If you’re a Google Chrome user, you probably know that the browser eats laptop batteries for lunch. It’s a well-documented problem that Chrome has suffered from for a long time.
According to a new test released by none other than Microsoft, they’ve beaten down Chrome on this one fault and positioned Microsoft Edge as the preferred choice. The test shows that Edge consumes your battery at a much slower rate because it uses fewer of your device’s resources to get the same job done.
And what did they use to conduct the test? A Surface Book, of course.
“(We) automated each browser to perform the same series of activities: opening websites, scrolling through articles, and watching videos, opening new tabs for each task. We used the same websites you spend your time on – Facebook, Google, YouTube, Amazon, Wikipedia and more.”
And here’s what they found:
The report goes on to confirm that Microsoft Edge delivers between 17% and 70% more battery life than other browsers used in the test.
But they’re not stopping there. The company claims that they will continue to bring power efficiency updates to their Windows 10 platform with the Anniversary Update. These enhancements will reduce the power impact of background content and processes, while using less memory.
Now, despite this new “discovery” by Microsoft, I still plan to use Chrome to get my work done. I’ve tried Edge on my “non-work-critical” devices, but I still feel Chrome is faster. Of course, I don’t have fancy test results to prove my point, but at the end of the day, it’s user preference rather than proven evidence that wins.
It’s natural for Microsoft to highlight this fact, however, because Edge obviously integrates much better with the Windows 10 operating system. Besides, working on Edge will deepen Microsoft’s penetration into user habits. And it’s for the same reason that MS Office users will be far more comfortable with Office 365 tools than they are with Google Apps, for example.
In the end, it’s habit that makes us what we are – and I’ll probably be a Chromehead until Microsoft can do a better job than throw a few stats at me.
But who knows, I may just move all my video viewing time to Edge after all. Hmm.
