That is really disappointing to read. We put a lot of effort into making Chrome start quickly. Back when I was responsible for Linux Chrome, I gave a lighting talk at the Ubuntu Developer Summit about it, and demoed Chrome starting faster than Gnome Calculator.
Not being snarky towards you — Chrome starts really quickly — but was that the snapped calculator from Ubuntu 18.04?
firefox from the ubuntu repository is over 5 times faster to start. on any windows machine, it's almost the opposite. sorry to break the news. for what it's worth I still use it everyday... I usually start my browser once a day so it's not that big of a difference.
Both chrome and Firefox on Ubuntu are basically instant for me. Chrome is installed without the snap rubbish tho.
Hats off, Chrome starts instantly on my Debian machines. Even on a 10 years old, half dead Thinkpad it's just couple of seconds. This must be a Ubuntu/Snap specific issue.
Today, starting faster than Ubuntu's calculator is not that hard. I bet this also became a snap app.