According to XDA-Developers, veteran tech journalist Anurag Singh has finally ditched Google Chrome as his primary browser. His main reason wasn’t the well-documented privacy concerns, like the $5 billion lawsuit over Incognito mode tracking, but persistent performance issues. He reports that Chrome consistently acts up once you exceed 15 tabs, freezing even on powerful hardware like an M3 Mac. The browser is a notorious resource hog, easily consuming over 1.8GB of RAM with 20 tabs open, spiking CPU usage, and significantly draining laptop battery life. Singh also notes specific stability problems, like sites failing to load, which force disruptive workarounds or browser restarts that can lead to lost data.
The real problem with Chrome
Here’s the thing: we all knew Chrome was a privacy nightmare. That’s almost a given with an ad company. But the performance collapse is what actually breaks your workflow. It’s fast in benchmarks because it throws every resource at the problem. But open it for a real workday? That’s when the cracks show. It’s not just about RAM numbers on a monitor. It’s about your laptop fan screaming, your battery dying in 4 hours instead of 6, and a tab you need suddenly freezing or crashing. You’re on a deadline, and your tool just… stops. That’s infuriating. And the suggestion that you should manually disable security features like Safe Browsing just to keep it running? That’s a bad trade-off no one should have to make.
Why alternatives actually work
So what’s better? Singh points to Brave, and it makes perfect sense. It’s built on the same Chromium engine, so all your extensions and muscle memory work. But it starts with a huge advantage: it blocks ads and trackers before they load. That means less junk to process, less memory used, less CPU cycles burned. It’s doing less work, so it runs cooler and lasts longer. Firefox is another solid choice, scaling more gracefully under load. But Brave’s efficiency gain is a direct result of its privacy stance—a nice two-for-one. Basically, by choosing a browser that respects your attention, you accidentally get one that respects your hardware, too. Funny how that works.
Benchmarks vs. real life
This highlights a massive gap between synthetic tests and actual use. Benchmarks love Chrome because they measure short, furious sprints. Who loads one webpage and closes the browser? Nobody. We live in our browsers. We have 50 tabs open across three windows, a video playing, Slack humming in a PWA, and a dozen extensions running. That’s a marathon. And Chrome is a sprinter. It burns energy fast and falters over the long haul. The real-world test is simple: can it stay responsive from 9 AM to 5 PM without needing a restart? For a growing number of power users, the answer for Chrome is a reluctant “no.”
Time to switch?
Look, if you browse with three tabs and restart your computer daily, Chrome is fine. But if you feel that performance drag, the switch is easier than ever. Brave is a seamless jump. There’s also a new wave of AI-focused browsers like Arc or Perplexity’s Comet if you want to experiment. The point is, you have options. For years, we put up with Chrome’s bloat because of its dominance and compatibility. But now? The competition isn’t just matching it; they’re outperforming it where it matters most—on your actual machine, during your actual workday. Maybe it’s time to stop complaining about the RAM and just close Chrome for good.
