Although there are actually lots of web browsers out there
to choose from, odds are that unless you're on an Apple device and using Safari, you're probably using Google Chrome.
In fact, in late 2019, it was estimated that a whopping 64%
of users across devices were using Chrome. And why not?
It's got an easy to learn interface and it's known for being a speedy performer,
but it has one major drawback that you might have noticed,
especially if you're running a lower end computer. It turns out that Chrome is a massive memory hog.
I mean, sure, exactly how much it uses depends on how many tabs you have open and what exactly you're doing,
but it's pretty common to push things north of two gigabytes of memory usage
with just a dozen tabs. And if you're a heavy multitasker
or you just have terrible tab discipline, you can quickly start straining your system's resources.
But why? I mean, it's just a web browser.
See, it turns out that on top of all the regular 2020 internet stuff that uses a lot of RAM,
like multiple high-def videos, feature-rich webpages and extensions all being active at once,
Chrome uses a lot of RAM primarily because it sandboxes everything you're running.
Here's what this means. Chrome splits off each tab and each browser extension
into its own process, which occupies its own space and memory.
The idea there is that if there's a problem with one page that causes it to crash,
it won't affect the rest of your browsing session. It's definitely a good feature
if you've got dozens of tabs open that you'd rather not lose.
But creating so many processes means Chrome
takes up more RAM than it would otherwise, since you have to replicate Chrome functionality
in every tab. So you're trading RAM usage for stability.
And after the Spectre and Meltdown bugs hit a couple years ago,
Chrome started separating out processes even more aggressively,
resulting in many users experiencing additional RAM usage
to the tune of about 10%. So it's not insignificant.
But greater reliability is just one reason Chrome lays claim to so much of your memory.
You know how I mentioned that Chrome has a reputation as a fast browser?
Part of the reason it's so fast is because it dumps a lot of data into your memory.
Remember that RAM is much faster than long-term storage
like an SSD or hard drive. One way it does this is through a technique
called pre-rendering. This is when Chrome guesses at what you're going
to look at next, such as a next story on a news website,
and loads the page's resources into memory automatically.
Chrome has gotten pretty good at pre-rendering and as such has noticeably sped up page load times,
but it needs to use a lot of RAM to deliver the speed users have come to expect.
And if you have a system without much RAM, this can become a real problem.
On a budget machine with four gigabytes of memory, you can hit up against the ceiling very quickly
if you're running Chrome with other programs. And even if you have eight gigs of RAM,
you can see some slowdowns if you're doing a lot in your browser at once.
Now, Chrome does try and compensate through some memory management tricks,
including tab discarding. This is when Chrome automatically unloads from memory
the contents of tabs you aren't using or haven't clicked on recently.
Although this means that you'll experience a delay when you want to re-access the tab,
as Chrome reloads the content, it can still keep Chrome from hitting your RAM
quite as hard, pull in some punches. So what can you do if Chrome is hogging too much memory
and adding more RAM to your system isn't an option for you right now?
Well, switching to a new browser may not actually help as many of them use the same sandboxing paradigm.
But Chrome does have a built-in task manager that can help you visualize and close tabs and extensions
that are using tons of memory. So you might consider uninstalling resource-heavy extensions
you rarely use or using alternative websites if possible.
There are even extensions that can cut down on memory usage,
such as one that converts your tabs into a list of links. You'll take a performance hit, of course,
but it's still a decent enough solution considering they haven't really invented a way
to download more RAM yet. But I'm sure they'll figure it out eventually.
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