Internet Explorer 8: features & benchmarks

Joachim Kaufmann & Kai Schmerer ZDNet Germany

Published: 19 Mar 2009

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Go to section: Introduction User interface Search and Accelerators Under the surface Compatibility Security and privacy Performance Conclusion

Performance
These days, browsers have to run more and more applications based on AJAX, which means that JavaScript performance has become a critical factor. Our tests show that Internet Explorer 8 performs far worse in this area than Safari 4, Opera 10, Firefox 3.1 and Chrome 1 and 2. The only test where IE8 comes out on top is the iBench XML benchmark.

Windows 7, 3.2GHz Core i7 965, 6GB DDR3/1600; millseconds (shorter bars are better)

Windows 7, 3.2GHz Core i7 965, 6GB DDR3/1600; points (longer bars are better)

Windows 7, 3.2GHz Core i7 965, 6GB DDR3/1600; points (longer bars are better)

Windows 7, 3.2GHz Core i7 965, 6GB DDR3/1600; seconds (shorter bars are better)

But what do these results mean in practice? Many web sites now use images with JavaScript Lightbox animation. IE8 takes more time to display these images than competing browsers, even using a 3.2GHz Core i7 processor. Other AJAX applications, including Google Maps, respond worse in IE8. This slower performance extends across the other tests, including the pure JavaScript Sunspider, Google V8 and Futuremark Peacekeeper benchmarks.

IE8’s performance shortcomings may not be much of an issue on the fastest desktop systems, but they translate into a real problem on, say, an Atom-based netbook. For systems based on less powerful processors the only real option is to choose a different browser.

 

Go to section: Introduction User interface Search and Accelerators Under the surface Compatibility Security and privacy Performance Conclusion

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