Firefox @lemmy.ml gordonthefatengine @lemm.ee 1 yr. ago

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?

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!

30 comments

Installing an adblocker like uBlock Origin improves performance but aside from that I don't think there's a lot you can do
- 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.
- I mean, yes, you can do more. But is it realistic? Probably not. Like disabling javascript and css styles.
  
  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.
- I think the biggest limiting factor here is the lack of RAM on that system.
  
  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.
I use this about:config settings to tweak FF performance on Android and Desktop

browser.tabs.useCache: true dom.script_loader.bytecode_cache.strategy: 2

browser.cache.jsbc_compression_level 0-9

You can set the value to 5 for modest performance

Note :

I use thinkpad X240, Core i5 gen 4, 8GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, Windows 10 (debloated)
- Seems like I've finally found a fellow human being who uses a modest system like me, haha. Similar specs, and I too use a debloated version of Windows 10- it works very nicely.
  
  Thanks for these recommendations- I'll try these out right now and see how it goes.
Thinkpad x200s (2009) with Core2Duo SL9400, 2gb RAM, 128gb SSD + AntiX Linux with herbsluftwm.

Firefox will not perform smooth here, but very usable. I watch youtube video from Yewtube on Terminal + mpv, browsing only on Lemmy, news on Newsboat RSS feed, Palemoon if some news sources are heavy, and download with wget.

IMO if you experiencing problem on Firefox with that spec, I think there's a problem with your Operation System or your OS is very hungry power. I recommended using Q4OS linux with pure profile installation for minimalist system out of the box in KDE environment. The performance are very good on my Thinkpad x260..
replace ur hdd with a sata sdd.

other frivolous measures tha could help: replace ur cpu thermal paste to avoid thermal throttling and make sure it makes good contact with heat sink+clean fan with brush

format the hdd and reinstall ur os (especially if its windows)
- I do have an SSD, and it's a huge improvement from an HDD no doubt!
  
  replace ur cpu thermal paste to avoid thermal throtltling and make sure it makes good contact with heat sink+clean fan with brush
  
  This I'd do! Thanks!
I'm running on an i3-2310M with 4 GB RAM without issues, I'm on Linux, tho
I have similar machine, but I run Linux, and don't have these problems. Not exactly configured just some profiles for different use cases.

It was eye-opening how it got faster and snappier after getting rid of windows. Most apps don't need tinkering, just installing from repo for me.
- I would be more than happy to try Linux, but until now I just thought I shouldn't before I try it on a secondary machine, something that I don't have at the moment.
  
  But right now, it seems that I am just missing out. Would try Linux Mint this week if possible!
  
  I use mint and it is great choice, I am not so techy and it just works on this machine.
  
  If you have a USB stick you're not using you can install Mint on it and boot directly from the USB drive without modifying your actual OS, and see how you like it! The same is true of many other linux distributions if you'd like to explore, but Mint was my own first foray into linux and I think it's a comfy distro to start off with. I think you'll be shocked by how snappy it can be on a lower spec machine like that, even running from a USB stick.
  
  As the another comment mentioned, you can run it from a usb to test it out first. And if you like it, you can dual boot it with Windows so you don’t need to remove Windows entirely if you still need it.
  
  Even more minimalist option to try: Crunchbang++
run linux. best if you are just using it for browsing.

i recommend lubuntu
- This. Switching to Lubuntu from Windows would be like doubling your RAM because Lubuntu is very lightweight. I'd bet your main problem is running out of RAM.
- It won't help much since browsing is about the same on every OS. Unless ofcourse OP is running 117 processes that take up 5.13 gb of ram.
  
  source : Former windows user
I've got an old ThinkPad (2011 T530) and I run Linux (openSUSE Tumbleweed.) I haven't done any tinkering/tweaks and the performance is great.
Increase the size of your swapfile. The default is 2g.
The only low end hardware i have is an old 2012 Macbook and it runs perfectly fine. Mught be because of mac os but i don't think so. I suspect that the performance problem will be something else and not just firefox
Wait
- Sorry but I didn't get it- wait for....?

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