So tests have shown Microsoft’s Edge browser consumes less energy than other popular browsers including Chrome and Firefox. The company is proudly promoting these test results but will this be enough to convince people to ditch their current browsers and go with Edge instead?
Microsoft is trying very hard to drive the adoption of Edge. Chrome is currently the most popular browser in the world and Edge hasn’t made much headway in dethroning Google’s browser. So now Microsoft is trying to differentiate itself from the competition by touting Edge’s power efficiency over other browsers.
Microsoft ran a number of test in a controlled lab environment that was specifically designed for gauging power consumption. To measure the energy efficiency of different browsers, the company ran experiments using an unplugged Surface Books on Window 10 to stream a video. The Surface Book running Microsoft Edge ended up lasted 70 per cent longer than one running Chrome, 43 per cent longer than the machine running Firefox and 17 per cent longer than the device running Opera.
Bear in mind these tests were run by Microsoft itself, who obviously has a vested interest in Edge coming first, and we don’t know whether the streamed videos were rendering at the same frame rate across all the browsers.
Microsoft also outlined improvements it made to Microsoft Edge in the upcoming Anniversary update that will bolster power efficiency for your desktop or laptop.
It’s impressive to see Microsoft put so much effort into saving energy through its browser. After all, the majority of us spend our time being connected to the internet and use web browsers on a daily basis. We probably don’t think about how often we interact with browsers and how that impacts the environment.
While it’s nice to think you can save the drain on your battery and, in turn, be kinder to the environment by swapping browsers, I don’t think it’s enough to convince me to jump ship to Microsoft Edge. For one, it’s still missing extensions that I can tap into on Chrome and I prefer the aesthetics of the Google browser.
Is improved power efficiency enough to make you switch from your current browser to Microsoft Edge? Let us know in the comments.
[Via Microsoft Windows Blog]
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