Is Firefox slow on MBA rev B SSD too?

[Dr_Maybe]

One of the things that seem to eat RAM and is slow on my computer is Firefox. Maybe I should stop using it for other things than debugging (I do web development). Safari is so much faster.

Any experiences on the MBA rev. B SSD?

I'm considering getting the new MBA w SSD or maybe the MBP 13".

What slows my computer down seems to be swapping when my MBP runs out of RAM. But swapping should be faster on the SSD and maybe if I don't use Firefox as much I won't need that much RAM.

 

[Scottsdale]

FireFox was MUCH faster on my rev B MBA than Safari 3.0. NOW, maybe Safari 4.0 is faster??? I was using Safari on my uMB today and it was so very slow... so I upgraded it to 4.0, and it's extremely fast in comparison. I noticed it's using exactly 50% of the CPU that it was using with 3.0??? Same threads??? From what I remember with the same five windows open.

I have always felt FireFox is faster, but maybe Safari 4 is a step up. I haven't taken the time to reload FireFox on this uMB. My rev B MBA was stolen over a month ago. I was using a uMB until I buy a new MBA. It hasn't been fun. Anyways, I reinstalled the OS yesterday, and haven't installed FireFox yet, but Safari 4 seems fast.

I would wait and see what others say. Get some more advice. From my memory, Flash was number one killer of rev B 1.86 MBA CPU. Quicktime second, Safari third, and FireFox after a few others like mail and etc (of common apps)... from memory. My rev B was extremely fast, but FLASH slowed it down every time! While Flash doesn't hit the 2.0 GHz CPU in this MB nearly as bad.

I have a feeling this 2 GHz barrier is a big step up for Flash for some reason??? I don't get it myself... I always thought the 2 GHz barrier was more mythical or psychological for me. I am looking forward to my new v 2,2 MBA with 2.13 GHz SL9600 CPU later this week. I will write up a report then.

 

[CountBrass]

FF is slow on everything

I find FF to be monstrously slow on any machine, even my Mac Pro with 12GB of memory. The only reasons I keep it installed are Firebug and for browsing MS web sites (which seem to be deliberately coded to break Safari).

 

[faxao]

I have always been a huge fan of FF since the old days but I must admit that Safari 4.0 (beta and now final) seems to me much snappier both on my iMac and MBA Rev.B SSD.
I still love FF's bookmark management and add-ons more compared to Safari but this last version definitely rocks !

 

[aleksandra.]

Firefox is really RAM-hungry, but it's still much better under Leopard than Windows 7 (on the same MBA). Flashblock + Adblock + restarting Firefox every 3-6 hours helps. I do some web development as well, but I rarely run out of RAM, so swapping isn't an issue.

As to the MBA/MBP question - Air is great, but if you already know you need more than 2GB RAM, it's a dead end.