If you use Google Chrome as the vast majority of Internet users, you are likely to find yourself in one of two situations: you have a good computer on hand and you are happy with the browser; or, you have been suffering for some time with the high consumption of resources and how this slows down your computer and browsing, and steals a little more each day, the desire to live.
Chrome is a great browser, but like all things on planet Earth except for kittens, it’s not perfect. In my case I have been using the Google browser practically since it exists, I abandoned Firefox for it, and for many years we had a beautiful relationship. But, for a couple of years that love has been diluted. After many unsuccessful attempts to change the browser, I’ve finally been able to make the jump without missing anything from Chrome, and this is almost all Opera’s fault.
I recently wrote an article explaining what was the only Chrome feature that did not change the browser. That possibility of anchoring the taskbar any page or web application, and then run it as a window, do not take others as the same Opera, or Firefox, or Safari, or Edge, or Vivaldi, to name a few.
So I continued to use Chrome despite the increasingly frequent flickers on the screen and WebGL errors, strange crashes, a stratospheric resource consumption that barely leaves me RAM (even having 16 GB available) and that drains my laptop’s battery as a succubus.
Why Opera?
Opera is another browser that has always seemed excellent to me, but for some reason or another it was never attractive enough to ensure me as a full-time user.
Once the project changed direction and decided to rely on Chromium (I can not escape the irony) Opera seemed to be kicking drowned and living his last days. But, to my pleasant surprise and that of many, the navigator is going through one of his best moments.
In recent years, and mainly in recent months have presented a number of unique features, such as direct integration with ultra popular messaging platforms such as Messenger, WhatsApp and Telegram. They also integrate their own VPN, an ad blocker, a battery saving mode, instant page loading and if you use Windows, it is highly optimized in speed.
With so many things in favor, and with the extremely attractive fact that it supports all the extensions of Chrome (if you do not know how to install them, it is very easy and we explain it here), it is difficult to think of a more complete alternative for someone who has been so many years married to Chrome.
Life with Opera
Of course all experiences are different, and everyone has different needs, but as a Chrome user for many years, greatly dependent on a specific collection of extensions and used to Google’s browser almost as much as my own body, I found This transition is completely painless.
The extensions without which I can not live have a specific version for Opera in their own store, or I can simply download them from the Chrome Web Store. The synchronization of markers with other devices is also painless, since Opera Mobile is also an excellent browser.
Importing data and bookmarks from Chrome is something that takes 4 seconds. In essence you will not find much difference between one browser and another. After all it’s the tab based navigation of always. But on the positive side, Opera will give you a pleasant feeling of novelty.
At home we are three (two humans and one cat), we have four computers and we have all moved them to Opera. The change has been more than good, and the processor fans have suddenly stopped sounding as if possessed by the devil.
The loading of pages feels a little faster, although this is not even the point. Is that everything works more fluid, I no longer hang my eyelashes, and some add-ons do not stop working soon, I have never seen the insufferable WebGL error warning that haunted me even in my dreams.
The consumption of memory is less, yes, if we are going to be honest, it is still quite significant, but that is a modern evil. What matters to me is that it is not as extreme as in Chrome, and Windows does not suffer in the same way because of it.
In addition to this Opera has many details that make it, in my opinion very personal, a better browser . It’s even more beautiful, something subjective, of course, but with its homepage with beautiful interchangeable funds and access to your favorite sites; that sidebar with access to the messengers and also to the extensions, history, configuration and others, the truth is that you feel the effort and you improve the experience on a daily basis.
Why not another browser?
The browser market is living an interesting time. There is life beyond Chrome and Firefox. Internet Explorer is dead (amen), the Microsoft Edge looks pretty promising. Vivaldi has made a great entry especially attracting power users.
There are other interesting and less known projects such as Yandex, Maxthon, or Brave. There are more daring and perhaps rare initiatives such as Colibri, a browser that leaves the tabs. But, at the end of the day, it’s about what makes you feel more comfortable, and if in your specific case you come from Chrome and have had some of the problems I mention, I strongly believe that Opera is one of the best alternatives, but the better.
Before trying to move to Opera, I tried Firefox, after all, also live a good time, and for Mozilla just released the best Firefox in history. Besides this, I love the Firefox Test Pilot experiments and I think there is a lot of potential to innovate there.
However, if you want to go from Chrome to Firefox you will find more shortcomings, such as extensions. Especially if you use the latest version, with the multiprocess issue, there are many add-ons that have not been updated and are not compatible. Firefox on mobile phones still does not like me, and I have had some problems with the rendering of pages in Windows 10. For me it is a no.
Outside Opera, Vivaldi would perhaps be my second option, it also supports all Chrome extensions, and basically there is no browser with so many customization options. However, in my experience, Opera has better performance.
At the end of the day, this is just a suggestion from the perspective of someone who has tried a lot of water and in the end has leaned towards one in particular, with good results. You can not say no, if you have not tried it.