IE8 RC1 tested: the good, the bad, and how it stacks up
While it's not likely to win back power users that have moved on to browsers like Chrome or Firefox, IE8 RC1 is a definite improvement. To the average user, features like accelerators, slices, and visual search, along with the built-in privacy and safety features, will likely make RC1 an appealing option.
To see how RC1 compares to the competition, I ran it through Sunspider and Acid3. There's been plenty of debate before about how useful these tests are. At the very least, they provide a little insight about what's going on under the hood.
Acid3
As expected, the Acid test was abyssmal. RC1 failed to render the page correctly and only managed a 20 (compared to a 71 in Firefox 3.0.5 and a 77 in Chrome).
Sunspider
Again, RC1 failed to impress - unless you're impressed by slowness. Its test time was nearly one-and-a-half that of Firefox and more than four times that of Chrome. Keep in mind that these times will be very different based upon the hardware you use - but the "standings" should be the same.
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IE8 RC1: 10311.8ms
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Opera 9.63: 8647.0ms
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Firefox 3.0.5: 6930.6ms
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Chrome 1.2: 2134.0ms
Somewhat surprisingly, IE8 performed well here, besting both Firefox and Opera.
- Firefox: 1.4s
- Opera: 0.529s
- IE8 RC1: 0.3589s
- Chrome: 0.2883s
IE is better than it has been in the past, but still lags behind the others.
- IE8 RC1: 130,004
- Opera: 107,528
- Firefox: 106,560
- Chrome: 93,620
A few good things...
- Accelerators are cool - they provide a ton of additional functionality with just a few clicks.
- Web slices are a great idea. Now if only there were more than two or three worth installing...
- Smart Screen is like Linus' grubby old blanket - not overly useful, but reassuring nonetheless.
- Visual Search previews work very well for sites like Amazon and eBay.
- The zoom tool is still very handy, especially on smaller displays.
- Developer tools are very solid - kind of like Firebug, but they're baked right in.
- Memory usage has been improved over IE7.
A few bad things...
- The RC1 download weighs in at just over 16mb, more than twice the size of Firefox or Opera.
- Installation takes quite some time. Have-a-shower-and-put-your-jammies-on long.
- Redndering needs improvement. GMail looked terrible, as did a few other sites I use frequently.
- Page load times were slower than Firefox and Chrome across the board.
- What can I block with InPrivate? I like the idea, but after a full browsing session it has yet to suggest anything to block on any site.
- Still no download manager. Really? Come on now, not even a basic one?
- Suggested sites need work. Example: Twitter. Suggested: Yahoo, Friendster, Wikipedia: Twitter.
- Cpu usage was sometimes out of hand on Flash-heavy sites (Firefox: 21% versus IE: 54%). Whether this is IE's fault or the Flash plugin, it's a problem.
If you haven't tried RC1 yet, you can see it in action in the gallery.
When you're ready, you can find the correct IE8 RC1 download link for your Windows version in this post.
Already tried it out? Share your two cents in the comments!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Todd said 10:32AM on 1-27-2009
"...As expected, the Acid test was abysmal. RC1 failed to render the page correctly and only managed a 20, compared to a 96 in Firefox 3.0.5 and a 100 in Chrome."
I rest my case...all over your face Ballmer!
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Aaron said 10:39AM on 1-27-2009
Great post, but a little typo:
"Page load times were slower than Firefox and Chrome across the baord."
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Lee Mathews said 10:40AM on 1-27-2009
Thanks, Aaron! Fixed.
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burnblue said 11:22AM on 1-27-2009
What can you block with InPrivate? What do you mean? Doesn't it tell you exactly what will happen in that session (no history saved no cookies saved, etc)? The later-introduced private browsing features in Chrome and Firefox work the same way. I'm not sure that it's supposed to "suggest" anything to you to block.
By the way, the IE8 startup time is not surprising at all. I'm only surprised it didn't match Chrome. It is the OS native browser after all.
