with Skylake graphics (pages were getting corrupted when scrolling), I switched to Chrome for a while, then Edge. Firefox is working again with my X360, so the Skylake compatibility problem seems to have been solved.</p><p>I have always preferred Firefox, although it too has suffered its memory usage and memory leak problems over the years.</p><p>I like Quantum, although Calomel is sadly missed, since the add-on API changes.</p>

  • innitrichie

    16 May, 2018 - 6:16 am

    <p>Edge is the only game in town now as far as I'm concerned. It's indistinguishable from perfect. Using Edge can increase performance and battery life in laptops by up-to 50%. </p>

    • arunphilip

      16 May, 2018 - 8:46 am

      <blockquote><a href="#276169"><em>In reply to innitrichie:</em></a></blockquote><p>How do you find the UI performance (not page rendering) in Edge? For me, tab management feels a bit clunky, and somethings things like trying to reorder tabs ends up dragging it into a new window about 25% of the time. Whereas the same in both Firefox and Chrome feels intuitive and perfect. </p><p><br></p><p>That said, my previous big complaint with Edge has been resolved in 1803, because with 1709 and earlier, tabs had an annoying propensity to cause a graphics crash due to some weird behavior with GPU drivers, sometimes even necessitating a reboot. </p>

      • innitrichie

        16 May, 2018 - 11:54 am

        <blockquote><a href="#276173"><em>In reply to arunphilip:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Yes I share that experience. I do tend to break Edge tabs into their own windows accidentally more often than other browsers. But while it's annoying when it happens, it's not difficult to put the tab where I wanted it.</p>

  • lordbaal1

    16 May, 2018 - 8:50 am

    <p>Only extensions I'm running are ad blocker, and new tabs at end.</p><p>I can be on YouTube for like an hour, or any video site. On Chrome it will be like 1GB memory, or more. On Edge, it will be half or less.</p><p>Maybe initially Chrome sometimes uses less, but over time in task manager I use the memory usage go up and up and up.</p><p>I just checked out IE. I forgot about it. It was even less then both Chrome and Edge.</p><p>And I prefer IE over edge.</p>

    • John Scott

      16 May, 2018 - 2:29 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#276175"><em>In reply to lordbaal1:</em></a><em> Yep want low RAM consumption IE is the browser. Couple days ago I fired it up to check on a compatibility issue and sort of just kept using it and actually its not really that bad. In fact I did not notice the slowness so either the others are slowing down, or IE is a tick faster. </em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • John Scott

    16 May, 2018 - 2:26 pm

    <p>The only browser that is kind to RAM all the time is Internet Explorer. It might have a ton of reasons not to use it. But being a RAM hog its not. As for the rest, after browsers started sandboxing everything was about the time when they started consuming RAM. Chrome's site isolation option just makes that worse and I couldn't believe the RAM it used with that feature. </p><p>I definitely have experienced RAM consumption with Edge and Firefox Quantum but with certain sites and content. But then again all browsers are now bloated with features and security so its not you typical basic web access tool it once was. </p>

  • Michael Goff

    11 June, 2018 - 12:54 am

    <p>So, real question. What's the problem with the browser using a lot of RAM? Is it slowing down your computer? Is your laptop getting terrible battery life? Or is it just a big number that you want to be smaller because reasons?</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      11 June, 2018 - 6:08 am

      <blockquote><a href="#283061"><em>In reply to Michael_Goff:</em></a></blockquote><p>If it is swallowing up more memory than it "needs", it is leaving less memory for other tasks that do need it.</p><p>I've had the problem on a couple of occassions, that I haven't been able to start Hyper-V instances for testing, because Chrome had swalled too much memory (and that was on a 16GB machine). Closing Chrome, starting the Hyper-Vs and then re-opening Chrome solved the problem – and restricted Chrome on how much memory it could use.</p><p>Since then, I've switched back to Firefox, which seems to have its memory leak problem better under control.</p>

      • Michael Goff

        11 June, 2018 - 2:51 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#283080"><em>In reply to wright_is:</em></a></blockquote><p>That's a lot of memory. I guess that's one time when that makes sense. But sometimes it feels like others just want the RAM to sit unused. </p>

  • Lauren Glenn

    14 June, 2018 - 9:16 am

    <p>I like Chrome very much but at times, I've tried to jump ship to something else and I think it has been ever since they introduced some type of virus scanning into Chrome. I already have something to check for viruses…. why do I need yet another? Sometimes, Chrome will sit there consuming large amounts of memory and CPU time. Usually it requires me to do a system reset to clean it up, so I'm assuming it's like when Java starts running out of memory and just keeps doing garbage collection to free it up and failing to do so. Instead of crashing, it just endlessly tries to fix itself. But then when I try anything else, I realize the experience is worse and I come back to Chrome grumbling.</p>

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