A small yet interesting update today (for me at least) concerning the beta release of Apple’s new Safari 4 web browser.

To date I have always been a huge supporter of Mozilla Firefox and and voiced avid apposition to Internet Explorer. Even having purchased a Mac I have very rarely if ever used Apple’s own Safari, leaving my desire for animal exploration in the capable hands of my iPhone.

However…

With the release of Safari 4 Beta comes some very convincing statistics (those of you who thought I may have lost my Geek, fear not, here it is):

Safari 4 has a built in JavaScript engine that executes JavaScript (obviously… or not) 30 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 and three times faster than Firefox 3.

Safari 4 completed benchmark tests in 757ms as compared to 2970ms for Safari 3 and 3028 ms for Firefox 3. Internet explorer clocked in at… well lets just say nearly 23,000ms (good work M$).

Obviously this increase in speed comes at a price, it is likely to use more processing power, however having been running it all day I haven’t noticed any noticeable slowdown and the increase in speed is amazing.

This speed alongside some nice editions including bookmark + history coverflow (ala the iphone) and a really nice favourites screen preview page make for a highly recommended download whether you use a PC or a Mac.

If at all interested, go here to download http://www.apple.com/uk/safari/download/