PC World - USA (2019-12)

52 PCWorld DECEMBER 2019

REVIEWS BRAVE 1.0

Chrome Web Store, though it will warn you if

it thinks you’re installing a dodgy one.

By now, browsers absolutely have to be

free and extremely simple to configure. Brave

easily clears the first hurdle, though setup is a

subtly complex process. It’s easy

to get up and running fast, but

Brave’s more advanced features

require some fiddling. Brave

slurped up my favorites,

websites, passwords, and other

necessities from Chrome,

however, and had me browsing

happily in just a minute or so.

As with other browsers, a

single master password allows

you to sync this information with

other instances of the Brave

browser, as well as a

complementary Android browser

that I didn’t test. (If two-factor-

authentication is available, I

missed it. A search box for the

settings would be helpful.) I say

“password,” but even this isn’t

that simple; you’ll need to

establish a “synch chain” with

another computer or phone, then

enter a Brave-suggested

password to connect them. Mine

was 24 words. Yes, 24 words.

Performance is also table

stakes, and the Brave browser is

right in the middle of the pack.

The distinctions are so slight, however, you’ll

probably never notice a shift in performance

between one browser and another. We did

use three modern Web benchmarks,

however, to measure performance between

WebXPRT 3

LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE

182

148

151

145

Firefox 70

Edge 44

Chrome 78

Brave 1.0

Speedometer 2

LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE

68.9

59.2

67.3

36.3

Chrome 78

Brave 1.0

Firefox 70

Edge 44

Brave doesn’t finish at the top of these Web-based benchmarks,

but it’s close enough to not make a significant difference.

JetStream 2

LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE

91.443

71.189

90.585

0

Brave 1.0

Chrome 78

Firefox 70

Edge 44