Stupid Simple Mac Tips # 101: Easiest Way to Make Safari Browse Faster
Safari is said to be the world’s fastest browser. Indeed, in Apple’s testing against Chrome, Safari loaded frequently visited websites an average of 50 percent quicker.
So why does your version of Safari seem to load pages slower than Chrome—and sometimes even slower than molasses?
The most likely reason is that you’ve got too many tabs open at the same time.
And the most probable reason you have too many open tabs is that it’s just a more convenient way to access all the court news websites, legal research libraries, shopping services, social platforms, and the like that you utilize throughout your busy day.
Unfortunately, too many simultaneously open tabs diminish convenience by slowing Safari’s performance—and the performance of your Mac as a whole, for that matter.
Each open tab consumes memory. This consumption is almost imperceptible if only a few tabs are open. Not so when the number of open tabs increases, cumulatively, they can cause your normally fleet-footed Mac to seem like it has feet of lead.
The solution is simple: close unnecessary tabs in Safari. The quickest and easiest way to close them is by using this keyboard shortcut: “Command” + “W.”
How many open tabs is too many? That’s hard to say because every site you visit will chew up a different amount of memory. For example, a site made mainly of text will consume fewer megabytes of memory than a site brimming with high-resolution images, auto-play videos, and popup ads.
A good rule of thumb is to start closing tabs when you notice pages take an unusually or irritatingly long time to load.
