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Microsoft Edge Beats Chrome By Over Three Hours In New Battery Usage Test (bleepingcomputer.com)
An anonymous reader writes: With the launch of the Windows 10 Creators Update and Edge 40 (EdgeHTML 15), Microsoft has released a new battery usage test that, naturally, trashes the company's competition. This new test shows that Edge uses less power than both Chrome 57 and Firefox 52, and is bound to draw a response from its competition, especially Google, who doesn't like it when Microsoft takes a jab at Chrome's efficiency. The same thing happened last year, in June, when a similar test showcasing Edge's longer battery life was met with responses from both Google and Opera.
The most recent tests were performed for the launch of Windows 10 Creators Update. Two tests were carried out until a laptop's battery gave out. For each browser, a minimum of 16 iterations were recorded per test. The first test measured normal browsing performance and the second ran a looped Vimeo fullscreen video. In the normal browsing performance test, Microsoft claims Edge used 31% less power than Chrome 57, and 44% less power than Firefox 52. In the second test, Edge played a looped Vimeo video in fullscreen for 751 minutes (12:31:08), while Chrome lasted 557 minutes (9:17:03) and Firefox for only 424 minutes (7:04:19). That's a whopping three hours over Chrome, and five hours above Firefox.
The most recent tests were performed for the launch of Windows 10 Creators Update. Two tests were carried out until a laptop's battery gave out. For each browser, a minimum of 16 iterations were recorded per test. The first test measured normal browsing performance and the second ran a looped Vimeo fullscreen video. In the normal browsing performance test, Microsoft claims Edge used 31% less power than Chrome 57, and 44% less power than Firefox 52. In the second test, Edge played a looped Vimeo video in fullscreen for 751 minutes (12:31:08), while Chrome lasted 557 minutes (9:17:03) and Firefox for only 424 minutes (7:04:19). That's a whopping three hours over Chrome, and five hours above Firefox.
So I can now spend 3 hours more using a browser that's unusable.
I kinda fail to see the benefit.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I actually just reformatted my daily driver desktop PC, installing the creator's update, and the new marketing pressure is real.
The first boot after install loads a cortana screen that doesn't go away until you click the mic mute button, with not one but three prompts to use a Microsoft account.
When you finally get to the desktop and use edge for the one and only purpose that most people use it for, it doesn't stop there. You type "Firefox download" in the search bar, and the first thing you get is a prompt to stick with edge. After you install Firefox and click to set it as default, the windows 10 default settings applet loads a blank screen (this repeated after multiple attempts.) So to change the default browser, you have to open that settings applet manually. Once you try to select Firefox as your default browser, you get another prompt telling you to try edge first, which you then have to dismiss to finally change the default.
I mainly use Linux, but I occasionally use a Surface Pro 4 for testing web sites. This means I use Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Opera on the same system for long periods of time.
I can't talk about exact numbers, but what's described in the summary is similar to what I've experienced.
Firefox will drain the battery the quickest, without a doubt. There have long been rumors that it's a slow, inefficient browser, and I think this is true.
Chrome and Opera (which is pretty much Chrome these days) are about the same. I can test with them much longer than I can with Firefox, but usually not as long as I can test with Edge.
Edge drains the battery the slowest, but I wouldn't say that it's that far ahead of Chrome and Opera.
What I find really strange is the difference between Edge/Chrome/Opera and Firefox. I don't know why Firefox is so much less efficient than the others. I don't think it's a problem with my Firefox installation, because I usually test with one profile that has no addons installed, and another profile that has common ad blockers installed. Both last about the same amount of time.
Clearly there's a big difference between what Edge/Chrome/Opera are doing, and what Firefox is doing. Maybe Firefox uses slower, inefficient JavaScript code for its XUL UI, while Edge/Chrome/Opera all use more native UIs written mainly in efficient C++, or something along those lines?
I'm not sure if I'll even keep testing with Firefox. Its share of the market is only about 5% now, which puts it well below a lot of mobile browsers. I think I'll have to focus more of my testing efforts on those browsers, and less on Firefox.
No doubt, credit where credit is due and my hats off to MS in their browsers efficiency, however, it still doesn't change the fact that Microsoft's browser will always be seen as inferior like IE. I guess (sadly) the same as many people see Firefox as always bloated and inefficient compared to Chrome.
MS will no doubt use this to their advantage in ads as much as possible, but I don't think it will change the browser war - until perhaps they (like Google) also spend billions in advertising Edge all over the world in train stations to newspapers to billboards... all over the world! :)
But good news for the rest of us, hopefully it will force competition and hopefully get (especially) Mozilla to create a more efficient browser!
Edge might be better. The problem is that I have so little trust for Microsoft that I would actually trust Google more. That says something. Microsoft spent three decades earning its bad reputation. They can't make it better overnight. Google spent more than a decade earning its great reputation. They can easily destroy it in a relatively short time. Trust is not easily earned, but is easily and permanently lost.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Although Microsoft claims that the three browsers are being tested on "the same Vimeo video" I'm betting that the three browsers are being served different versions of said video. This kind of test is entirely dependant on CODEC selection and video resolution, both of which affect hardware-based decoding and battery efficiency. To be a valid test the browsers should be playing back the same video file from local media.
No the numbers are a lie. Why are they are lie because edge is running all of the fucking time, whether you use it or not. So basically the fucking liars are comparing edge running in the background and foreground to edge running in the background and Chrome running in the foreground. A straight up marketing fucking lie. So yes, just running fucking edge uses less power than running edge and chrome, surprise, surprise, surprise. Want a real world comparison for edge versus chrome, compare edge on windows 10 to chrome on linux and then just for fun compare TCO, M$'s favourite total cost of ownership. So conduct a range of internet tasks and then look a data usage will edge on windows 10 not only consume more energy but also how much more network data will be wastefully created.
On Windows 10, the bulk of edge is now running in the background no matter what the fuck you do, you can not stop it wasting power, reducing performance and spying on you.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen