14 DAY TRIAL // In releasing Safari 5.1.4 to end-users this week, Apple carefully noted that the OS X Lion implementation of the web browser includes a special enhancement to JavaScript.
In a rare move, Apple issued a separate technical note for Safari 5.1.4 on OS X Lion to mention a specific enhancement included for customers running the latest version of its operating system. According to the Cupertino, California-based Mac maker, Safari 5.1.4 for OS X Lion improves JavaScript performance up to 11% over Safari 5.1.3.
Apple's benchmark was conducted in January 2012 on a 2.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5-based iMac 21.5-inch system using OS X Lion v10.7.3 (the current version of the OS). The test computer had 4 gigs of RAM and an AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 512 MB of VRAM. The benchmark was based on SunSpider 0.9.1. Apple notes that “Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection, and other factors.”