Battery Efficiency: Microsoft Edge vs Google Chrome (video)

Today, I received some disturbing news. My favorite Chrome browser is actually sucking battery from my laptop. Should I be worried? Should I change my browser immediately? Or should I find out more? I decided to do the latter.

browser-test

Based on the blog post from Microsoft, it says that they have done tests on some of the popular browsers namely Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Microsoft Edge and concluded that Microsoft Edge is the most power efficient among the other three. Check out the video.

I believe Microsoft. Here is the chart.

browser-efficiency-chart

After reading that blog post, I immediately check my Chrome browser. I was shocked to see that even before I open my Chrome browser, there are about 15 to 16 Chrome.exe processes running in my background and eating up memory. (Read on to know why this happens and how to stop it)

google-chrome-resource_01

This becomes even worse when I opened up my Chrome browser that has 11 tabs from my previous session. It shows about 30 Chrome.exe files running. This memory usage might or might not translate to battery drain but it sure looks bad.

google-chrome-resource_02

That makes me quickly stop my Chrome browser (end task all Chrome background processes) and switch to Microsoft Edge to write this Blog Post. For the record, I only use Microsoft Edge to watch Apple Event (such an irony, isn’t it). Therefore, everything on the Microsoft Edge is raw. I have to remember all my passwords to get to my Facebook, blog and etc because Microsoft Edge does not support plugins (yet). My favorite Norton Identity Safe is totally not useable here.

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While writing this blog post, I realized that there is at least one feature on the WordPress that is not working on Microsoft Edge. I could not unlink a hyperlink on a picture when composing my blog. After meddling for a while, I decided to save my draft and switch back to Chrome browser.

So, Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge is good or no good?

There is no definite answer. It depends on your usage. In my opinion, Microsoft Edge is a new product from Microsoft and it is meant to be “light” without 3rd party plugins. I like the clean look and seems to be running well on most websites. It is too early for me to put a verdict on Microsoft Edge. I believe Microsoft is hard at work to make it even better for the up and coming Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Go check it out.

For Google Chrome, I like the fact that it is compatible with most of the websites that I visited. I have no issue with it at all. I will try to balance it out with the rest of the browsers (Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge) until I can declare which is the ultimate one.

Conclusion

Now that I know Chrome is draining battery, I might switch to Microsoft Edge or Firefox when I am on battery. Since, I am always plugged in to the power supply, I don’t think I need to worry too much now.

Another thing that I consider is efficiency (not battery efficiency but work efficiency). If in the event that I want to conserve battery and use a browser with limitation, I might end up spending more time and effort to complete my task. So, work wise, I will definitely use something efficient that can help me to complete fast. For surfing the Internet or looking at cute cat videos, I will now try to use Microsoft Edge.

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What do you think?

BTW, I have found out why Chrome is running background processes when it is closed. The reason is very simple. I allow it!!

In Chrome browser’s Advance Setting, there is an option to check and uncheck background processes. Go and uncheck it.

chrome-advance-setting

That is it. Hope that you can share some of your experiences too.

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