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#1 2021-07-27 13:47:20
- urlwolf
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- Registered: 2008-03-25
- Posts: 40
Firefox, windows vs tabs and memory usage
I'm using openbox/kde. On desktop, I have Firefox configuredd so that i opens new windows instead of tabs. Then I search window title with rofi. This is a great improvement, but I now have a tiny laptop and I'm wondering about cpu and memory usage. Not knowing X internals: do windows eat up memory (more than tabs)? A stacking wm ike openbox: will it sruggle on meager hardware if I have say 20 FF windows open instead of 20 tabs?
Thanks
Last edited by urlwolf (2021-07-27 13:47:50)
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#2 2021-07-27 17:06:30
- CarbonChauvinist
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- Registered: 2012-06-16
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Re: Firefox, windows vs tabs and memory usage
I'd suggest an addon like vimium-c (there are others, but this is the one I prefer)which will then allow you to use a quick keyboard shortcut (in this case 'T') to search all open tabs with its vomnibar. Then you can still use tabs instead of windows.
"the wind-blown way, wanna win? don't play"
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#3 2021-07-27 17:23:10
- cameo
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- Registered: 2012-08-18
- Posts: 123
Re: Firefox, windows vs tabs and memory usage
I'm wondering about cpu and memory usage.
You may have a statistic impression e.g. using htop (if 20 instances of ff will let you change clients or terminals at all).
Last edited by cameo (2021-07-27 17:31:48)
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#4 2021-07-27 17:41:33
- Trilby
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- Registered: 2011-11-29
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Re: Firefox, windows vs tabs and memory usage
There should be very little difference in the resource use by firefox and any difference in memory use by the WM would be trivial.
When you open a second firefox window it connects to the existing firefox process(es) the same way a tab would.
Whether or not "20 instances" would be a problem on your hardware or not is not relevant to the actual question. If your system would be sluggish with 20 firefox windows, it'd be almost as sluggish with 20 tabs in one firefox window.
The one potential exception to this would be if there are settings to suspend any processes (eg, javascript) and defer rendering for any background tab. And this would only be an exception if this setting didn't also apply to windows that were not visible.
Last edited by Trilby (2021-07-27 17:45:42)
"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman
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