Microsoft has published a report comparing their newly updated Microsoft Edge browser against the competition and the results indicate that it is far more battery friendly than other browsers out there. The report is similar to one that the company ran in June and this new report is based on the updated version of Edge in what is commonly referred to as the Anniversary Update of Windows 10 (Build 1607 for those keeping score). The results indicate that Edge has seen some dramatic improvements since the release of the update.
At the risk of giving away the ending, the results may look familiar! With the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft Edge is more efficient than ever, and still the best choice for extending your battery life on Windows 10 – up to 24%-43% more efficient than the competition for general purpose browsing, and lasting up to 23%-69% longer when streaming video.
That is pretty impressive no matter how you cut it but Microsoft went much deeper into their research, offering both lab and real-world data to back up their claim.
Whether you are a fan of Edge or not, this report is very thorough and the company made sure to update all of their tests against the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. Even with these updated versions of the competing browsers, Microsoft Edge still had a greater improvement when it came to battery efficiency and overall system efficiency. They also conducted streaming video
Microsoft Edge Real World Power Consumption Report
tests using Netflix and Edge outlasted the latest version of Chrome (53) by some 90 minutes.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the test is that it wasn’t all done in a lab. Rather, Microsoft used real browsing information from real users in the real world and looked at their aggregate power usage on Windows 10 devices. The results of this test mirrored the lab tests the company performed.
As a heavy Chrome user, the report somewhat backed up what I already thought. Chrome isn’t exactly battery efficient although it has significantly improved. And truthfully, I like Microsoft Edge. It is a fast, sleek browser with its only shortcoming being that there very few extensions for it. That’s improving but still well off what Chrome can offer.
Looks like round two of the Browser Wars is getting heated up!
