Linux browser benchmark with Futuremark Peacekeeper beta
**UPDATE 2009-03-25 tested even more browsers**
After Futuremark announced their browser benchmark suite my curiosity made me test a whole set of browsers on my Asus EEE PC 901 netbook running Linux. I'm really displeased about the performance of my usual favorite browser (Firefox 3.0) so I'm searching for faster alternatives.
Hardware
| Brand & model | Asus EEE PC 901 netbook |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Atom 1.6 Ghz (Running on the "performance"-mode at 1.6 GHz) |
| RAM | 1 GB |
| GPU | Integrated Intel GMA 950 |
| Resolution | 1024x600, color depth 24 bpp |
| Hard drives |
|
| Network | WLAN 802.11 N connected using LAN to the ISP, 2/2 Mbps (according to Futuremark this should not matter) |
Software
| Operating system | Ubuntu Linux 9.04 alpha "Jaunty Jackalope" (32 bit) |
|---|---|
| Window manager | Openbox 3.4.7.2 |
| Desktop environment | LXDE 0.3.2.1 |
Other parameters
- Desktop effects turned off
- Browser window size: around 1024x580 pixels. 20px is used by the LXDE-panel. Testing area does not fit completely in that vertical resolution.
- No other windows/tabs.
- Browser was just started before the test.
- I ran all tests twice without restarting the browser. Better result is listed.
- Gecko browsers always nagged about the script being unresponsive which affected the score a lot. Most of them supported disabling the nagging for the script. This required to run the test first to get the nagging screen, disabling it and restarting the browser for doing the actual tests.
Browsers tested
- Firefox 3.0.7
- Firefox 3.1 beta 3 (SVN build, 3.1~b3+build2+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~fta1)
- Firefox 3.2 pre-alpha 1 (SVN build, 3.2~a1~hg20090127r24317+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~fta1)
- Epiphany browser 2.25.91 (based on Gecko 1.9)
- Opera 9.64 (build 2480, really meant for Intrepid, but can be installed also to Jaunty)
- Konqueror 4.2.1 (based on Webkit)
- Arora 0.5 (based on Webkit)
- Chromium pre-alpha (based on Webkit, SVN build, 2.0.170.0~svn20090310r11348-0ubuntu1~fta1)
- Galeon 2.0.6 (based on Gecko)
- Seamonkey 1.1.13 (based on Gecko)
I got the SVN builds from this custom Ubuntu repository: https://edge.launchpad.net/~fta/+archive/ppa/.
Thanks Fabien Tassin!
Browsers that could not be tested
| Browser | Reason |
|---|---|
| lynx 2.8.7 | It cannot run the test. |
| links 2.2 | It cannot run the test. |
| elinks 0.12 | It cannot run the test. |
| w3m 0.5.2 | It cannot run the test. |
| dillo 0.8.6 | It cannot run the test. |
| netsurf 1.2 | It cannot run the test. |
| midori 0.1.2 | Crashed after starting the test. Tried twice. |
| Amaya 10.1 | It cannot run the test. Not really a browser. Complains about errors in the markup. |
| abaco | Website says it only supports HTML 4.1. Last update year ago. I didn't even try this. Intended mostly for the Plan 9 operating system. |
| Kazehakase 0.5.4 | Crashed twice when trying to load the page. Very typical behavior for this browser. |
Results
| # | Browser | Best score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chromium pre-alpha | 320 points | Does NOT have all the basic functionality of a web-browser yet.. |
| 2 | Arora 0.5 | 291 points | |
| 3 |
Galeon 2.0.6 |
197 points |
Requires user to constantly move the mouse for the test to go forward. |
| 4 |
Firefox 3.2 pre-alpha 1 | 164 points | |
| 5 |
Firefox 3.1 beta 3 | 158 points | |
| Konqueror 4.2.1 | 158 points | ||
| 6 |
Opera 9.64 | 152 points | |
| 7 |
Epiphany browser 2.25.91 | 137 points | |
| 8 |
Firefox 3.0.7 | 100 points | |
| 9 |
Seamonkey 1.1.13 |
55 points |
Bad result very likely because it did not support disabling the "unresponsive script" nagging dialog. |
Futuremark Peacekeeper can't really detect most of these browsers correctly. It seems also strange that Peacerkeeper doesn't use browser IDs for detecting operating system on platforms that are not supported by the hardware detection plugin.
Some concluding thoughts
Clearly Webkit-based browsers seem to be winner's choices here. Gecko-based Galeon climbing at the top three was a bit of a surprise. Also newer beta and alpha Firefoxes seem to offer some promise.
Note that this test does not really tell you the whole truth about browser performance. E.g. How fast it starts? How fast you can create a new tab? How fast the browser runs when you have dozens of tabs or windows open?
And then there's also the beast called usability. E.g. It is really usable? Does it have the right features (like custom extensions, SVG, Ad-blocking, Flash, etc.)?
Try them out yourself to find *YOUR* personal winner!
For now mine is Arora 0.5 for basic browsing and Firefox 3.2 for more advanced browsing. And maybe Chromium / Chrome some day when the people at Google get off of their lazy asses and finishes the port. It's sad that they have to do a separate port AFTER the Windows-version...
Tags: Linux
Posted: 2009-03-14
Last updated: 2009-03-25
