Safari consumes too much memory - per Apple.

[KPandian1]

Safari has been flashing the following warning for months about certain webpages, including Macrumors, and it often freezes! The entire computer freezes sometimes. This continues to happen even with 12.

"This webpage is using significant memory. Closing it may improve the responsiveness of your Mac."

This has been happening on a new Mac with 16 GB memory.

Anyone else has this issue?

Does it really affect your computer totally?

 

[CooperBox]

I suggest you make a comparison test on this same Macrumors site using the latest Firefox Quantum, and report back with your results, especially regarding memory usage.
Personally I can't remember the last time I used Safari (it has to be years ago), as not only I sware by Firefox but also most specialists agree that Firefox hits the sweet spot in terms of privacy and speed. HERE's just one of many blogs which spell out the advantages. And HERE Firefox is compared to Chrome.
Also with non-tracking and security in mind, try changing your default search engine to DuckDuckGo or Qwant, I rarely use anything else.

 

[KPandian1]

I suggest you make a comparison test on this same Macrumors site using the latest Firefox Quantum, and report back with your results, especially regarding memory usage.
Personally I can't remember the last time I used Safari (it has to be years ago), as not only I sware by Firefox but also most specialists agree that Firefox hits the sweet spot in terms of privacy and speed. HERE's just one of many blogs which spell out the advantages. And HERE Firefox is compared to Chrome.
Also with non-tracking and security in mind, try changing your default search engine to DuckDuckGo or Qwant, I rarely use anything else.

Thank you very much.

In the days of IE ruining everything, my default browser was Netscape. When Mozilla came around I adapted it vs IE again. Chrome in Windows was the sites that won't let Firefox function at all, e.g., DirecTvNow.

Considering Apple's excellent software all around, I did not expect Safari to be this way. In my Mac computers, I don't have Chrome installed at all, Firefox is my second browser, and it doesn't have the memory issues and it is used as the default browser in Windows equipments.

I wonder why though, how does Apple ignore such a main component!

 

[Sally G]

Safari has been flashing the following warning for months about certain webpages, including Macrumors, and it often freezes! The entire computer freezes sometimes. This continues to happen even with 12.

"This webpage is using significant memory. Closing it may improve the responsiveness of your Mac."

This has been happening on a new Mac with 16 GB memory.

Anyone else has this issue?

Does it really affect your computer totally?

I do see that notice, but it does not really change performance. I close the notice and keep on. No freezing, just weird suggestion to close the page.

 

[KPandian1]

I do see that notice, does not really change performance. No freezing, just weird suggestion to close the page.

Any loud fan sound when the browser flashes this message? My Safari does freeze when a couple of these sites are giving this notice.

I like the way Safari blends unconsciously with the computer's overall performance. I like Firefox and am familiar with it, Netscape by another name, but I'd like Safari to stay in its role as the primary browser.

I will check with other sites and see what the general consensus is regarding this.

Surely Apple must be aware of this "glitch", or "not a glitch". So far, no comments that I'm aware of from Apple.

 

[Peter Franks]

The only thing that bothers me about Firefox is you become so used to effortlessly pinching and zooming with Safari/Chrome, I don't get why they've never implemented it. I assume there's an extension you can download by a 3rd party but why are they so averse to carrying one on their browsers. It's been the only thing that put me off Firefox.

 

[Sally G]

No; there was a period when I was having that fan overdrive, but I don’t think I had both problems simultaneously. I did get a plug-in fan to use when the computer gets really hot when I have been going for hours, but the fan situation more or less by itself. I still do see that message from time to time, but the actual performance does not slow down, so I don’t worry too much. Maybe I am naïve and should be more worried. I am on a mid2015 machine with Safari 11.1.2.

 

[KPandian1]

Maybe I am naïve and should be more worried. I am on a mid2015 machine with Safari 11.1.2.

Same here, for both. Safari is my primary browser in spite of the warnings and my MacBook Pro is from 2015 - bought new last year.