A Mac user’s guide to the Google Chrome browser Though Safari is the default browser for most mac OS users, some have to use Chrome. Most Mac users are browsing the web using either the built-in Safari browser or they have installed Google's Chrome browser. Both browsers have their advantages. Each works well within their own Apple or Google ecosystem. Safari has some clear advantages when it comes to MacBook battery life and privacy. Chrome works better for Google Apps users and those that also have Android or Windows.

A while back, Microsoft Edge was just the default Windows 10 web browser. After ditching the old EdgeHTML engine in favor of Chromium, it has finally started to gain serious traction. And rather surprisingly, Microsoft Edge is now also available on the Mac. But how does it stack against Apple's own native Safari browser for macOS?

Google Chrome and Safari are two popular browsers. If you are a mac-user, you might have used both browsers, and it doesn’t take long. Chrome Drains Your MacBook Battery. MacBook battery life has been a huge feature for Apple in. Safari is better. Chrome comes from Chromium, in an attempt to fox all the problems that Chromium has. Chromium comes from WebKit. WebKit i the free and open source web browser that Apple goes away to everyone. On your Mac WebKit is called Safari.

Safari runs like a charm on the Mac with great performance and battery life. But being based on the Chromium engine does give Microsoft Edge an advantage coming into unfamiliar territory. Google Chrome uses the same browser engine, so adopting Chromium guarantees Edge greater web compatibility.

I've used Microsoft Edge alongside Safari ever since its arrival on the Mac. Here's my take on how Microsoft Edge fares against Safari on Mac.

User Interface

Microsoft Edge doesn't attempt to do anything special compared to Chromium alternatives such as Opera or Vivaldi. But its user interface just works. The default tabs provide a search bar that you can comfortably type into and quick links to sites that you frequently visit. You do get a rather annoying news feed, but it's something that you can quickly turn off.

The browser features a slightly larger-than-average address bar, which makes performing Omnibox searches a breeze. The nifty profile icon also allows you to manage, create, and use multiple profiles conveniently. At the same time, the Edge menu gives instant access to browser settings, extensions, progressive web apps, and other features.

However, Microsoft Edge does feel rather clunky and rough. Animations and transitions feel jarring, and I've often experienced input lag while navigating the user interface. However, those issues aren't that serious to put a dent in your browsing experience. After a while, you won't even notice.

On the other hand, Safari feels smooth and polished to near perfection. But its tiny tab strip and address bar aren't exactly geared toward great user experience. The fact that you have to use the confusing menu bars whenever you want to configure the browser seems rather dated.

Performance

It's almost impossible to beat Safari on the Mac in terms of performance. After all, Apple knows its hardware and software the best. But Microsoft Edge doesn't lag behind with its new Chromium engine. In my experience, Microsoft's browser performs almost on par with Safari.

Furthermore, Microsoft Edge technically has better compatibility withwebsites, once again, due to Chromium engine integration. So if you have trouble accessing asite in Safari, you can almost guarantee that it would load up justfine in Edge.

But what about battery life? Just like any native macOS application, Safari excels in that department.But Chromium has improved its efficiency over the yearson the Mac. So don't expect any rampant battery draining issues withEdge.

Also on Guiding Tech

How to Set Up Microsoft Edge Chromium on Mac: A Complete Guide

Read More

Privacy Protection

Safari provides native protection against third-party cookies that monitor your browsing activity across websites. You can also ramp things up with content blocking extensions, which help a lot to thwart even more web trackers while improving page load times.

Microsoft Edge also doesn't disappoint when it comes to preserving your privacy. The browser comes with an integrated content blocking module dubbed Tracking Prevention. It offers three different levels of protection (Basic, Balanced, and Strict), which range from blocking tracking cookies, malicious scripts, to personalized advertisements.

Also on Guiding Tech

#macos

Click here to see our macos articles page

Extensions Support

Starting with version 13 of Safari for macOS, Apple completely dropped support for legacy extensions, which was a terrible move (at least in my opinion) despite the concerns over privacy. Hence, the current crop of 'supported extensions' is minimal.

