Google Chrome Internet Browsers Mac



Safari and Google Chrome compete closely for the top spot on the Macs. While Safari comes built-in with macOS, the Chrome enjoys a significant market share across platforms. Apple has upped the ante with new Safari refresh in terms of looks and performance with the new macOS Big Sur update. To catch up, even Google pushed a massive performance upgrade to Chrome, one of the biggest in years, recently. That does makes us revisit the classic dilemma of picking a browser for Mac - Chrome or Safari? So we decided to compare the respective refreshes in this post.

We will compare both the browsers on grounds of their interface, features, themes, news integration, extensions, password management, and more. Let’s start with cross-platform availability.

Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the Web faster, safer, and easier. Use one box for everything-type in the address bar and get. But because Google, a primarily web-based ad company, has very different priorities than Apple, a primarily native-based device company, and because Chrome rode the utter destruction of Internet Explorer into browser dominance, time-constrained developers and short-sighted product managers have just begun to treat Chrome as the web, ironically.

The tech giant Google’s web browser, of course, Chrome’s performance is not bad, but it uses much more RAM than other browsers. Hence, the tech giant Google has made changes in the latest versions to make the memory management of the browser more efficient, such as not having tabs in memory that we have open and we have not used for a while.

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Cross-Platform Availability

As its case with every Apple software, the Safari browser is only available on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. While in Chrome’s case, you can access the browser everywhere. It’s available on iOS, Android, macOS, iPadOS, Windows, and Chrome OS.

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User Interface

Safari received a much-needed design makeover with the macOS Big Sur update. For starters, you can easily change the background wallpaper on the Safari homepage. You can select a custom wallpaper from your Mac a well.

As for customization, you can choose to keep favorites, privacy reports, Siri suggestions, a reading list, and more on the homepage. The tabs also got a nice visual touch. When you hover the cursor on a tab, it will showcase the live preview of the webpage.

The extensions (more on that later), history, reading list, and share menu sit at the top. You can make the best of those features by mastering keyboard shortcuts for quickly accessing and navigating the options. If you love the dark theme, it also supports the system-wide dark theme introduced with macOS Mojave.

Google Chrome continues to stick with material interface design guidelines. You will notice rounded corners and a lot of whites all over the place. That said, you can change the default theme by picking a new one from the Chrome Theme Store and browsing through hundreds of ready-to-go themes available.

Features

It's understandable if you demand your favorite browser to offer different functions than just loading pages faster. Safari offers a clean looking reading mode that strips away the unnecessary elements from a webpage such as ads, social integration, and comments.

You can customize it by changing the font style, size, and background color of the reading mode.

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Safari enjoys a seamless integration between iOS and macOS. Tap on the tab switcher, and the browser shows the tab opened on your iPhone. Similarly, when browsing on iOS, the handoff function will let you carry-forward the same webpage on macOS.

You can also use the default Spotlight Search (Command + Space shortcut) and start typing the webpage name, and it will show the suggestions from the Safari history. I use it frequently to visit a webpage without opening the browser. The functionality is not available for third-party browsers.

Google Chrome also offers a syncing capability, but it’s hidden in the Options menu. Go to History > Synced Tabs, and that's where you will see the opened Chrome tabs on iPhone or Android. Yes, it works with Android too.

Unfortunately, Google Chrome doesn’t offer any native Reading Mode. My favorite Google Chrome function is group tabs. You can create multiple groups based on a specific topic and arrange tabs. It’s really helpful when you are researching multiple websites at a time with dozens of tabs open.

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Extensions

In terms of extension support, Safari falls behind Chrome. The extension list is limited, but it gets the basic extensions to get things rolling. That said, you will have a hard time searching for an extension for every need. Go to Safari > Safari Extensions and install it from the list.

You can manage them by going into Preferences > Extensions and integrate them into your browser experience.

Google Chrome offers a rich collection neatly categorized into different sections. There is an extension for every use scenario.

Web Compatibility

Google Chrome uses the Chromium web engine to load webpages. It’s a universal standard used by most browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Brave, and Opera. You won’t have any issues loading and browsing webpages.

Safari uses the Webkit engine for rendering and loading webpages. The experience was mostly seamless on both browsers. That said, I did face some hurdles with a couple of websites where the provider asked me to switch to a chromium-browser.

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Password Management

Flawless password management is a key aspect and also a necessity for a dependable browser experience. Safari stores all the credentials into the iCloud keychain by default. The next time you try to login to an account, use the login info from the iCloud keychain or tap on the Touch ID to auto-fill details.

Chrome offers Chrome Password management to save and store every login detail. It’s not full-featured password management but has enough functions to get the job done. As a bonus, the service is also available on Chrome Android and iOS.

Privacy

Safari offers a detailed privacy reports suggesting which trackers the browser blocked from the websites you visited. You will be surprised to check how many trackers the browser has blocked in the report at the end of the day.

Google Chrome doesn’t offer any data to analyze. But as I mentioned above, you can always opt for an extension to get the job done for you.

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Convenience or Features

Those were some key differences between the new Safari and Google Chrome on the Mac. The macOS Big Sur update places Apple’s Safari browser right up there with market leaders like Google Chrome and Firefox. In some areas like customization and privacy, it even beats Google Chrome. Google fights back with multi-platform availability, rich extension support, and flawless performance. ou have to take the call between broader platform availability or sheer convenience at the end of the day.

Next up:Microsoft Edge is another strong contender to replace Safari on Mac. Read the comparison post below to find more details.


The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.

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In the early days of Mac, its default web browser wasn’t what you might expect. Surprisingly for all, Microsoft had struck a deal with Apple to ship Macs with Internet Explorer right out of the box. However, once the contract was done, Apple quickly released their own browser called Safari.

