Chrome for Mac Review

I heard that Google released a version of Chrome for OS X, as I have firmly been using Safari since it was first available I thought that maybe I could try something new (I just never liked Firefox).

There are some really neat features in Chrome however the current release is just not good enough.

First things that I like over Safari:

• Themes. I like being able to have an overall darker look to the browser compared to the grey of Safari.
• Pages do feel like they are loading faster.
• It uses less memory on my laptop, this is an issue when handling large files in Matlab.
• The status bar only appears when the mouse is hovering over a link.
• Zooming in using Cmd + is handy and functions better then Safari.

Parts that are not good enough:

• I cannot set bookmark folders to open all the contents when clicked.
• When loading 18 new tabs simultaneously some fail to load.
• Chrome does not open PDF’s nor does it support Java well.
• While watching a flash video in full screen the mouse cursor is constantly moving up and down by one pixel.
• Difficulty logging into sites such as slashdot.org and getting Chrome to remember the login.
• Terrible history menu. Instead of getting my history I get Most Visited and Recently Closed, not where I have been.
• Cannot drag URL’s from the URL bar into the bookmark bar.
• Accessing the system Keychain works sometimes and rarely remembers choices.
• There is no obvious way to change themes once one is set.
• Once a file is downloaded the download bar remains until the window is closed.

I also thought that it would be easy to sync bookmarks between OS X and Windows 7 via Dropbox with Chrome but I have not gotten it to work (not saying it cannot be done, just that it is not obvious). I have not done this with Safari but I know it can be done with Firefox.

I wanted to like Chrome but it just disappoints and falls short of a pleasurable web browsing experience.

Maybe in a few releases it might be worth coming back.