Redmond is pushing power efficiency as one more reason for enterprise clients to stick with its Edge browser over the competition. Microsoft said the one-year anniversary update for the Windows 10 operating system, which the company is currently rolling out, makes Edge more efficient than ever.
“With the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft Edge is more efficient than ever, and still the best choice for extending your battery life on Windows 10,” Jason Weber, Microsoft’s director of the Web platform team for Microsoft Edge, wrote in a blog post yesterday. Edge is 24 percent to 43 percent more energy efficient when it comes to general browsing, and 23 percent to 69 percent more efficient when streaming video, according to Weber.
Edge Gets Microsoft Back in the Groove
Microsoft dominated the browser wars for years, at least in the office environment where its Internet Explorer (IE) was ubiquitous on Windows machines and, frequently, the only browser office workers could install on their machines. But Google’s Chrome has clawed away a significant chunk, while Mozilla’s popular Firefox browser has also managed to make a decent showing in recent years by offering new features, add-ons, and functionality.
But Microsoft renewed its efforts in the browser wars with its new Microsoft Edge, a completely new browser that replaced IE when the company rolled out its Windows 10 operating system last year.
While Edge is not as ubiquitous as Internet Explorer used to be, it still has a major advantage over competing browsers by virtue of being pre-loaded on Windows machines. However, Edge’s competitors, such as Chrome, Firefox and Opera, have also made their own improvements in energy efficiency.
Better Video Playback
Microsoft has acknowledged that competing browsers have succeeded in increasing efficiency, but claimed that Edge continued to outperform them all, at least when run on the Windows 10 platform.
“Regardless of which test you choose, the conclusion is the same: Microsoft Edge lets you browse and watch longer, so you can get more out of your devices without worrying about finding an outlet,” Weber said.
Microsoft said the improved efficiency of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update reflects a number of enhancements across the operating system, including improved background tab efficiency, more efficient Flash, improvements to the app frame itself and improved networking.
Redmond’s claims appeared to be in direct response to a video released by the Chrome team last week, which seemed to show the latest version of Chrome outperforming Edge when run on Surface Books. To counter the claim, Microsoft ran a similar test, also on a Surface Book, this time running the latest versions of both Chrome and Edge and playing video from Netflix.
According to Microsoft, the latest version of Edge beat Chrome by more than 90 minutes. In another test, using the Vimeo video streaming service, Edge still beat Chrome by more than an hour, Microsoft said.
Daz:
Posted: 2016-09-16 @ 4:54pm PT
Unfortunately edge browser is far worse for the important things like HTML & CSS compliance, media playing, addons, speed, etc etc.
A program that does only the basics is going to use less power because it does a lot less.
