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Chrome 14 Performance & New Features

By Codrut Nistor

Posted in Software

Just three days ago Chrome 14 arrived on the market as a stable release and unlike some of the last versions of this Web browser from Google this one really seems to bring a bunch of new features. Since speed is also very important today we'll take a quick look at the new stuff Chrome 14 lays on the table then we'll conclude with a few words about its performance on my Windows XP machine next to Opera Maxthon and Firefox. If you are here only for that you could just check the image below and drop a comment about your own opinion about this browser I won't mind! OK now's the time to get to it so let's proceed shall we?

When it comes to new features some may consider these big things but I still think we're talking about minor stuff - at least for Windows users - WebAudio API and Native Client don't sound like big stuff to me but here you have the official descriptions...

First the WebAudio API: "The API gives web apps the ability to process audio and video media elements and add many different types of reverb including 3D space modeling effects multiple sends for layered effects and submixes." Next we have the Native Client - "another cohort in the Web technology gang that includes Flash Java Silverlight ActiveX .NET and so forth." Other changes will surely make Mac users happy - "support for Mac OS X Lion's overlay scrollbars and some support for Lion's new full screen mode."

Now a few words about that Chrome 14 performance - impressive especially when graphics and video are not involved. I know I'm not showing you any numbers but trust me - on my hardware/software setup Opera holds the upper hand when it comes to rendering and complex graphics while Chrome simply crushes it when processing data (17642 for Chrome only 3792 Opera 11.51's score!). I guess that's all for today but feel free to drop a comment with any questions you may have in mind. This is not a review only a quick peek so take it as it is all right? Bye-bye! ;)