Only for Windows users with >4GB. https://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2017/05/04/google-chrome-64-bit-upgrade/1
I view 32bit Chrome's limitation to 4GB as a feature, not a bug. Forcibly prevents the memory leaks from eating up all 16GB.
Thanks. I always like to know that my Mom's laptop is going to crap out. At least this time I already know why. 2017, and we still don't have enough memory to open a web page, FFS.
Chrome uses so much memory because it sandboxes each individual tab. If you run out of memory, Chrome might stop sandboxing tabs, making them much more vulnerable to attack. If you expand the memory available to Chrome, it can sandbox more tabs.
Even a 32bit app can eat up 16GBs of memory when it has leaks. Sometimes the only way to affect change is to force it. Plugin developers have had over a decade to make the move to 64bit.
Where to start? Data Execution Prevention (DEP) by default, whereas it's disabled by default for 32-bit applications; Structured Exception Handling Overwrite Protection (SEHOP), again on by default for 64-bit applications and disabled by default for 32-bit applications; beefed-up Address Space Layout Randomisation (ASLR) with a massively bigger address space to hide things in; Kernel Patch Prevention (KPP), or PatchGuard; Code Integrity checking; and to quote Microsoft on the benefits of 64-bit Edge, "When Microsoft Edge runs on a 64-bit PC, it runs only 64-bit processes, which are much more secure against exploits."
I have no strong opinions on this move by Google, but I am wonder what would happen following a system upgrade where a computer goes from less than to more than 4 Gb of RAM? Will Chrome auto switch versions?
Well, I finally switched to 64-bit Firefox the other day (I use Chrome, but not as my daily driver as I just don't like it very much) so I won't be sorry to see Chrome switch too.
