System Requirements

[borgward]

I removed NoScript and then reinstalled it. I also removed Adblocker Plus and replaced w/uBlock Origin. That's all I did and now my ten year old Dell Inspiron 1520 is running like a charm. I forget how I found out what to do, but removing NoScript completely and then reinstalling it did the trick. I am running LinuxMint 18 64bit w/Firefox 53.0

[pdrummond]

Note: there is a warning not to install the creators update from MS Register article this morning.
Also you should look at about:memory and also about:performance and see if there is an extension or something else which is at play.

Thanks for the warning - I was thinking I might manually download the update before it tries to do it automatically and fails. Most of about:memory data is not helpful. What do I look for in about:performance?

It's hard to test solutions for a random memory warning. No proof Firefox is the cause -but it's usually the only program running. I used to multitask on this little laptop but not now. I've already removed every addon I can. Any more and there's no point to Firefox.

[JayhawksRock]

Have you opened Windows task manager to look at All running processes using memory in real time?
Try control+Shift+escape to open task manager

https://www.google.com/search?site=&sou ... izPcamnKys

[DN123ABC]

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/5 ... uirements/

This link is out of date.

From Firefox 53 planned for April 2017, Windows XP/Vista/Server 2008 are no longer supported.

April is gone in 2 days. Also, this article talks about firefox 50.1.0, and the latest is what, 53?

To answer the OP's question, it depends on how you browse. In general, I'd say get a decent Pentium 4+ processor, Windows 7 or newer, and at least 4Gb of RAM. I think your experience is more dependent on your connection speed, and if you do lots of movies, music, downloads, or other "intensive" stuff.

If you're looking to buy a new computer, I am guessing most anything sold in a store nowadays will run Firefox just fine.



(This advice is worth what you paid for it.)

[borgward]

I am the OP. Thanks for answering the question. I found that Firefox ran well on an old old 32bit Compaq laptop that I noticed was collecting dust in a corner that runs XP on P4. My Dell Inspiron 1520 Pentium dual core 64bit bogged down anytime I ran the latest Firefox. 4 GB of RAM would flat line at max usage. The problem was not the hardware specs or Firefox. The problem was NoScript. The solution was to completely remove NoScript and then reinstall it. The 10 year old 1520 is now running like a charm. I can open many many tabs, download YouTube, etc w/no complaint.

I was beginning to shop for a newer used laptop (probably a Dell Latitude) but feel like I can put that off for a good while now.

[James]

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/5 ... uirements/

This link is out of date.

From Firefox 53 planned for April 2017, Windows XP/Vista/Server 2008 are no longer supported.

April is gone in 2 days. Also, this article talks about firefox 50.1.0, and the latest is what, 53?

Firefox 50.1.0 was the current Release at the time the 50.1.0 system requirements link was posted by patclash in thread back on Dec 30th 2016.

https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/53.0/sy ... uirements/

[borgward]

I looked at the links for both 50.1.0 and 53. I think 512 MB RAM is overly optimistic for any OS. 2 GB of RAM would be the minimum and 4GB will insure a good experience.

[pdrummond]

...The problem was not the hardware specs or Firefox. The problem was NoScript. The solution was to completely remove NoScript and then reinstall it.

Wow, thanks for noticing that. Oddly enough, I just removed Noscript because I got tired of temporarily allowing scripts on EVERY site I visited. I had started removing addons and Noscript was next anyway. Will see if things get better.

[borgward]

I also removed Adblock Plus. I was advised to completely remove and reinstall it. I chose to remove it but installed uBlock Origin instead. Adblock Plus might work just as well after being reinstalled. I just don't know.