While much of the Mac community uses Safari, Google Chrome is very popular (and it’s the most popular browser in the world). Google is making Chrome more appealing on the Mac by introducing two new features that improve its battery and memory efficiency.
Energy Saver is a new mode that kicks in when a MacBook’s battery reaches 20 percent. Chrome stops background activity and disables animations and video effects on websites when this happens.
Memory Saver This handy feature is great for multiple tabs open. Chrome can be set to Memory Saver mode and it will free up any memory that inactive tabs have taken up. This allows tabs that are being used to run smoothly. Chrome will reload an inactive tab into memory when you switch to it. Google says the feature is “especially useful if you’re running other intensive applications, like editing family videos or playing games.”
Energy Saver and Memory Saver are options that the user can turn on or off in Chrome’s settings. An indicator icon appears in the toolbar when each feature is active.
Memory Saver frees up memory that’s being used by inactive tabs.
Google Chrome had the highest Speedometer score on an Apple silicon Mac earlier this year but was overtaken by Safari a few month later.
Both new features are gradually being rolled out to users in version 108, so it’s possible that you may not see the update immediately. To update Chrome, go to Chrome > Preferences > About ChromeIf you have the update, it will load. The browser will then need to be restarted. Google claims that the new features will be made available worldwide in the next few weeks.