Also, most compatible extensions require a fee to work in the first place. As a power user, I now find Safari a hard sell on the Mac.

The new Microsoft Edge, however, offers an impressive and growing library of extensions. Just head over to the Microsoft Edge Add-ons store. You can find a ton of add-ons that can dramatically boost your productivity, enhance your shopping or social media experience, and more.

To make things even better, Microsoft Edge lets you install extensions designed for other Chromium browsers such as Google Chrome.

Data Syncing

While Safari is great at syncing bookmarks and passwords via iCloud to your iPhone and iPad, the browser isn't available outside the Apple ecosystem. Therefore, accessing your data on other platforms is often next to impossible. On Windows, the most you can do is sync your Safari bookmarks to Chrome or Firefox. And yes, better forget Android altogether.

Microsoft Edge for the Mac, on the other hand, is truly cross-platform. You can easily access your browsing data (bookmarks, passwords, extensions, etc.) not just on the iPhone and iPad, but also on Windows and Android. Of course, you must have a Microsoft Account to sync your Edge browsing data, but it's incredibly easy to create one.

Also on Guiding Tech

How to Enable Dark Mode in Microsoft Edge Chromium

Read More

Pick Your Weapon Wisely

Microsoft Edge is shaping up to be a terrific web browser on the Mac, with unique features such as Collections starting to differentiate it from the myriad Chromium clones out there. It also receives frequent updates and feature revisions, something that Safari sorely lacks.

Both browsers offer solid privacy-related features, so a switchover depends completely on what else you prefer. If you like a user interface that's easy to use, an extensions library that allows for endless possibilities, or the ability to sync your data across multiple platforms, then Microsoft Edge is worth trying out.

For those of you who don't stray out of the Apple ecosystem much, love the performance and battery life in Safari, or its pure stability and reliability, it's just better to stick to the Mac's native web browser.

Next up:Decided to go with Microsoft Edge on your Mac? Check the next link to easily import your browsing data from other browsers to Microsoft Edge on your Mac.

The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.

Safari Or Chrome On Mac

Read NextHow to Import Browsing Data to Microsoft Edge ChromiumAlso See#Microsoft Edge #safari

Did You Know

Microsoft Windows 1.0 was first released in November 1985.

More in Mac

Top 4 Ways to Fix Mac Desktop Icons Missing or Not Showing

Google Chrome’s overwhelming popularity on macOS is quite a feat for a non-default browser, but it makes sense. In its early days, Chrome had a reputation for being lightweight and fast. It was better than Safari and Firefox, people said.

It may have been true then, but not true anymore. Safari beats Chrome because it’s more energy-efficient, better at protecting your privacy, and obviously, works with the Mac environment better. Here’s why you should avoid using Google Chrome on Mac.

1. Chrome Drains Your MacBook Battery

MacBook battery life has been a huge feature for Apple in recent releases of macOS. Mavericks brought energy impact measuring tools to the operating system, which you can find by clicking the battery icon in your menu bar.

If you’ve got Chrome running, Chrome will often show up here. Because of this, if battery life is important to you, avoid using Chrome on your MacBook.

Google is reportedly working on the issue, and has made progress, but the job is far from finished. And you don’t have to take my word for it: open up the Activity Monitor on your Mac, then head to the Energy section. Open some tabs in Chrome and the same ones in another browser—Chrome will almost always use more energy for the same job.

2. Chrome Works in Its Own Way

Unlike Safari, many of Chrome’s features have their roots in ChromeOS, as opposed to macOS. This leads to a less than ideal experience.

Most Mac apps close instantly when you hit Cmd + Q; Chrome, by default, makes you hold the combo for a while (though you can turn that feature off). Most Mac apps have their own preferences window; Chrome uses a website in a tab for that.

Chrome is also slower to catch up with macOS features. macOS Mojave introduced Dark Mode in September 2018, which Safari supported out of the gate. But Chrome didn’t respect this feature until March 2019—half a year later. Safari also has a feature that will turn supporting websites dark, whereas you have to install a Chrome extension for this.

