Firefox developers improved once again Java Scripts execution’s speed on the Firefox Nightly build (beta) 3.1, and here are the results based on a benchmarking made on a MacBook Pro via Sunspider:

• Safari 3.1.2: 3062.0ms
• Firefox 3.0: 2997.2ms
• Firefox 3.1 nightly without TraceMonkey: 2510.2ms
• Firefox 3.1 nightly with TraceMonkey: 1610.4ms

Firefox 3.1 can be up to twice faster than Safari with TraceMonkey on.
Get the latest Firefox 3.1. Nightly here and read more about TraceMonkey here.

TraceMonkey isn’t active by default on Firefox 3.1, because it is still under development; if you want to enable it anyway, just follow these steps:

1. Type “about:config” in the Firefox 3.1 address bar.
2. Look for the following key “javascript.options.jit.content”
3. Set that key to “true” and restart Firefox.

Have fun speed browsing!

Posted in 3rd Party Software, Macintosh Tips & Help