[Nemesis6]

Opera Software's beta of Opera 10.5 leapfrogged every rival to become the world's fastest browser, benchmark tests show.

Released on Thursday and powered by a new JavaScript engine, Opera 10.5 beat all comers to easily take the top speed spot.

According to tests run by Computerworld, Opera 10.5 was nearly 15% faster than Safari for Windows and almost 20% faster than Google's Chrome, the previous No. 1 and No. 2 browsers. Opera's preview was more than twice as fast as Mozilla's Firefox 3.6, over eight times faster than Opera 10.10, and 10 times faster than Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 (IE8).

Opera has been an also-ran in JavaScript speed tests for almost two years, ever since developers working on WebKit, the open-source browser engine that powers Apple's Safari, began bragging about massive JavaScript performance increases. Since then Mozilla built a new JavaScript engine for Firefox, and Google raised the speed ante with Chrome.

The only browser Opera regularly beat in JavaScript races was the even more sluggish IE8.

Computerworld ran the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark suite in Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) three times for each browser, then averaged the scores to arrive at the final rankings.

Opera 10.5 features a new JavaScript rendering engine, dubbed Carakan, and boasts a new vector graphics library called Vega that handles all graphics rendering in the browser. Opera claims that Vega renders graphics about three times faster than the library utilized by Opera 10.10, the company's current production browser.

Other additions to the beta include a revamped interface that reduces the space allotted to menus, support for Windows 7's Aero Peek and Jump List features, an address bar that brings the history and bookmark search of Firefox's Awesomebar to Opera, and the ability to mark any tab as private so there's no record kept of sites visited or actions taken within that tab.

Opera 10.5's beta is available for Windows only, but alpha builds of the Mac and Linux versions can be downloaded from the Opera Desktop Team blog.

The Norwegian browser maker has not set a ship date for the final of 10.5, but has said that the Windows version will beat the others to that milestone as well. About the time that the final code for Windows is released, Opera will have the Mac and Linux betas ready.

Opera 10.5 beta can be downloaded from the company's Web site.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9156878/Opera_10.5_grabs_browser_speed_crown

I know this is just javascript, but given my limited knowledge, this is a viable benchmark for browsers today because most websites use javascript. I always thought of Opera as that old pioneer of the tabs system that Firefox left in the dirt, and now they're back with a vengeance it seems! 

As far as me goes, adblock's got a hold of me tightly. Not about browsers for me. In my case, I love the speed of chrome, so I try not to use Firefox whenever I can, but until they get a working adblock solution, I can't make the permanent move over just yet. I wub my adblock so much.

[Jeff Vader]

until they get a working adblock solution, I can't make the permanent move over just yet. I wub my adblock so much.

Dunno about Chrome, but on Opera:

Method #1 (simple)
- right-click somewhere on the page
- select "Filter content" or something (translating from Finnish here)
- click on any and all images/Flash objects you want to filter out
- click "Ready" at the top

Method #2 on Windows (a bit more complicated, but allows more control)
- filter out at least one element using method #1
- open \...\<windowsuseraccount>\Application Data\Opera\Opera 10.50 Beta\urlfilter.ini
- add urls you want to filter under [Exclude] in the same format as you'd enter them with Adblock, or better yet, copy your existing Adblock filtering rules here
- save

[Spicious]

Since when is Safari faster than Chrome?

I do like the complete absence of any real values though. That always instils confidence in the quality of a publication.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I think Safari is slightly slower than Chrome. Just slightly. I don't notice it if I open either one without opening the other, but if I open both at the same time, Safari's about one second slower.

[Ghostavo]

I always thought of Opera as that old pioneer of the tabs system that Firefox left in the dirt, and now they're back with a vengeance it seems!  

Except Opera hasn't been left in the dirt. Almost every feature other browsers brag about being revolutionary, Opera had it years before.  

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I just remembered that Adobe Bridge CS4 comes with Opera. This means that my MacBook has four Internet browsers installed.

[Nemesis6]

until they get a working adblock solution, I can't make the permanent move over just yet. I wub my adblock so much.

Dunno about Chrome, but on Opera:

Method #1 (simple)
- right-click somewhere on the page
- select "Filter content" or something (translating from Finnish here)
- click on any and all images/Flash objects you want to filter out
- click "Ready" at the top

Method #2 on Windows (a bit more complicated, but allows more control)
- filter out at least one element using method #1
- open \...\<windowsuseraccount>\Application Data\Opera\Opera 10.50 Beta\urlfilter.ini
- add urls you want to filter under [Exclude] in the same format as you'd enter them with Adblock, or better yet, copy your existing Adblock filtering rules here
- save

Actually there is an adblock plugin for Chrome now, but it's still sub-par. Chrome doesn't support something called "content filtering" which is the basic of the huge effectiveness of Adblock on firefox. Where Firefox flat-out denies loading of the elements listing, and also fixing of the layout if need be, the Chrome version of Adblock removed the ads from the site afterwards, and even then it's not very effective, because it doesn't have the functionality that the filters it uses(the same as Adblock for Firefox) are created specifically for that version and its capabilities. For example, the firefox version will remove annoying that pop up within youtube videos(the google ads), this is not possible yet on the Chrome version. But yeah, there were a lot of small hacks you could use to get something kind of like adblock, the blocking flash stuff specifically

[Mongoose]

The way I see it, the only real limitations I experience on a daily basis with Firefox are those imposed by my wireless connection and/or the site server I'm connecting to.  I've been very pleased with the speed bumps that have taken place over the past few versions, especially 3.6.  Other browsers may be a bit faster, but I feel like it's getting into diminishing-returns territory to some extent.

[Rick James]

Opera may be faster, but the "Turbo" function in the 10.5 beta murders image quality wherever I go.

[Scooby_Doo]

I turned turbo mode off.  I have a fast enough connection I don't need it.

[Eishtmo]

I've been using Opera for, well, years now.  It is VERY fast, loads very quickly, and takes nothing to turn on and off plugins (especially flash).  Firefox, even the newest version, feels slow to me.  I won't even talk about IE, because I avoid it like the plauge.

Haven't ever used Chrome.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Try Chrome out, Eishtmo. If not for being able to load pages with HTML5, do it for kicks, then switch back to Opera. You may be surprised.

[Ghostavo]

Opera 10.5 supports HTML5.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Like I said, if not for HTML5, just try it out anyway.