i tried slimboat and not nearly amazed by it as you seem to be. i think the best way to check out what browser is faster, is during banish. after i enter i need to restart and when re-enter banish i see the clock ticking for my cooldown.
on opera i had 45-49 seconds left,
on netscape 43-46,
on internet explorer 42-46 and
on slimboat 18-37 seconds.
before testing i cleared the browser and flash caches, history and temp files. i took the times for each browser on 3 different days during cerb and baal. additionally i added a day where i ran opera and slimboat half the banish time till 50% and then switched browsers.
i also have to add the following events:
- right after setting up and customizing slimboat i crashed within the first minute of running tynon and had to re-customize everything
- netscape crashed twice and i had to shut it down thru the task manager in both events
- netscape customization features are ahead of the others since its the only browser where i can click on icons (without names) in my bookmark bar and have it on the same bar as my adress field and tools. the tabs open on the outter "title" frame of the window which lets me use only 2 thin bars for everything while the other browsers i need at least 3 bars for the same content.
so after my small and limted to tynon testing i have to conclude that opera, netscape and ie seem to be the so far best browsers. the speed trophy would go to opera and the userfriendliest award to netscape.
on another note: i am impressed how ie improved and i expected them to be flat out last but turns out to be a nice and robust browser so far.
I think it is pointless to base browser choices based on performances on other people's machines. Each browser is optimize for a specific operating environment dependent on a multitude of factors, such as: operating system, system RAM, processor architecture, etc...
To find out the best browser for your machine, you need to run the tests yourselves on that machine. A browser that achieves optimal performance on another person's machine may be horrible for your own.
Some browsers are efficient at conserving system resources while others are optimized to be the fastest possible on high-powered machines.
I have not done extensive testing, but from trying Slimboat I actually had longer refresh times on my old laptop than I had with Chrome.
Puffin browser on my phone is lightyears faster than anything I have tried on my laptop, so if I am running multiple servers I use my phone lol. I can run 3 servers for Banish and manage to be back in Banish with the countdown at around 35-45 sec on all 3.