According to tests conducted by Computerworld, the latest test version of Firefox 4 is a full three times faster than Firefox 3.6. Thanks to the new JavaScript engine, codenamed Jägermonkey, Firefox 4 is the second fastest browser after the Opera 11 test version.
In a blog post, Mozilla announces that the latest test version of Firefox 4 has gained support for hardware acceleration in both the Windows and Mac versions. In addition, it has received better support for handling advanced 3d graphics using the Webgl technology.
In Computerworld’s tests, the alpha version of Opera 11 released last month ended up the best in terms of performance. The latest test version of Firefox 4 ended up in a good second place shortly after.
The tests also show that Firefox 4 is about 25 percent faster than the latest test version of IE9 and 12 times faster than IE8.
– We know that we needed a proper upgrade in terms of performance to be able to stand up to the competition, writes David Mandelin at Mozilla in a blog post.
Beta 7 of Firefox 4 was originally supposed to be released already eight weeks ago but was delayed due to unforeseen bugs. The finished version of Firefox 4 was supposed to be released before Christmas, but according to Mozilla, it will now happen in early 2011 at the earliest.
You can download the latest trial version of Firefox 4 here.
The video below shows a performance comparison between the latest test version of Firefox 4 on the left and Firefox 3.6 on the right.
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