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Chrome is Using 10-13% More RAM to Fight Spectre (pcworld.com)
An anonymous reader quotes PCWorld:
The critical Meltdown and Spectre bugs baked deep into modern computer processors will have ramifications on the entire industry for years to come, and Chrome just became collateral damage. Google 67 enabled "Site Isolation" Spectre protection for most users, and the browser now uses 10 to 13 percent more RAM due to how the fix behaves.
"Site Isolation does cause Chrome to create more renderer processes, which comes with performance tradeoffs," Googleâ(TM)s Charlie Reis says. "On the plus side, each renderer process is smaller, shorter-lived, and has less contention internally, but there is about a 10-13% total memory overhead in real workloads due to the larger number of processes. Our team continues to work hard to optimize this behavior to keep Chrome both fast and secure." It's a significant performance hit, especially for a browser battling a reputation for being a memory hog, but a worthwhile one nonetheless.
Chrome's Spectre-blocking site isolation "is now enabled by default for 99 percent of Chrome users on all platforms."
"Site Isolation does cause Chrome to create more renderer processes, which comes with performance tradeoffs," Googleâ(TM)s Charlie Reis says. "On the plus side, each renderer process is smaller, shorter-lived, and has less contention internally, but there is about a 10-13% total memory overhead in real workloads due to the larger number of processes. Our team continues to work hard to optimize this behavior to keep Chrome both fast and secure." It's a significant performance hit, especially for a browser battling a reputation for being a memory hog, but a worthwhile one nonetheless.
Chrome's Spectre-blocking site isolation "is now enabled by default for 99 percent of Chrome users on all platforms."
Supposedly, the biggest vulnerabilities are from cloud providers due to their extensive use of virtualization in their environs.
However, I've never seen a real server that surfs the web using any browser. Stupidity is rampant, paranoia rules and perspective has completely left the building when it comes to Spectre/Meltdown.
The most difficult "vulnerability" to leverage known to mankind has everyone scurrying like mad while basic security - allowing the Equifax breach, say - gets a passing nod. Well done, guys!
Who cares if you're running 32+ GB of RAM. Sucks if you're stuck on that modern new Macbook that caps out at 16 GB...
A) That’s like responding to a car analogy with “who cares if you own a private jet”? Suggesting that people should have 32GB of RAM to run a browser is preposterous.
B) The new MacBook Pros are configurable up to 32GB of RAM...
I don't expect CPU fixes to come until 3-5 years have passed. This requires a major redesign, it's not just a little fix.
No more slow CPU, no more extra RAM used, no more OS software to protect from CPU security flaws.
Pick any two. Which do you want?