Google Office in Safari on Intel MBP (why it's so bad?)

[vorob]

I want to discuss the performance situation on my MacBook.

Background Information:​

Initially, I bought a MacBook Pro 15-inch 2012, which has similar specifications to my Lenovo machine running Windows 10. Both have a 3rd gen i7 processor, with the Lenovo having a GeForce 660 GPU and the MacBook featuring a GeForce 650M. While the Windows performance under Bootcamp is perfect, the macOS performance (Catalina, if I recall correctly) was far from ideal.

Although I originally purchased the MacBook for experiments and retrogaming (Windows Vista era), I ended up integrating it into my daily work routine, which highlighted its downsides.

Work Requirements:​

I'm a marketing manager, and my key tools include Google’s office suite (Docs, Sheets, Slides) with complex spreadsheets and detailed presentations. I intentionally focused on using Safari instead of installing Chrome or Edge to get closer to the macOS ecosystem.

Performance Observations:​

1. macOS Catalina (MBP 2012):
   • Google Office Suite in Safari: The performance was awful, especially compared to Windows on the same machine. Using Edge under macOS was slightly better, but Google Slides remained laggy.
   • Gaming: The MacBook Pro 2012 didn’t perform well in games either, largely due to unsolvable thermal issues.
2. macOS Catalina (MBP 2015):
   • Updated Machine: I switched to a MacBook Pro 2015 with an AMD discrete GPU, hoping for better performance.
   • Google Office Suite in Safari: Despite the faster hardware, Google office suite performance in Safari remained unacceptably slow.
   • Gaming: GPU performance was halved under macOS while gaming, making Windows the only viable option for gaming.
3. macOS Catalina (MBP 2018):
   • Current Setup: I now use a MacBook Pro 2018 with a 6-core i7 and AMD 555X GPU.
   • Overall Performance: This machine is almost perfect, with thermal throttling consuming only about 10-15%. Gaming is smooth without issues.
   • Google Office Suite in Safari: However, the Google office suite performance in Safari is still poor. Scrolling through a medium-loaded Google Sheet is laggy, and Google Slides is unacceptably slow. Performance is better in Edge under macOS, but it's still not as smooth as in Windows.

Summary:​

Despite upgrading to more powerful machines, the performance of Google’s office suite in Safari remains consistently poor across different MacBook Pro models. This stands in contrast to the smoother performance on Windows or even other browsers like Edge under macOS.

Question:​

What is causing this discrepancy? Why does Google’s office suite perform so poorly in Safari, even on high-end MacBook Pros? Why no one is bothered with fixing this?