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Those who use Firefox on a low-end laptop or any such low-spec machine, what tinkering have you done to get the best experience? (lemm.ee)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Firefox has been improving drastically in terms of performance with every release. It's pretty evident in recent months, which is very heartwarming to be honest.

I, however, do to some bad circumstances, have been stuck with a not-so-good laptop (8 GB RAM, a 6th gen processor in AMD A8 7410) and Firefox doesn't run that well on it. This is something that I've observed with Firefox- if you have a decent machine then it will run amazingly fast. However, on lower-end machines, performance can be a struggle AT TIMES.

Any tips on making this browser run at it's best potential on a weak system are appreciated!

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Installing an adblocker like uBlock Origin improves performance but aside from that I don't think there's a lot you can do

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

I already use uBO and it's terrific! But yes, I don't think much can be done because my old CPU is the main issue here and it can't be replaced sadly.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I mean, yes, you can do more. But is it realistic? Probably not. Like disabling javascript and css styles.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It baffles me how many websites won't even show the actual, basic content without javascript. I don't care how cool it looks when the paragraph flies in from the side, I just want to read the damn thing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The modern Internet is pretty terrible. I use ublock origin and no script to make it bearable. But it does add a lot of tedium when I go to a new site and everything is broken and the site's functionality relies on multiple 3rd party scripts.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Progressive Enhancement is the name of the game more web developers need to play.

Basically, the point of it is that a websites' basic functions and content need to work without javascript, and anything on top of that is just making the experience prettier.

There's obviously select things that can't work at all without JS, but those are just a few exceptions.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I think the biggest limiting factor here is the lack of RAM on that system.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Hmm, you reckon? I do have another RAM slot empty (8GB (currently in use) + 8 GB (empty right now)).

Seems like I should add more RAM to my laptop for now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Make sure match ram timings

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Check how much RAM you're actually using when you use firefox. If you're not using all your RAM then adding more won't make a difference.