If you have a PC, one of the activities you will be engaged in is browsing the web and this means that you have to have a browser. The most popular browsers that you may have downloaded are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera or the one Microsoft bundled in Windows 10: Edge.
Browsing the web is a battery consuming process since it continuously “wakes” up the CPU and the screen is gobbling up power especially if you have it at a relatively high brightness setting. Due to this battery hogging issue that revolves around browsers, companies always try to convince us that their browsers are battery efficient and now Microsoft is the latest company to do this.
In a blogpost, Microsoft did a battery test that involved the aforementioned browsers. These were run on 4 identical Surface Books while streaming the same HD video wirelessly. After the laptops were unplugged and the video was let to run. The first laptop to deplete its batter was the one running Google Chrome, which is a known battery hog with a time of 4 hours 19 minutes and 50 seconds. The next was Firefox with 5 hours and 9 minutes, the runner’s up was Opera with 6 hours and 18 minutes and the star of the show was of course Microsoft Edge with a fantastic 7 hours and 22 minutes.
They also took a jab at Opera’s much touted battery saving mode which they showed a graph where Edge beats it handily. We may brush of these claims as being theoretical but Microsoft was ready for that. They also displayed a graph that is thanks to the data they have been able to obtain from millions of Windows 10 devices around the world where again Edge apparently consumes the least amount of power with Firefox a close second.
That is not all. Microsoft also announced the Windows 10 Anniversary Update that will include power saving features like using fewer CPU cycles, less memory hogging and minimal background activity.
Battery life is one of the pain points while using a laptop and since battery technology is not advancing as fast as we want to, companies have been left to optimize their hardware (like processors) and software (OS and browsers.) It is commendable that Microsoft is making strides to make Edge more battery efficient and probably this will make you use it more.
