The first thing you’ll notice with Google’s new beta of its Chrome Web browser is that it’s faster, much faster, than the last version. You don’t need any fancy tests to see that. All you have to do is use it and you’ll see that it blows other browsers away.
But, if numbers are what you want, here’s what I found using the SunSpider JavaScript benchmarks. I ran these tests on a pair of Dell 530S desktop PCs. These older computers are powered by a 2.2GHz Intel Pentium E2200 dual-core processor with an 800MHz front-side bus. Each has 4GB of RAM, a 500GB SATA (Serial ATA) drive, and an Integrated Intel 3100 GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) chipset. One was loaded with Windows XP SP3 and the other used MEPIS 8.0 desktop Linux. First, I ran the benchmarks with an old copy of Chrome 4, which I installed just for these tests, and then with Chrome 5.0.375.29, the latest beta. The average result was 660.4ms for Chrome 4 and 380.0 for Chrome 5.
Other Chrome tests haven’t shown such significant improvements, but the bottom line is that the new Chrome is visibly faster than most other browsers. While it’s true that Opera Software’s Opera 10.53 is faster still, it’s also true that Opera has been plagued with numerous serious security problems. For the best combination of speed and security you can’t currently beat Chrome.