Safari 4

Apple has released the Safari 4 Beta.  I downloaded it on the PC (haven't on my Mac yet).  It is defiitely a solid evolutionary step for Safari. First off I should probably say I generally use Firefox as my browser and have for some time - both on PC's and Macs.  Safari has never caught my fancy, though I do have it installed both on my work PC and my Mac at home.

When it opens up you are presented with the "Top Sites" screen - basically thumbnails of popular sites and as you browse, it starts showing your favorite sites.  Not a bad feature though not revolutionary as Google's Chrome pioneered that feature.  You can also view websites in a "Coverflow" presentation similar to iTunes.

One of the big things that Apple has been touting is Safari 4's speed.  Indeed CNET benchmarking tests have Safari 4 42x faster than IE 7 and 3.5x faster than Firefox.  Lifehacker has done its own series of benchmarking tests against a broader array of browsers.  Those test confirm that Safari is among the quickest browsers, but is slow on the initial load and generally beaten out by Chrome for pure raw speed:  Browser Speed Tests:  How Safari 4 Stacks Up.  I can say from my own unscientific observations, Safari 4 feels quicker than Firefox of IE in much the same way that Chrome does for me - but without the stripped down bare-bones Google product feel of Chrome.

I have only been using Safari 4 for a day now and it is only in beta at this point.  I like the snappiness and the feel enough that I am going to continue using it, unlike past versions of Safari that I downloaded, tried, and did not interest me in an extended try.  It has not replaced Firefox for me, yet, but this beta is good enough to make me curious to see the final product and it just might give Firefox a run for its money on my desktop.

- Peter H. Berge

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