According to Microsoft, you should use Internet Explorer 9 on your laptop if you want to increase your battery life. If you use other browsers such as Chrome, Opera, or Safari, you will be draining a ton of battery power.
As Computerworld reports, a bunch of Microsoft managers ran several tests comparing Internet Explorer 9 with Chrome, Opera, and Safari. The results?
On a Windows 7 laptop with a 56 Watt/hour battery, Internet Explorer 9 was able to be used for three hours and 45 minutes before exhausting the power supply. Firefox 4 was able to be used for three hours and 35 minutes. Chrome 10 was able to be used for only two hours and 56 minutes while repeatedly tapping into the system’s CPU and GPU energy causing battery drainage. Safari came in close by only lasting two hours and 55 minutes. Opera lasted two hours and 43 minutes and apparently has an issue with Windows 7 that causes it to use up more energy when the browser is in idle mode.
Microsoft stressed the importance of browser battery consumption by saying, “Browsers play a significant and important role in overall power consumption. The more efficiently a browser uses power the longer the battery will last in a mobile device, the lower the electricity costs, and the smaller the environment impact.”
Microsoft touted its Internet Explorer 9 browser’s hardware acceleration feature and credited this feature to its battery saving ability. “The quicker a browser can perform an action the less power the browser will consume.”
Do you see any truth to this? Afterall, these tests were conducted by a biased source. Do you think the review would be different if done by a neutral party?
