Google Chrome captures the lion’s share of the browser industry. Despite its flagship status, the browser is infamous for being a memory hog. Google released the RAM-saving feature via an update in 2020, but still, it needs some tweaks to handle RAM more judiciously. Microsoft Edge, built on the same Chromium engine, already has a “sleeping tabs” feature, which essentially means suspending them from memory.
Google was testing a similar memory-saver feature in the “Canary” channel. Now, that feature is available to all users in the stable channel. Curious about how to enable and use the feature? lets start.
What is the display setting in chrome?
Google Chrome added a performance section that serves as a central hub for managing its memory and power consumption. It includes two new features: Memory Saver and Energy Saver. These settings are slightly customizable and provide some respite against aggressive memory and power usage.
Chrome’s memory saver feature automatically suspends inactive tabs to free up memory. So, browser and system can use this free memory. Google doesn’t specify an exact time period to flag a tab as inactive.
The Energy Saver feature is relevant only for laptops.
When enabled, this will limit background activity and visual effects. Video playback inside the browser will appear choppy. But it’s not a huge deal when you can’t charge the battery, and must get the job done.
Both of these features are available in Chrome version 110 and later. So, if you don’t see the Performance section in Settings, manually update the Chrome browser to the latest version.
how to save memory when using chrome
To save memory while using Chrome you need to enable and configure Memory Saver Mode.
Press the Enter key to open the Display section. Alternatively, you can open Chrome Settings, and navigate to the Display section using the left-side menu.
Navigate to the section on the right. Click the toggle next to the Memory saver option to enable it.
Once enabled, Memory Saver will suspend all inactive tabs. If you want to exclude a specific website, click on the Add button.
Now, type the site URL and click on the Add button. The Excluded website URL will appear under the Always keep these sites active section.
How to save power while using Chrome
The Energy Saver feature conserves power by reducing background activity and visual effects. You can enable Energy Saver in Chrome by going to the Performance section. It’s not highly customizable and only offers two options for triggering the feature.
Do You Need a Third-Party Extension to Suspend Tabs?
Before Chrome’s management features, several Chrome tab management extensions offered similar functionality—offering comparable or even better features. But do you still need to use them?
After which you have no control over the duration
Chrome’s memory saver is on. However, Edge has a similar tab sleeping feature. It allows to adjust the time after which it suspends the tab to free up memory.
Still, a built-in feature is far more secure than a third-party extension. Extensions also consume memory and continue to run until you close the browser. If you want Chrome to automatically suspend tabs, you can use the Memory Saver feature. We suggest you switch to a memory management extension like Tiny Suspender only if you crave customization.
Practice Better Memory Management in Chrome
The memory management and power saving features in Chrome were long overdue. Despite coming very late to the party, it’s cool that you won’t need any third party extension for the necessary memory management. The customization aspect is subpar, but it could improve in future builds of Chrome.
Furthermore, you can find out the exact system resources currently in use and take manual actions to reduce them.