Google have released Chrome 20 – the latest Stable Channel version.
If you already use Chrome you can get the new version by clicking the ‘wrench’ (spanner) icon then ‘About Google Chrome’ to check for updates – version 20 (currently 20.0.1132.43) will be downloaded and installed automatically if you don’t already have it.
New users can download and install Chrome 20 directly here. Alternatively there is also a full standalone offline installer here – this may be useful if you want to save the Chrome installation file e.g. to put on a flash drive and install on multiple computers without having to re-download it each time.
What’s New? Apart from over 20 security fixes (paying out total rewards of $11,500 to the finders) there is little new to see in this version – those expecting a milestone release such as Chrome 20 to include lots of cool new features will be sadly disappointed…
The official changelog lists the security fixes in more detail but doesn’t specify any other changes – although there are some minor ones. I’ve noted before how Google often ‘hide’ new features and this trend has worsened in recent releases e.g. the unpublicized new Startup tab of Chrome 19 which proved so unpopular. The remaining changes include:
- Various fixes and stability improvements
- The ‘New Tab’ button is bigger – a little wider than before
Err, that’s it. Due to the lack of new features to review, it’s worth seeing if the technical changes behind the scenes have had any other benefits:
HTML5 Score
The HTML5 test score has improved from 402 to 414 which cements Chrome’s position as top of the major browsers.
For comparison:
Opera 12 – 385
Firefox 13 – 345
Safari 5.1 – 317
IE9 – 138. Continues Microsoft’s traditional failure to comply with web standards – even the yet to be released IE10 only scores 319…
[These scores only indicate how well browsers support the current draft HTML5 standard - they don't necessarily mean that a browser actually performs any better. However, higher scores in the tests indicate that a browser should better cope with (and display) webpages that make heavy use of HTML5]
Performance
It’s difficult to be objective and I would like to test further but my own impression is that Chrome 20 is slightly quicker than Chrome 19 – which was already impressively smooth.
RAM Usage
Chrome’s RAM usage is still excessively high, sucking up 1GB+ with just 10 multimedia rich tabs open (Firefox 13 only used 400MB for the same 10 tabs).
This is a problem which Google really needs to concentrate on – Firefox used to have a reputation for being a memory hog but Mozilla spent months working on reductions and it is now Chrome that seriously lags behind.
Conclusion
The changes in Google Chrome 20 are mostly behind the scenes security fixes and technical changes – all very worthy but nothing much to excite users.
Chrome’s hefty RAM usage is increasingly out of step with the reductions being made by competitors – more optimization is urgently required.
Well, there’s a little change in the way the button borders are shown, or at least that’s rather more visible in my theme, which is a metallic one.
The slightly bigger New Tab button is appreciated, but I also noticed after Relaunch that the most visited sites on New Tab page are partly missing, in fact, three out of eight.
I don’t know the exact reason yet, but I guess they will start to populate.
Personally I see a performance improvement in Settings page when switching between the three main sub-menus.
You say Google uses 1GB with just 10 media rich tabs? Open 10, close 9, Open 9, close 9, Open 9, close 9. See how much Google uses then? 1GB? ok, Do the same to Firefox, is it still using 400mb? No, try 1.3gb. (the max my compie will allow it to use), plus running a hell of alot slower.
The memory leak behavior you describe was common in old versions of Firefox but if you still see it perhaps you have misbehaving plugins/addons or need to reset Firefox.
Using FF13 with 10 addons (and 2 plugins) I Do see Firefox keep to 400MB after repeated open/closes. Chrome stays at around 1GB so both are reclaiming RAM ok – a big improvement for FF where that used to be a problem.
Mozilla have worked heavily on RAM management over the last year – all I’m suggesting is that Google need to address it in Chrome to keep its reputation as a light browser..
Of course everyone’s system is different so your mileage may vary and it may be possible for a particular set of tabs/content to cause memory leaks but that isn’t my own experience.
Similar results and comments from a recent Ghacks review… http://www.ghacks.net/2012/06/21/chrome-uses-way-more-memory-than-firefox-opera-or-internet-explorer/
Be interested to see what the system does when Moz finally finalise their multi processor route rather than running it in 1 process. One thing I would like to see with Chrome is the ability to group some of their processes into a single process. I don’t mind each tab having its own process, and stuff like Flash having a process or two to itself, but extensions that check to see if you have new emails or calendar events don’t need a process EACH. Even though they are tiny, each one will have its own little overhead which “Could” be shared.
Good point – FF multiple processes is the $64000 question
Chrome only hits 1GB because each tab gobbles up c 70MB+ for itself. Great for stability but lousy for RAM usage.
Be interesting to see if FF can manage it any differently. Agree with you on the extensions, maybe small but worth a look.
it sucks,
so many errors are happening after this update, the save password tab doesn’t appear at all…and whenever we open google chrome it says the profile is now working properly. it wasn’t fixed even after re-installing. now i am forced to switch to another browser where chrome has been my favourite till now