Let’s face it, not everyone is near to a power outlet all the time, especially when you’re mobile and using a device like the Surface Book or Surface Pro 4. With this so, it’s always best to do whatever is possible to get the most out of your device’s battery. As you may recall, Microsoft published a video last year to show how power efficient their Microsoft Edge browser is over the competition. Now that Windows 10 Creators Update has been released (with lots of improvements to Edge!) the Redmond giant is at it again and released an updated video showing how power efficient Microsoft Edge is in the Windows 10 Creators Update.
The methodology of the battery life experiment involved a time measurement of how long three identical Surface Book laptops took to run fully through their batteries while streaming video from Vimeo in full screen. Specifically, the Surface Book laptop in the experiment was the Intel Core Intel Core i5, 8GB of RAM, Intel HD Graphics 520 model running the Windows 10 Creator’s Update (15063.0 release.)
Similar to the last time this test was run, the results put Edge on top, showing that Microsoft Edge lasted 77% longer than Firefox and 35% longer than Chrome. Time wise, Edge (version 40.15063.0.0) lasted 12 hours and 31 minutes, Chrome (64-bit version 57.0.2987.133 ) lasted 9 hours and 17 minutes, and Firefox (32-bit version 52.0.1) lasted 7 hours and four minutes.
While the results are great for Microsoft Edge, there is some fine print worth pointing out. Microsoft notes that the devices in the study were configured to increase consistency between measures and reduce tasks that may start during the measurement and interfere with the results, while still representing a realistic user setup. For example, the Display brightness was set to 75%, location was disabled, Bluetooth was disabled, Quiet hours were enabled, updates were temporarily disabled, and Windows Battery Saver mode was set to activate at 20% battery.
Even so, it’s great to see that Microsoft Edge is even better with the Creators Update. The browser has come a far way and has gained many features and seen improvements since Windows 10 first launched. Do you agree with the results from this test? Or do you use another browser on your Windows 10 device? Let us know in the comments below.