The old notification system was also a mess. Chrome used its own notification setup that didn’t integrate with the Notification Center. Thankfully this is no longer the case, but it was a huge pain for far too long.

Obviously, it’s less than ideal to force a user to learn an entirely separate interface when they’re used to one already. Safari uses the same buttons and symbols as the rest of macOS, which leads to a more seamless experience.

3. Chrome Extensions Come With a Price

It’s true that in the head-to-head showdown of Chrome vs. Safari, Chrome is the clear winner when it comes to extensions. Even so, a big extension library comes with a price.

One of the main reasons Chrome uses so much of your CPU and drains so much of your battery life is due to installed extensions. Extensions can also introduce privacy problems, as many of them need extensive access to your browsing. As great as extensions often are, their strain on your system can be a high price.

If there are a few you can’t live without, don’t forget that Safari has plenty of great extensions too.

4. Google Is Watching You

While Google and Apple’s interests might seem like they overlap, the companies are structured quite differently. Google’s revenue is primarily ad-based, which means that as the user, you aren’t really the customer; you’re the product. Google only makes money if it can somehow acquire information about you to sell.

While you can tweak Chrome to protect your privacy to some degree, you’ll never be completely safe with a company whose business model is built on obtaining your data.

If that sounds Orwellian to you, Chrome on Mac probably isn’t for you.

Chrome Or Firefox For Mac

5. Apple Watches You Less

Apple’s business model is based on selling you, the user, its hardware. Its software is usually free, and is only valuable as much as it makes Apple hardware more attractive to the customer. The company has a more direct incentive to provide you with a browser that works well with other Apple products.

As a sign of this good faith, Apple introduced a whole suite of privacy protection measures in macOS Mojave. Intelligent Tracking Prevention 2 (ITP 2) is an update to a feature introduced in High Sierra that attempts to combat cross-site tracking, making it harder for websites to follow you on the web. It also attempts to scrub fingerprinting, which makes it harder for websites to identify you in the future.

6. No Chrome Support Below Yosemite

Chrome’s system requirements cut off any Mac that’s below macOS Yosemite. Sure, you can update your Mac free of charge, but many people don’t want to for a variety of reasons. This includes people on older computers that don’t support the latest version of macOS.

7. Safari Is Actually Really Good

For a long time, the collective response to the above points was “Sure, but nothing is better”. However, recent versions of Safari are faster, sleeker, and better than Chrome.

Seriously, if you haven’t tried this browser out for a while, you don’t know what you’re missing. Even the extension ecosystem has come a long way; the most common tools are already waiting for you. It’ll be an adjustment, but you’ll never look back. Try some essential Safari tips and tricks to get acquainted again.

8. Safari’s Reader Mode Is Great

Google Chrome Vs Safari Mac

Have you ever tried to read an article, but couldn’t get past the ads? Safari’s Reader mode cuts through all the bad formatting, strange fonts, and ad splash pages to deliver what you came for: pure, streamlined text. Images, videos, and links are included, all in an easy-to-read format.

9. Safari Integrates Better With the Apple Ecosystem

If you’re all-in with the Apple platform, Safari is the better choice. All the little aspects just integrate better: your passwords, for example, are managed by Apple’s system-wide tool and synced using iCloud. The same goes for your Bookmarks. Continuity with iOS only works with Safari.

If you use an iPhone or iPad, Handoff allows you to go to a site on Safari on your mobile device, pick up your Mac, and go immediately to the same site.

You Can Always Try Another Browser

Safari Or Chrome

Though the Chrome vs. Safari debate includes the two heavyweights of the Mac browser battle, there are other options. If you dislike both browsers, you can always look to our list of best alternative browsers for Mac users. Why not check out some of Opera’s coolest features and give a lesser-known browser a chance?

Chrome Vs Safari For Ipad

Read the full article: Safari vs. Chrome for Mac: 9 Reasons You Shouldn’t Use Chrome