This is a point update pure and simple. There are no new features, but a quartet of tweaks could make the Mac’s default browser much more usable. And, did Apple really reduce Safari’s egregious RAM footprint? In a word, yup.

If Google Analytics is to be believed, about 50 percent of the people visiting the Fairer Platform use Safari. And, for better and worse, Apple’s WebKit-based browser is my preferred web client.

Thereupon, Apple has released Safari 5.1.2 (release notes, download), which contains various improvements, including fixes that:

• Improve stability
• Address issues that could cause hangs and excessive memory usage
• Address issues that could cause webpages to flash white
• Allow PDFs to be displayed within web content

So, what about that promise to reduce “excessive memory usage”? Well, I’m pretty sure it’s true.

I neglected to take a before screen cap, but trust me Safari Content previously occupied twice or more the 216.3MB shown above. Thereupon, MacFixit notes a similar improvement.

Good? No, but definitely better.

And, for those of you keeping score at home, Safari 5.1.2 doesn’t offer improved HTML5 compatibility, matching the 308 of 450 points logged by v5.1.1.