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Microsoft Says Edge Browser Is More Power-Efficient Than Chrome (windows.com)

An anonymous reader writes: It's no secret that Google's Chrome browser eats up a considerable amount of memory (and by extension, battery). On Monday, Microsoft announced that its Edge browser has succeeded on that front. Citing several tests, Microsoft claims Edge browser is a better choice for portable device owners. The company took four identical laptops running Windows 10 to see which of the four most popular browsers would be most efficient when it comes to battery life. Interestingly, Chrome was the first to kill the laptop in the video streaming test at 4 hours and 19 minutes. Firefox closely followed its rival at 5 hours and 9 minutes, while Opera (running on the same tech as Chrome) managed to hit 6 hours and 18 minutes. In Microsoft's tests, it was found that Edge was best of the bunch when it came to enjoying a video online, lasting for 7 hours and 22 minutes. That's worked out to be 70% longer than Chrome.In a blog post, Microsoft wrote: "We designed Microsoft Edge from the ground up to prioritize power efficiency and deliver more battery life, without any special battery saving mode or changes to the default settings. Our testing and data show that you can simply browse longer with Microsoft Edge than with Chrome, Firefox, or Opera on Windows 10 devices."

12 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. But it runs on Windows! by Archtech · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Microsoft Says Edge Browser Is More Power-Efficient Than Chrome"

    But then almost anything is more power-efficient than Windows. So Chrome on Linux probably beats Edge on Windows hands down. Propaganda is largely a matter of choosing what you want to emphasize and being carefully not to mention anything else.

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    I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
    1. Re:But it runs on Windows! by hairyfeet · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The newest tests I can find compare Linux (Ubuntu) versus Windows 8.1 but the numbers don't back up your statement. I quote "Laptop users can expect significantly less battery life using Ubuntu compared to Windows" and I found these results were the same on multiple systems according to the pages I perused.

      If you truly believe your particular flavor of Linux will get better battery life than Windows 10? Feel free to run your own tests and post video of the results. After all Windows 10 Insider is free for anybody to download, so is Linux, so it will cost you nothing but a bit of time to back up your assertion with hard data.

      I personally can't stand Windows 10 but I have to give credit where credit is due and MSFT has gotten much better on battery life with their last couple of releases.

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      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  2. How could it not be? by cloud.pt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The very first thing I do on my Win10 machines is to use Edge to go to the Chrome download page. Then I turn it off, unpin it, never open it again and set Chrome as my default browser. About 2 minutes in from Chrome startup, it starts using more and more power than Edge ever will on that machine. I can safely say it has now used north of 100kWh than Edge on those machines. And will happily increase.

    1. Re:How could it not be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You've missed a trick there. You should really first go to http://www.ubuntu.com or https://www.linuxmint.com/ and get an operating system that isn't complete spyware.

      ... and then not use Chrome browser!

  3. Textbook example of how to game a test. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They pick a bench mark test, run it, profile the code, and optimize it to beat the test. Sort of like how car companies tout a huge EPA MPG and then weasel out saying your mileage might vary. The real test would be to record normal browsing habits or a large cross section of people, and then repeat exactly the same mouse clicks and key board input to various browsers and then check the battery endurance.

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    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  4. Who cares? by ilsaloving · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I don't care of gives me the ability to poop gold bullion. I'm never going to use it. It's a Windows-only browser that was written by Microsoft, and not only that it's only available for Windows 10.

    Microsoft already demonstrated with Internet Explorer, that they will happily turn the internet into a filthy Windows-centric cesspool the second they are given the opportunity. The last thing we want to do is give them the opportunity to try again. The fact that it only works on Windows 10 (which is another nightmare for reasons already well stated by many) whose adoption rate is basically grinding to a halt, means that it is basically irrelevant.

  5. Re:Even better by bmo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And Lynx is the most power-efficient of them all.

    FTFY.

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    BMO

  6. Re:Dear Microsoft by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Indeed. I'm willing to put up with a bit more power drain to have a browser that actually works. Edge is just terrible.

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    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  7. If that's all they got... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If Microsoft is crowing only about power usage, it is an implicit admission that the Edge browser really sucks at everything else, like browsing, its main purpose in life.

  8. Re:Dear Microsoft by MightyMartian · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Even IE works better than Edge.

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    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  9. Stupidity by fnj · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's no secret that Google's Chrome browser eats up a considerable amount of memory (and by extension, battery).

    First sentence of summary is a MASSIVE FAIL. Using RAM is not what wastes power. Using CPU wastes power.

  10. Re: Edge on Linux and OS X could kill Firefox. by spectrum- · · Score: 3, Insightful

    One of the main problems with Firefox is they have put in next to zero effort to making it nice for enterprises to deploy and manage. Sure there are third-party group policy templates and you can get special builds from other sites with commercial support etc but Google and MS give you that free and properly maintained.

    I like Firefox personally and use it. But I don't deploy it to users as a first or even second choice as that's just going to generate work in maintaining and support calls.

    If Mozilla don't get this, that users get familiar with what they use at work and then use that at home they are failing to understand people.

    The home user was always very relevant but it's a changing environment. I would be sad to see Firefox end up the shambles that was the demise of Netscape Navigator.

    Edge is just not finding a place. It feels kinda beta and is not cohesive in the way you would expect... is there even an Edge for mobile devices? Edge is probably better described by what it isn't than what it is. And that's a dull place of forgotten IE icons burried where you go as a last resort after you try chrome and firefox. Probably for the 5 people left with a Lumia or windows phone but I've yet to see it on Android. Firefox is there, it may be far from the usage of Chrome on Android but at least it's there at all.

    Edge and plugins is something they need to sort out fast. No plugins is a death knell for many home users.