I've used every browser out there on Mac and Linux and Windows, and this is the best one out there. It manages to not only be faster than Firefox, but also lighter while still retaining the mail and chat features that Mozilla had ot take out to make their program less of a monster.

Firefox also needs many, many extensions to make things work to my liking. Opera on the other hand comes with everything ready, such as mouse gestures, URL Filtering, IRC, etc. It is also much nicer on my memory than Firefox (Try leaving Firefox running overnight, you'll find its using all your memory.)


For those who complain that it is "thrashing their hard drives" (whatever that means), they're simply mistaken. Unless you have less than 192mb of RAM, you won't notice any harddrive activity. You could complain that it uses up more RAM when running, but this is only so it can instantaneously go back and forward. Try clicking the back arrow, or using a mouse gesture. On Firefox and IE, it goes to the harddrive, and is delayed. On Opera it keeps the cache in the RAM, and you get instantaneous movement. When you minimize Opera, the RAM is released. I mean, what else would you be using the RAM for when web browsing?


M2, the mail component is also awesome. It alerts me to new emails by showing an icon in the taskbar, and is only two clicks away when I'm browsing. I'll be using Opera for many years to come.


The price is expensive since web browsers are usually free, but you get what you pay for. Simply the best browser out there, and you can always get a student discount if you go to school.