The Chrome browser has long been infamous for its excessive resource consumption, although Google has been experimenting with ways to reduce that. The latest Performance Controls feature might be the biggest step in that direction.
Google Chrome has rolled out new updates designed to give you more control over browser performance and speed. A key addition is the Performance Detection tool, which automatically identifies performance issues and suggests solutions. For example, Chrome might suggest deactivating resource-heavy tabs to improve speed. You’ll be able to address these issues with a single click or disable the feature entirely if you happen to prefer manual control. It seems like it will be limited to desktop platforms.
Chrome’s Memory Saver feature, which frees up memory by deactivating inactive tabs, now offers a total of three modes: Standard, Balanced, and Advanced. Standard mode deactivates tabs based on system needs, while Balanced mode considers both user habits and system resources. Advanced mode, on the other hand, quickly deactivates tabs as soon as they are no longer in use. The Memory Saver feature has been around for some time and has been one of the primary tools to let users minimize memory usage, but with these customization modes, it’s becoming greatly more useful.
Beyond these features, you can further customize a bunch of performance settings. This includes designating websites to remain always active, even when not in use, which is useful for sites that perform background tasks. Visual indicators for inactive tabs and memory usage can also be toggled on or off.
Google’s announcement doesn’t make it clear in which version of Chrome we’ll see this, or when it will roll out to users. Some of the features might already be live for select users, and next week’s release of Chrome 131 might enable the feature for more computers.
Source: Google