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Safari 4

By Seth Rosenblatt on 10 June 2009

Apple is touting Safari 4 as the fastest browser on the web for both Windows and Mac. Depending on your computer's specs that may indeed be true. However, if you need more than speed, Safari may not be the best choice.

User rating:7.9

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  Stoo gave 3/10 on 28/10/2009 08:38 Report abuse

  • Good: Simple
  • Bad: Buggy, Slow, Poor tab usage

  Gave it a go for a few weeks but I'm looking elsewhere. Crashed at least twice a day. The flip/"cover" view is completely useless and eats CPU power.

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  Zinger gave 10/10 on 24/10/2009 02:04 Report abuse

  • Good: Fast, easy to use, powerful
  • Bad: page load failure reports not very useful

  I run Safari 4 on Snow Leopard. It is the fastest, most slick browser available. It has worked flawlessly. Many f the criticisms I've read come from those who have not yet adjusted to the new UI. I can't see that Apple's taken anything out, but only rearranged it.

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  ScootaKuH gave 9/10 on 07/09/2009 00:13 Report abuse

  • Good: Speed and looks great
  • Bad: Doesn't seem to have much customisation options

  After being an IE user for many years I recently downloaded IE 8 and to be honest I've had no end of problems with it. I decided to try some different browsers for the first time ever. First I tried Firefox 3.52 and while it is good and fairly quick I didn't like the look of it. Secondly I tried Opera and had a few problems with that which led to me trying Safari 4. So far I'm really pleased with it. It's a bit of a resource hog but then being a Vista user I'm pretty used to this. It's nice to look at and is fast with some really nice graphical features. So far I've had no issues with it and so will stick to it from now and give it a through work out but so far so good :)

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  Steve gave a review on 21/08/2009 02:11 Report abuse

  • Good: Really quick, the search bar gives a dropdown now and the look is much better not dull and gray like before wth V3
  • Bad: Dont care much for the tabs on top

  I have been using V3 for sometime now and it is a good browser with a couple minor quirks. But, this is a keeper. It is really quick. Noticeable speed difference. I like it. It has to be my favorite browser on PC now.

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  Chris gave 8/10 on 07/08/2009 14:03 Report abuse

  • Good: Fast, New Interface
  • Bad: loading bar is gone

  overall this is an improvment over safari 3, and 4 seems faster too.

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  Bob gave a review on 21/06/2009 23:43 Report abuse

  I was looking for reviews of Safari 4 prior to downloading. I notice that Mr. Rosenblatt called it a 'RAM-devouring beast', but I'm curious as to whether that moniker applies to the Mac version, the Windows version, or both.

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  Bob gave a review on 21/06/2009 06:11 Report abuse

  I was looking for reviews of Safari 4 prior to downloading. I notice that Mr. Rosenblatt called it a 'RAM-devouring beast', but I'm curious as to whether that moniker applies to the Mac version, the Windows version, or both.

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  Russ gave 7/10 on 16/06/2009 07:29 Report abuse

  • Good: Interface, Fast
  • Bad: Boring looking

  It's a good browser with cool top list panels and it seems to be the fastest browser out. I'm curretly using IE8, have tried most browsers but I see no real need for cool looking top lists, the browser itself is boring looking.

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  Benny gave 8/10 on 10/06/2009 18:44 Report abuse

  • Good: Fast • Top Sites is useful • Built-in developer tools are great • Still the best rendering engine
  • Bad: No more tabs on top • Loading bar gone • Refresh/Stop button in stupid position • Still no smart pop-up blocking (only all or none)

  I like using Safari (on OS X) more than any other browser. It's fast, it looks great, it does what I want without too much hassle. You can get plug-ins, at least on OS X, though there's nowhere near as many as Firefox has.
  
  However I was using the Beta and really started to love the tabs on top. It's a pity they're gone in the final version with no option to get them back. I also wish there was a smarter pop-up blocker — you should be able to set exceptions so you can allow pop-ups on certain sites, but you can't — it's all blocked, or none blocked.

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  thought through gave 10/10 on 28/02/2009 19:39 Report abuse

  • Good: - opens web pages very quickly (but i still havent seen the download speed)
    - new lay out is FUNKY :D (looks alot like the spaces on OSX)
    - tabs are easier to find ..... and you can change their order easily
  • Bad: - the web bar thingo doesn't turn blue to show how much it has loaded. (as it does in the previous version)
    - despite the "FUNKY" look (just like spaces, it doesnt have the flow though effect, it just pops up, with no animation.

  i just download the new safari this morning and there are a bit of a few changes. It only has a few added features but they are worth the download.