I'm running Firefox 6.0.2 on my Intel Mac OSX 10.6.8. FIrefox according to the Activity Monitor is using an insane amount of Real memory: 300MB and at times, 400MB. Any ideas? I've unloaded a few extensions but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

I think that 300MB or 400MB is nothing. Often mine uses 800MB plus. In my experience, it seems mainly to be a function of how many tabs / windows I have open, and how long I leave Firefox running. I like to restart it at least once a day. Once it hits over 900MB or so, it starts to slow and act dodgy (freeze and or crash).

(NB, I am talking about "Mem Usage" on a Dell running XP. I'm assuming that is the same thing as the "Real memory" you mention.)

How many tabs / windows in Firefox do you normally have going at once?

At the moment Firefox 6.0.2 is using 127MB on my HP G62 laptop running Windows 7.

Firefox is a resource hog at times. I find that if I try to navigate to a site after taken the computer out of hibernation or suspend mode, and it is still open, that's when it uses large amounts of memory; closing it down and reopening seems to solve the problem. I've recently migrated to Chrome, which doesn't seem to suffer the same issues.

I'm hearing a lot of good things about Chrome...Are you sold, Josh?

I'm sold, it was a rough transition at first, since I've been using Firefox since about 2005. I'm pretty happy with it, though.

Firefox 7 (which will be released on Sept. 27th), cuts memory usage by up to 50%. I would suggest waiting for that. The current usage you are experiencing seems to be normal though.

I like Firefox, and rely on its ability to have some very useful extensions, but the current iteration is really slowing me down. Hope 7 helps.

Given my experience (Firefox using 800 MB with no slowdown), I wonder whether you might be blaming the wrong thing for any slowdown?

Maybe some of your settings on Firefox or some other software are the problem, and not the memory usage itself?

Could be. I have 1 GB of Ram. Probably not enough these days.

When Firefox was first released, it was a gem. If I remember correctly, the total size of the program was well under 10 MB, compared to Internet Explorer's 150 or so. It wasn't cluttered with all sorts of features and worked quickly and smoothly. Every time it has been upgraded with more bells and whistles, its performance has degraded. I'm afraid this is the usual life history of most software, isn't it?

Chrome rocks! I switched from Firefox a couple years ago, and haven't looked back since.

Checked this on my work computer today, which is an Intel Mac running the same OS as yours.

Firefox is using over 500 MB of Real Mem. Nothing is slow, I have several applications open, everything is flying.

Mind you, I have 12 GB of Ram.

Yup, that could be the diff.

just downloaded 7.0 and I'm running it now. The memory usage, according to my computer, is the same as before.

Have you thought about getting more RAM? It's relatively cheap, and does wonders for performance. I almost threw a computer out once because it was so slow. The systems guy at work added more RAM to it, after which I happily used it for another 3 or 4 years. I was astonished at the difference in performance.

Yes, I'll have to look into it. BTW, Foxfire 7.0 despite the similar memory usage, seems to be a bit snappier so far. OTOH, it's broken a few of my favorite extensions. I hope they will be updated.

Firefox released 7.0.1 and my broken extensions are now working again. Also have to say I am very pleased with the much improved speed of loading pages.

Just spent the best $25 I've ever spent on a computer. Bought another 2GB of RAM. I'm traveling Warp Speed now. Neutrinos, get out of the way, you pesky road hogs.

Just agreed to accept the 7.1 upgrade, and I agree the browser is now blisteringly fast.