Windows 10 comes with a brand new web browser called
Microsoft Edge. It's got a lighter design, it's blazing fast and Cortana is
baked right into it.
Edge washes away everything we hated about Internet
Explorer, but how does it compare to Google Chrome, the world's most-used web
browser?
We pitted Edge against Chrome (version 44.0.2403.89m) vs Microsoft's
new web browser is faster or at least on par with Chrome.
All tests were performed three times and then the average
taken.
Battery life is an inherently squishy topic. It's hard to be
precise when measuring, because there are so many variables at play. That said,
battery life is hugely important, and it's worth optimizing anything that can
be optimized to get more hours and minutes out of our laptops. Specifically,
browsers are huge RAM hogs that drain most of a laptop's battery on a given
day, and the major vendors are aware of this.
We were treated to an entertaining back-and-forth last year,
where Microsoft trashed Chrome's battery life with its then-new Edge browser,
and then Google responded by trashing an older version of Chrome with a newer
version of Chrome, and then Microsoft responded to that response with another
comparison.
Now Microsoft is reigniting the issue with a new bake off
video that puts the latest version of Edge, included in the new Windows 10
Creators Update, up against Chrome and Firefox. On three identical Surface
Books, Firefox got seven hours of video-looping work done before it conked out,
Chrome made it past nine hours, and Edge lasted for twelve and a half hours.
Microsoft detailed its
methodology. Using a Microsoft-created, open-source test called
BrowserEfficiencyTest, Microsoft found that Edge uses 31 percent less power
than Chrome, and 44 percent less power than Firefox.
I know that Chrome isn't great on batteries, and haven't
expected top-of-the-line performance from Firefox for a while now, but these
are still pretty strong claims.
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