For those of you unacquainted with download managers, they serve two primary purposes: the ability to better control and manage a download (for instance, pausing it and actually being able to restart it) and the ability to enjoy faster download speeds thanks to the way that many download managers break apart large files for download.
For these reasons, download managers are especially beneficial to people with slow or spotty connections. We’ve covered download managers on MakeTechEasier before, but this time around we’ll be tackling a popular, recent addition to the long line of download managers.
We’ll be discussing the multi-browser, multi-platform Turbo Download Manager.
What platforms are supported?
The primary benefit of Turbo Download Manager is its availability on basically every platform and browser you can think of.
Turbo Download Manager supports the following operating systems and browsers:
- Windows
- Linux
- Mac OS X
- Android
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla FireFox
- Opera Browser
If you’re conflicted, there’s basically no reason to choose one platform over the other. However, installing and running the extension on Chrome actually requires installing two different extensions, which can be a bit of a hassle.
How does it work?
For the sake of my testing, I ran Turbo Download Manager on Windows and compared it to the speed of downloading straight through Chrome. Using the Download Manager outside of a browser meant I had to manually copy over download URLs. Using the browser extension on Chrome, I can simply right-click a download link and start the download from there.
Note: To download properly, you need to use a direct link to the file. Splash pages alone won’t do it. Most downloads you do online redirect you to a page that automatically starts the DL for you. This page usually contains a link to the file that you can click if it doesn’t work. Use that URL with the download manager.
Downloading the latest Ubuntu ISO file took me eleven minutes with the Download Manager. Chrome took a bit longer, clocking in at thirteen minutes. It’s important to note here that my connection is fairly fast (110 mbps down) and seemed to outpace Ubuntu’s download server, so the time discrepancy may be on their side.
However, I believe the Download Manager does show marginal benefits in download speed, margins that become much larger depending on the bandwidth of your Internet connection.
Verdict
Overall, Turbo Download Manager excels at one thing: multi-platform support. At this early stage in development, however, it doesn’t really compare to some of the best download managers out there, such as DownThemAll.
For now, you’re probably better served using a platform-exclusive download manager that doesn’t require you to jump through extra hoops for direct links. The best DL managers are the least intrusive, and a solution like DownThemAll is infinitely easier to use than Turbo Download Manager.
If you’re looking for a serviceable download manager that works on all platforms, try out Turbo. If you want the best for just one platform, though, you’re probably better off looking elsewhere for now.
I’m a longtime gamer, computer nerd, and general tech enthusiast.
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