Who cares about efficiency, I have 8 GB RAM and|or a quad core CPU
Doing more with less is a virtue in software. For users of uBlock Origin (uBO), this means:
- Less CPU churn when loading a web page, which may translate into noticeable faster page load.
- Higher memory consumption correlates with higher CPU-cycle consumption: whatever extra memory is used is memory which has to be allocated/written to/read from (at least once)/garbage collected.
- Free to use more filter lists:
- For instance, ABP warns against using too many filter lists: "It is important to note that you should not add too many filterlists to Adblock Plus"
- Longer battery life: each time unit, however small, in which the CPU is idle rather than churning translates into extended battery life.
- Free to use a blocker on less powerful devices
- For instance: Reddit: "ABP was a significant burden on my CPU"
- Free to add more useful features
- Free to use more extensions
Memory and CPU cycles are finite resources. A sure way for a developer to not be hired when being interviewed is to dismiss efficiency work because "memory is plentiful" or "CPU nowadays are fast enough".
"Come on people, we are buying our hardware precisely for this - to be used" [source]
Wasting is not using.
Not convinced yet? Try using stopwatch to compare how fast web pages load when using one blocker compared to another.
If you have a multi-core CPU, and hence plenty of spare CPU cycles, granted, there may not be such a noticeable difference in page load, but other popular blockers will definitely make use of plenty of whatever spare CPU cycles available (see below) to perform the same job as uBO.
CPU overhead
Memory footprint