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Kali4 said 1:09PM on 1-27-2009
I might be mistaken, but I believe IE6 is the native browser for XP; IE7 is native for Vista. IE8 should be the native browser for Win7.
laik said 9:45AM on 3-11-2009
The Chrome and Firefox features you're referring to are not as extensive as the IE8's inprivate features. You're only considering half of what inprivate does (ie hides traces of your browsing). IE8's inprivate feature also checks where 3rd party sites are monitoring your IP address and blocks them so that they can't monitor you. Chrome / firefox / safari can't do this.
David Artiss said 11:25AM on 1-27-2009
I don't agree about Accelerators and WebSlices - these are going to be pretty dependant on developers adding the facilities and any half-decent one will only touch IE to do some render testing.
Wikipedia describes WebSlices as "hav[ing] been compared to Active Desktop". And look how that went.
I predict in a few releases time they'll be removing this functionality to make IE slimmer and quicker. The average user wants this along with some half-decent security.
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Matt said 11:40AM on 1-27-2009
What versions of Firefox and Chrome are you using, and on what OS?
Because when I go to the Acid3 test (acid3.acidtests.org right?) I get 71 on FF and 79 on Chrome (Win XP). Still better than IE8, but significantly less than what you are reporting. (and yes, I checked for updates on both and found none).
Disclaimer: I use Chrome and FF and only touch IE when I absolutely have to. I'm just wondering why my results are so different
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Adam Reineke said 11:44AM on 1-27-2009
I agree with Matt. I got similar results and want to know what you guys are doing differently.
Lee Mathews said 11:56AM on 1-27-2009
Sorry gang...Got numbers mixed up from my nightly build browsers. Fixed in post!
mxxcon said 11:46AM on 1-27-2009
instead of using sunspider benchmark, use http://dromaeo.com/
it's more detailed and thorough.
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Jack Pinoski said 11:54AM on 1-27-2009
I believe that Chrome Beta and Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 score those respective scores....I also get 70-71/100 In Firefox 3.0.5 XP.
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Jimmy said 1:41PM on 1-27-2009
I went ahead and downloaded IE8, now I wonder why I did. Most of the features(such as webslices) are more intrusive and irritating, rather than helpful.
I've convinced enough people to convert to Firefox that Mozilla should pay me.
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Eric H said 2:09PM on 1-28-2009
Sure they can give you a percentage of each copy of firefox sold.
BoBoTheChimp said 1:24PM on 1-27-2009
Everytime I look at this page in IE8, it crashes :(
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Umut said 7:36PM on 1-27-2009
Reported this issue to Microsoft.
Kali4 said 1:26PM on 1-27-2009
It would be nice if you could include numbers from the previous version (IE7) so we could see if M$ is at least attempting to move in the right direction. Also, are there major performance differences under different OSs (OSX, Win7, etc.)?
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Kali4 said 1:29PM on 1-27-2009
PS
Is that 32 or 64 bit?
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Christian said 1:30PM on 1-27-2009
I haven't fully explored IE8 but I do notice tiny glitches still, specially on the lay out... I did like IE8 more on Win7 than in XP or Vista since it had less problems.
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Jenniferlauren said 4:02PM on 1-27-2009
There are several new personalization features within IE8, such as Web Slices, that allow users to go beyond the page for the latest content. In order to demonstrate these features, MSFT has selected OneRiot as a feature search provider for today’s RC1 of IE8.
With the OneRiot Hot Topics Web Slice, users stay apprised of the hottest breaking news from around the web within the browser. Additional IE8 add-ons include the OneRiot Hot Topic Sidebar and the OneRiot Social Search Suggestions.
Our innovative social search services are a perfect fit for IE8’s new Web Slices and other search features, allowing users to easily find the pulse the web directly from their browser. Check them out and get a feel for IE8’s new features! You feedback is always much appreciated.
A library of these extensions and services for IE8 can be found online at OneRiot: http://www.oneriot.com or within the Internet Explorer Gallery: http://tinyurl.com/oneriot-ie8-gallery
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