Google promises that Chrome will be less of a resource hog in a future update

There’s a good chance that you are reading this article right now via Chrome. Google’s popular program is still by far the most used browser despite the fact that it eats up your PC’s memory faster than Kervyn smashes a steak masala Gatsby. With Google rolling out a new tab grouping format in an upcoming release, the company is claiming that it will be reducing some of that memory and battery usage, while also increasing the browsing speed by up to 10%, as revealed by Google’s Alex Ainslie in a new blog post:

When you’re checking off one task after another from your to-do list, waiting even a few seconds while your tabs load can slow you down. We see improvements not only in loading speed but also battery and memory savings

Google will be achieving this utilization and speed improvement by taking back resources from tabs that have been idle for a while. This will make for slower performance when you do navigate to that formerly idle tab, but it’s a memory utilization approach that is certainly worthwhile.

Along with the faster speed, the company is also working on some other key features. One is the ability to fill out PDF forms and save them with your inputs, directly from Chrome. So, when you open that file again, you can pick up directly where you left off. Another feature will direct you to an existing tab if you start typing a site title into the URL bar but already have it open, so you don’t end up having the same site cached twice. It’s all still a long way from making Google Chrome less of a resource hog and more in line with Microsoft’s new Chromium Edge browser, but I guess it is something.

And for many resource-starved PC users, they will take that.

Last Updated: August 27, 2020