'Memory Saver' could cure Chrome's insatiable appetite for RAM

Enlarge / One of the many "Chrome as the RAM-eating Pac-Man" memes. GallowBoob

Forget ray-tracing AAA video games or cryptocurrency mining. Sometimes it feels like just running Chrome is one of the hardest tasks you can tackle on PC. Google is apparently aware of Chrome's reputation for being a bit resource-intensive, and on Windows, macOS, and ChromeOS, it's introducing two new features - Memory Saver and Energy Saver - that hope your browser will run a little better on machines more limited. .

Memory Saver is a mode you can turn on and off at will, and Google says it will use "40% less memory" by removing inactive background tabs from RAM. Google says "all inactive tabs will be reloaded when you need them", which may mean losing your tab state, but you can turn this feature on and off whenever you want.

The memory saver user interface. Google

The energy saving user interface. Google

In Canary, there is a list of sites that you always want to remember. Ron Amadeo

We haven't seen a stable rollout of this feature yet, but in nightly builds of Canary there's an "Always keep these sites active" setting that allows you to protect domains from hibernation, so there's a lot control here. (It links to this simplified support page, if you're interested)

The other new feature, Energy Saver, is more automatic. This triggers when your laptop's battery level reaches 20%. Google says, "Chrome will save battery by limiting background activity and visual effects for websites with animations and videos." You can also disable this one in the settings.

Google says both features will be rolling out over the "coming weeks globally for Windows, macOS, and ChromeOS".