Lightning-Fast Chrome: Major Speed Gains, Familiar Memory Demands
Chrome performance has taken another leap forward. Most importantly, Chrome now boasts its highest ever score on the Speedometer 3 benchmark – a clear sign that web browsing with Chrome is snappier and smoother than ever before. This speed comes from a host of clever technical upgrades rolled out over the past year [2].
What’s Driving Chrome’s Speed Boost?
Google’s engineers have worked tirelessly to improve the way Chrome processes and displays web pages. These improvements include:
- Reworking internal memory layouts in Chrome’s Blink rendering engine. This cuts down on unnecessary memory churn and makes caching more effective [3].
- Expanding use of the Oilpan garbage collector by converting areas that used to rely on traditional memory allocation. This speeds up processes like DOM handling by packing memory more efficiently [2].
- Introducing “rapidhash” for faster string hashing, which helps with everything from CSS style computation to rendering dynamic elements [4].
Because of these changes, Chrome has improved its performance by about 10 percent since August 2024. According to Google, those milliseconds saved on each page load add up: it could save users a collective 58 million hours per year. Put simply, Chrome is blazing fast – and users around the world are reaping the benefits [4].
But What About Chrome’s RAM Usage?
Here’s where things get interesting. Despite all the speed improvements, Chrome’s appetite for memory remains much the same. The technical upgrades focus on memory management and efficiency rather than reducing the total RAM footprint. Chrome’s internal data has been reorganized to boost speed, but the browser still relies on significant resources – especially when you have many tabs or resource-heavy apps open [2].
Google has rolled out features like Memory Saver, which now offers Standard, Balanced, and Advanced modes so users can reclaim some control over resource usage. However, these features help manage your system’s memory rather than making Chrome inherently lighter on RAM. Realistically, if you’re a heavy multitasker, Chrome’s RAM habits will still be familiar [5].
Why Does Chrome Still Use So Much Memory?
There are a few key reasons for Chrome’s high memory usage:
- Process Isolation: Each tab and extension is run in its own process. This improves security and stability but increases RAM use.
- Performance Prioritization: Google optimizes for speed and responsiveness first. Allocating more memory enables faster loading times and fluid interaction.
- Modern Web Complexity: Today’s sites are more interactive and media-rich than ever, demanding more resources for a smooth experience.
How Can Users Keep Chrome Efficient?
Although Chrome’s base RAM demands persist, users can keep things manageable:
- Enable Memory Saver modes to pause inactive tabs and reduce background resource consumption.
- Consider removing unused extensions, as each one adds to overall memory usage.
- Keep Chrome updated. Each release brings new performance tweaks and efficiency improvements [1].
Final Thoughts: Fastest Chrome Ever, But RAM Still Rules
In summary, Chrome now delivers the fastest browsing experience in its history. Because of powerful engineering upgrades, users enjoy lightning-quick navigation and smoother web apps. However, these wins come with the browser’s familiar appetite for memory – a trade-off that keeps Chrome performant but resource-intensive. For most users, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, especially with new tools to better manage memory use. Therefore, Chrome remains the top pick for speed, even if its RAM footprint hasn’t shrunk.
References
- MacRumors: Chrome Browser Gets ‘Highest Score Ever’ on Speedometer 3 Benchmark
- Neowin: Chrome is now faster than ever and Google explains how it did it
- BetaNews: Google Chrome smashes Speedometer 3 record with massive performance gains
- Google Blog: Boost your browsing with Chrome’s new performance controls
- Chrome Releases Blog 2025