Unfortunately for Apple’s new browser, a stronger alternative under the name of Google Chrome browser had already snapped up the market share. Mac users were attracted to Google due to its search and mail services — roughly one third of all Macs use Chrome as their default browser as of 2019. With only a few options competing for the same market, the name of the game has become cross-platform.

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Google Chrome On Mac

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Getting Started With Chrome On Mac

Web browsers have come a long way in recent years, with most reaching some sort of feature parity and common user experience, which makes switching between them fairly easy. Chrome browser for Mac is no exception, but the sheer number of users have led to it having an interesting advantage in the marketplace — mostly due to Chrome’s presence on any device, from iPhones to Windows desktops. If you’ve been considering a switch and are wondering how to install Chrome on Mac, your best guide is below.

The benefits of Google Chrome for Mac

There are good reasons for Mac users to prefer Chrome, especially with its natural overlap with other Google products. Users, for example, can sign into their Google Account on Chrome and have it synchronize with their other devices, integrating account data and preferences accordingly. More reasons to make the switch to Chrome include:

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  • Web developer tools make it easy to test web apps on Chrome, which means strong compatibility with the latest sites and tech standards

  • Support by nearly every device and operating system, including Windows and Apple products, whereas Safari is only available in iOS and macOS

  • An impressive library of browser extensions, which grant additional capabilities, such as ad-blocking and custom integrations. It’s true that most other browsers also use extensions, but the wider support for Chrome means more developers can get the best bang for their buck by releasing their products on Chrome first.

Truth be told, Chrome isn’t without its downsides. A common complaint one might hear is that Google Chrome for Mac uses a lot of system memory (and therefore laptop battery), especially when lots of tabs are open and running.

One might argue it’s because Chrome has some of the best security and malware protection, which inherently uses more RAM and battery to accommodate its scans — but whatever the reason, it’s not impossible to mitigate — just use Endurance.

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Endurance is a lightweight utility that helps you take back the control of your battery life, sometimes extending it by up to 20%. In just a few clicks, Endurance will lower your processor speed, hide background apps, and dim the screen to preserve battery when you don’t need to be using it in full brightness — perfect for when you’re in and out of Google Chrome.

How to download and install Chrome for Mac

Not sure how to install Google Chrome for Mac? It’s all very simple, but you’ll need to use a different web browser (like Safari) to download Chrome for Mac first:

  1. Open Safari (or other web browser) then navigate to google.com/chrome

  2. Hit Download Chrome for Mac

  3. A new window will appear asking you to agree to the Terms of Use. If you agree, click on Accept and Install.

  4. When the Chrome for Mac download is finished, open the file called googlechrome.dmg and go through the installation process

  5. Drag the Chrome icon to the Applications folder when asked — the last step before you finally have Chrome on Mac

  6. Launch Google Chrome from Applications or straight from your Dock

  7. Remove the Google Chrome download for Mac from the Downloads folder by dragging it to the Trash

Now that you know how to download Google Chrome, you might want to make Chrome default browser on Mac. To do this, simply open it and click the three dots in the top-right corner, followed by Settings, then in the Default Browser section click Make Default.

If you’re wondering how to update Google Chrome on Mac, you don’t have to — Chrome will do this automatically the next time you launch the browser, so you never have to worry about having to look for the latest version.

Making the best use of Google Chrome

Chrome is already a fast web browser, but it can be even faster if you take full advantage of its keyboard shortcuts. From how to search a page on Mac through to opening and closing tabs, here are a few to help you become more productive:

  • Open a private window for browsing (called Incognito mode) with ⌘ + Shift + N

  • Open a new tab in a snap using ⌘ + T

  • Close that same tab by hitting ⌘ + W

  • Jump to specific tabs holding Command and selecting a number (e.g. 1, 2, or 9). This shortcut will take you directly to the tab number reading from left to right.

  • Zoom in and out with ⌘ and tapping the + or - keys

  • Looking for how to search a page on Mac? You can press ⌘ + L to go to Chrome’s URL bar, which also doubles as the Google search engine — this makes searching for new pages and websites easier, as you no longer have to navigate to google.com first.

  • Need to know how to search for a word on a web page in Chrome for Mac? Try ⌘ + F.

Those are just a few of the built-in shortcuts on Chrome, but there may be times when you need more — such as a quick and easy way to take and store screenshots of your web pages. That’s where Inboard comes in handy.

Capture webpages with Inboard

Get Inboard, an app that enables you to quickly take a screenshot of any part of a webpage as well as organizes screenshots for you.

Inboard is an app that lets you quickly take a screenshot of the full page or just a specific part, then save it to a moodboard among your other favorite images for inspiration. It’s like Pinterest but on your desktop, and it can even hook into your Dribble account to measure likes.

To take screenshots with Inboard:

  1. Go to the app’s icon in menu bar and select Capture Screenshot or Capture Web Page

  2. For webpages, Inboard will ask you to install a browser extension

  3. Once you have the extension, simply click it on any website to produce a full screenshot

Another tip for making the most out of Chrome is managing your privacy and security better — using a password manager.

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Secrets is an app that manages all of your passwords in one place. Using industry-standard PGP encryption, you can store, view, and update all of your passwords without worrying about being hacked or compromised. It syncs with all of your devices, and even manages credit card and other information — without handing it all over to Google.

Now that you know how to download Chrome on Mac and some of the reasons it’s so popular — you’re ready to go. To really make the most out of Chrome though, you’ll want to explore Endurance, Inboard, and Secrets. Best of all, you can do so for free with a 7-day trial on Setapp, a subscription service for Mac that has over 150 exceptionally useful apps to enrich your digital life.

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