Browsing very slow in comparison to old Macbook

Support Software & Applications
#1

Hello everybody!

I recently noticed that browsing with Vivaldi or Firefox on my Manjaro system is significantly slower than on the almost seven-year-old MacBook Pro of my girlfriend. My Laptop is a Lenovo Ideapad 3 with an Intel Core i5 10th gen - so not exactly a beast, but it should definitely hold up against such an old MacBook, or am I wrong?

Just today, it just so happened that we compared the performance on Disney+; I on my Ideapad using Firefox, she on her MacBook using Safari. On my system, it was atrocious. Everything took between 5 and 10 seconds to load. On her MacBook it felt actually not like Internet, but like a native app that’s installed on the system with all the videos. And this is how web browsing is on her machine in general (also Google Maps, for example).

In terms of gaming I have no complaints, everything runs smoothly and is very responsive, even if the machine is running really hot.

So… what’s the secret here? Is it just a matter of configuration? Can I achieve the same responsiveness browsing the web with Manjaro on my IdeaPad, or do I have to accept that a seven year old MacBook outclasses me as if it’s nothing?

Thanks for helping!

#2

Hard to tell without knowing what’s in those.
:person_shrugging:

1 Like
#3

Maybe post some links and let us try them… but certainly I can load Google Maps from my menu>firefox shortcut and I see the full page in less than 2 seconds from a cold start, and maybe 1.5 seconds if I kill the browser first… otherwise it’s under a second.

You mentioned the processor in your Lenovo - yet I didn’t notice a big improvement in Browser speed when I switched from an i3-4130, so maybe you need more information about your storage/drives and RAM really.

#4

Alright, thanks for looking into this with me.
Here we go:

