Orion OC slow performance under MacOS Tahoe 26 and 26.1 beta

ReneB

For the past weeks I feld my computer (mainly web browser use) is somewhat sluggish.
Yes, I found that there seems to be a knows bug in MacOS with the process "WindowServer" using too many system resources. Not sure whether that is the matter impacting (or stemming from) Orion at the moment. Activity Monitor does show WindowServer hogging resources for me, and I am attaching a screenshot of Act.Monitor alongside the Browser Speed Test results from https://browserbench.org/Speedometer3.1/

I'll attach the Speedtest results in a response to this report.

P.S. I have already filed a beta feedback report to Apple regarding the WindowServer process resource use.

Expected good performance from Orion Browser as usual.

MacOS 26.1 beta / Version 0.99.136-rc (WebKit 622.1.15.19.2)

Tahoe (26)

ReneB

ORION RC results on my Macbook Pro M3pro 18GB RAM 1TB HDD / MacOS 26.1 beta

ReneB

Safari results:

laiz

Hey @ReneB
Please run the speedometer test on Orion with compatibility mode enabled:

The results should be pretty much equal to Safari.

For general use, are you able to pinpoint cases where Orion is slow/sluggish and Safari works just fine?

ReneB

laiz

"Are you able to pinpoint cases where Orion is slow/sluggish and Safari works just fine?"
-> Usually when filling in any web forms, sometimes even jumping form one entry field to the other shows a small lag. In some extreme cases, I could even see typed characters appear on the screen with delay.
Otherwise, the general surfing experience has become much worse for me in the past weeks/months. (I was on MacOS 26 beta already before the public launch).

I have a feeling (can't exactly say) that the slowness started with MacOS 26. But not sure, perhaps it just coincided with timing of other Orion changes/updates.

ReneB

Result of https://browserbench.org/Speedometer3.1/ in Compatibiltiy Mode:

(Surprisingly, much better! Now only 15-20% slower vs Safari)

laiz

ReneB (Surprisingly, much better! Now only 15-20% slower vs Safari)

The next RC build will come with a bump to the WebKit version. Here are it and the latest Safari TP side-by-side (Orion 32.8, Safari TP 32.0. I ran the test twice on both browsers.):

ReneB I have a feeling (can't exactly say) that the slowness started with MacOS 26. But not sure, perhaps it just coincided with timing of other Orion changes/updates.

I'd expect to see this improved in the coming weeks by both macOS and Orion updates. I have also noticed the WindowServer spiking on CPU usage but everyday usage on Orion has been quite smooth on my M1 Air.

Thank you for the report!

Dustin

laiz FWIW, I have also noticed Orion benchmarking lower than Safari in the last update.

Safari 26:

Safari 26.1:

Orion 135

Orion 136

Orion RC 134.2

Orion RC 136.1

FWIW on OS 26 on M4

ReneB

Thanks for the explanation.
Looking forward to the next RC update 👍️

Btw, how to best identify what's slowing down my "non-compatibility mode" browsing experience in Orion?
Inside Orion, is there an "activity monitor" to show me what might be occupying/slowing down the browser?

laiz

ReneB Inside Orion, is there an "activity monitor" to show me what might be occupying/slowing down the browser?

Not yet. #1201 is the relevant suggestion. Hopefully someone from the team is able to work on it after Orion 1.0 is out.

ReneB Btw, how to best identify what's slowing down my "non-compatibility mode" browsing experience in Orion?

For now, you can see each tab process in macOS activity monitor. This should allow you to see if there's a particular site causing performance issues (the usual suspects are Google services and Reddit).

ReneB

My very slow performance seems to be related to https://orionfeedback.org/d/11861-1password-causes-major-performance-degradation this issue. When I deactivate the 1Password extension, the performance reaches a result of 35-38.
With the extension, 13-16.

I think I'll try to uninstall 1Password(Firefox) first and try the Chrome version, or try to re-install the Firefox version. Let's see how it goes.

ReneB

There's another report about this: https://orionfeedback.org/d/11099-speed-decline-with-1password-extension/2

I hope there can be a solution soon... I don't want to ditch 1Password, neither Orion... But I really hate the slow performance and the excessive battery use at the moment.

Dustin

I will add my Orion scores are fresh profiles with no extensions whatsoever.