Summary
My six-year-old Asus Vivobook with 8GB of RAM was freezing every single day. I’d open a few browser tabs in the morning, the fan would kick in, the cursor would start dragging, and within minutes, the whole system locked up. It got so bad that I was killing background processes just to type a paragraph in a text document. After weeks of this, I was already looking at 800replacements.Butbeforedoingthat,Ilookedatwhatwasactuallychokingthesystem.Everyissuetracedbackto[Chromeconstantlyfreezing](https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google−chrome−not−responding−keeps−crashing−freezing/)underordinaryworkloads,soIdecidedtotestanopen−sourcebrowsertoseeifthehardwarewastrulyatfault.TheweightChromecarriesonagingmachinesDozensofprocessesforordinaryworkloadsTounderstandwhymylaptopwassuffocating,Ihadtolookat[howChromeusesmemory](https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/chrome−using−much−ram−fix−right−now/).Chromerunsonamulti−processarchitecture.Everytab,extension,andpluginrunsasitsownisolatedprocess.Thisdesignkeepsthebrowserstablebecauseonecrashingtabwon′tbringdowntherest.Butthetrade−offbecomesobviousthemomentyouopenTaskManager.Withjustseventabsrunning,Icountedoverthirtyseparateprocesses.Ona16GBor32GBsystem,youbarelynoticetheoverhead.Myoldermachinewith8GB,however,couldn′tabsorbthatcost.ChromeburnedthroughmostoftheavailableRAMwithinafewminutesofopeningthebrowser.WhenacomputerrunsoutofphysicalRAM,theoperatingsystemstartswritingdatatotheharddriveastemporarymemory.Thatswapispainfullyslowevenonsolid−statedrives,becausenostoragedrivecomesclosetothespeedofRAM.Withinminutes,mysystemwouldhit[100HowadifferentbrowserenginesolvedtheproblemFewerprocessesandbuilt−intrackingprotectionRealizingthatChromewasthebottleneck,notmyhardware,Idecidedtolookelsewhere.Iwantedsomethingbuiltaroundresourceefficiencyandusercontrol,withoutthebackgroundoverheadofabrowsertiedtoanadvertisingecosystem.Thatsearchledmestraighttotesting[open−sourceChromealternatives](https://www.makeuseof.com/best−open−source−chrome−browser−alternatives/)toseewhatelsewasoutthere.Withopen−sourcebrowsers,thecodeispubliclyavailableandauditable.Therearenomandatorybackgroundservicessyncingyourdataacrossadozenappsyoudidn′taskfor,andanytelemetrythebrowserdoescollectcanbefullydisabled.That′sadifferentdealfromChrome,wheresomedatacollectionstaysonnomatterwhatyoutoggle.ItestedBrave,whichtakesChrome′sopen−sourcecodebaseandstripsawaytrackingandads,butFirefoxstoodoutforadifferentreason.Itrunsonitsownrenderingengine,Gecko,whichiscompletelyindependentofBlink,thesameoneChromeandBravebothuse.InsteadofgivingeverytabitsownprocesslikeChromedoes,Firefoxcapsitscontentprocessesateightandgroupsadditionaltabsintotheonesalreadyrunning.SteppingoutsidetheChromeecosystemalsoofferedanunexpectedprivacygain.Chromeisabrowserbuiltbyanadvertisingcompany.Itwantstoknowwhereyougo,whatyoulookat,andhowlongyoustaytheretoservebetterads.Bymovingtoanopen−sourcebrowserwithbuilt−intrackerblocking,IcutoutalayerofbackgroundnoiseIdidn′tevenknowwasthere.AweekwithFirefoxonthesamehardwareThefirstthingInoticedafterswitchingwasthesilence.Mylaptop′scoolingfan,whichusedtospinupthemomentIopenedChrome,stayedquietthroughanentiremorningofbrowsing.Withthesametwelvetabsopen,Firefoxwasusingaround1.8GBofRAM,whereasChromeusuallytook3.5GB.Mydiskusageneveroncehit100GettingoutofChrome′secosystemdidtakesomework,though.Ihadtoexportmybookmarksandsetup[Bitwardentohandlethepasswords](https://www.makeuseof.com/stop−saving−passwords−in−your−browser−use−this−free−tool−instead/)insteadofrelyingonChrome’sbuilt−intool.GoogleKeepwasanotherlosssinceGoogledoesn′tbuildthatextensionforFirefox,soIswitchedtoalightweightopen−sourcealternative.That800 upgrade I was convinced I needed never happened. The hardware was never the problem.