Opera 10.52: fastest Mac browser?

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 28 April 2010 12:15

Business IT - Technology

Opera Software has claimed the Mac browser speed crown with the release of Opera 10.52.

Opera 10.52 for Mac OS X is ten times faster than version 10.10, according to Opera Software officials who claim that makes it the world's fastest browser for the Mac.

Testing by Computerworld in late 2009 (using the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark) showed the speed rankings for Mac browsers was at that time Safari 4.0.4, Chrome beta, Firefox 3.6 beta 4, and then Opera 10.10.

JavaScript performance is regarded by some as a key factor due to the widespread use of JavaScript in web applications.

The speed improvement in version 10.52 is the result of Opera's new Carakan JavaScript engine, Vega graphics library, and Presto 2.5 browser engine.

Other changes include the use of Cocoa and Core Text (improves the look and feel as well as performance), a Chrome-style integrated address/search bar, private browsing, a zoom slider, and multi-touch gesture support.

Opera Software claims that version 10.52 of the browser delivers "industry leading support for Web standards such as HTML 5, SVG and JavaScript."

Another feature is Opera Turbo - read about that on page 2.