WWW Browser Memory Test

I decided to test Google Chrome's claims[1] concerning memory usage, and these are my findings. Memory usage fluctuated quite a bit during testing though, so YMMV.

(click image for full size)

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Notes (factual):

All browsers were the latest versions AFAIK, and no plugins were installed that weren't needed.

I used all the memory-intensive (often AJAX-laden) sites that sprung to mind, but I have no idea if my sampling was representative of anything but my own browsing habits.

Opera was not a "supported browser" for Google Documents and so was in "Plain HTML mode" on that page.

IE7 was the only browser to crash during my testing.

Notes (opinionated):

It occurs to me that Chrome's about:memory page could use some commas in those numbers to make them more readable, and the addition of some sparklines and charts (pie?). It also occurs to me that I'm nitpicking.

While Firefox netted the smallest memory footprint in this test, that is atypical in my normal browsing experience. I do think Chrome is much nicer all-around, and it definitely handles memory management long-term better. That is, when you close windows, the memory is deallocated. Firefox tends to keep a lot of cruft around, and I find myself periodically restarting it to reclaim memory.

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[1] see http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/