PC Magazine: Safari on Windows is a Worthy Browsing Partner

by , 2:55 PM EDT, March 24th, 2008

Many improvements, some unique features, impressive speed and future-looking standards make Safari a worthy browsing partner on Windows, according to PC Magazine.

The early betas of Safari for Windows didn't impress Michael Muchmore at PC Magazine. However, the release version fixes all that and more.

"Tabs are present in all current browsers, but Safari gives them an extra twist. Competitors let you rearrange your tabs by dragging them side-to-side, but Safari adds an extra ability: letting you drag a tab label down to open a new window," Mr. Muchmore wrote..

Despite a minor glitch, Mr. Muchmore was impressed with the Find function in Safari. "Safari's search feature for finding text on the current Web page is very nice: It highlights all the found text and dims the rest of the page," he wrote. "It also displays as a bar at the top of the page and tells you how many matches your search found."

Notable for professionals, Mr. Muchmore added: "Designers and photographers—or just any users who want truly accurate colors in their browser images, will be pleased with the browser. For color correction, Safari honors Web images' ICC profile."

The review noted that Safari 3.1 passes the Acid2 test for Web browsers with flying colors. It scored 75 while Firefox earned 53 and Internet Explorer 7 earned a "measly" 12 points on Acid3. Opera got to about 40, then crashed.

The reviewer found Safari to be speedy as well. In both start up and SunSpider speed tests of real world tasks, Safari was impressive compared to the competition.

"If you use a Mac at home but a PC at work, Safari for Windows offers a way for your at-work Web to feel more familiar and comfortable. The browser also boasts some industry-leading speed and standards support, and has a few clever browsing tricks up its sleeve as well," Mr. Muchmore concluded.

Safari 3.1 for Windows didn't earn an Editor's Choice award, but still deserved an honorable mention. That's not bad at all for a PC-centric publication and shows how far Apple has come in infiltrating the Windows community and earning the praise of PC reviewers.