inxi -v7azy
System:
  Kernel: 5.10.136-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.1.1
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10-x86_64
    root=UUID=61e2c6e3-1291-4566-903b-9710494a76c7 rw quiet
    cryptdevice=UUID=d07d8274-ca78-4853-8290-4848da848dde:luks-d07d8274-ca78-4853-8290-4848da848dde
    root=/dev/mapper/luks-d07d8274-ca78-4853-8290-4848da848dde splash
    apparmor=1 security=apparmor
    resume=/dev/mapper/luks-d5b3eab4-06ae-458b-8775-406dd4bea98b
    udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: GNOME v: 42.4 tk: GTK v: 3.24.34 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM v: 42.0
    Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 81WB v: IdeaPad 3 15IML05
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 v: IdeaPad 3 15IML05
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: LNVNB161216 v: SDK0J40700 WIN
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: LENOVO v: DXCN21WW date: 03/06/2020
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 11.2 Wh (30.0%) condition: 37.3/45.0 Wh (83.0%)
    volts: 11.8 min: 11.3 model: Celxpert L19C3PF7 type: Li-poly
    serial: <filter> status: charging cycles: 90
Memory:
  RAM: total: 7.52 GiB used: 3.44 GiB (45.8%)
  RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges
    required.
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5-10210U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Comet/Whiskey Lake note: check gen: core 10 level: v3 built: 2018
    process: Intel 14nm family: 6 model-id: 0x8E (142) stepping: 0xC (12)
    microcode: 0xF0
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 tpc: 2 threads: 8 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB
    L3: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 4086 high: 4176 min/max: 400/1600 scaling:
    driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 3922 2: 4124 3: 4100
    4: 4107 5: 4176 6: 4112 7: 4054 8: 4099 bogomips: 33615
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm acpi adx aes aperfmperf apic arat
    arch_capabilities arch_perfmon art avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2 bts clflush
    clflushopt cmov constant_tsc cpuid cpuid_fault cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64
    dtherm dts epb ept ept_ad erms est f16c flexpriority flush_l1d fma fpu
    fsgsbase fxsr ht hwp hwp_act_window hwp_epp hwp_notify ibpb ibrs
    ibrs_enhanced ida intel_pt invpcid invpcid_single lahf_lm lm mca mce
    md_clear mmx monitor movbe mpx msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx pae pat pbe
    pcid pclmulqdq pdcm pdpe1gb pebs pge pln pni popcnt pse pse36 pts rdrand
    rdseed rdtscp rep_good sdbg sep smap smep ss ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2
    ssse3 stibp syscall tm tm2 tpr_shadow tsc tsc_adjust tsc_deadline_timer
    vme vmx vnmi vpid x2apic xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveopt xsaves xtopology
    xtpr
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: retbleed mitigation: Enhanced IBRS
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl and seccomp
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 status: Vulnerable: eIBRS with unprivileged eBPF
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel CometLake-U GT2 [UHD Graphics] vendor: Lenovo driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20 ports:
    active: eDP-1 empty: HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9b41
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM108M [GeForce MX130] vendor: Lenovo driver: nvidia
    v: 515.65.01 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 515.xx+ status: current
    (as of 2022-08) arch: Maxwell code: GMxxx process: TSMC 28nm
    built: 2014-19 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 4 link-max: gen: 3
    speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:174d class-ID: 0302
  Device-3: Acer Integrated Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-7:3
    chip-ID: 5986:1135 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.4 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.3
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia
    unloaded: nouveau alternate: fbdev,nv,vesa gpu: i915 display-ID: :1
    screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22")
    s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics 0x61ed built: 2018 res: 1920x1080
    hz: 60 dpi: 142 gamma: 1.2 size: 344x194mm (13.54x7.64") diag: 395mm (15.5")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (CML GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.1.6
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH-LP cAVS vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:02c8 class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.136-1-MANJARO running: yes
  Sound Server-2: sndio v: N/A running: no
  Sound Server-3: JACK v: 1.9.21 running: no
  Sound Server-4: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-5: PipeWire v: 0.3.56 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH-LP CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:02f0 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
    broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) type: USB
    driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-10:4 chip-ID: 8087:0aaa class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: up address: see --recommends
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found.
  Device-1: luks-d07d8274-ca78-4853-8290-4848da848dde maj-min: 254:0
    type: LUKS dm: dm-0 size: 229.37 GiB
  Components:
  p-1: nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2 size: 229.37 GiB
  Device-2: luks-d5b3eab4-06ae-458b-8775-406dd4bea98b maj-min: 254:1
    type: LUKS dm: dm-1 size: 8.8 GiB
  Components:
  p-1: nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3 size: 8.8 GiB
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 238.47 GiB used: 167.89 GiB (70.4%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Toshiba
    model: KBG40ZNT256G MEMORY size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter>
    rev: 0109AELA temp: 28.9 C scheme: GPT
  Message: No optical or floppy data found.
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 229.37 GiB size: 224.71 GiB (97.97%) used: 167.12 GiB
    (74.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 254:0
    mapped: luks-d07d8274-ca78-4853-8290-4848da848dde label: N/A
    uuid: 61e2c6e3-1291-4566-903b-9710494a76c7
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%) used: 448 KiB
    (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 label: NO_LABEL
    uuid: 3F90-3A6D
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 791 MiB (8.8%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/dm-1 maj-min: 254:1
    mapped: luks-d5b3eab4-06ae-458b-8775-406dd4bea98b label: N/A
    uuid: 0bddfc9f-8e06-4aac-8030-e59cdc650ede
Unmounted:
  Message: No unmounted partitions found.
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 12 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-3:2 info: Lenovo 300 Wireless Compact Mouse type: Mouse
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 98mA
    chip-ID: 17ef:60ac class-ID: 0301
  Device-2: 1-7:3 info: Acer Integrated Camera type: Video driver: uvcvideo
    interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 5986:1135
    class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Device-3: 1-10:4 info: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP)
    type: Bluetooth driver: btusb interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
    power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0aaa class-ID: e001
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 6 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 50.0 C pch: 53.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 322 Uptime: 34m wakeups: 1 Init: systemd v: 251
  default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.1.1 clang: 14.0.6
  Packages: 2049 pm: pacman pkgs: 1990 libs: 497 tools: gnome-software,pamac
  pm: flatpak pkgs: 50 pm: snap pkgs: 9 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9
  running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.21

What truly baffled me was the complete lack of loading time on her Safari. No Delay on pages that take my system several seconds to fully load. I just checked on GMaps again: Still 3 to 4 seconds till fully loaded, even after a second try, although Firefox was already opened.

#5

yes the problem is that your default frequency-governor is set to powersave and firefox is a resource-hungry app. use ondemand or performance to solve that. a second thing is to use preload that speeds up processes that are often used, but keep in mind that preload takes some time to get in effect because it will “learn” and needs some time to have a statistic that it uses.
you can find further infos at archwiki how to setup and use the frequency-governor and the preload service
https://wiki.archlinux.org/

#6

Alright, thank you! I will have a look!

#7

There’s a couple of options