Microsoft has chosen today to reveal more information about the upgrades coming to the Edge browser in the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Redmond has been hard at work to improve their browser offering and has built it from the ground up.
Microsoft Edge, the browser to accompany Microsoft’s latest update and replace the (in)famous Internet Explorer is bagging a huge update very soon. And you don’t even have to switch to a power-saving mode(ahem, Opera!) or update it manually. It will accompany the biggest update coming to Windows 10 since its release last year.
The company has prioritized power efficiency and battery life in the browser’s latest offering. The latest Edge browser will be more power-efficient than any of its competitors, including Chrome or Firefox. Microsoft even has comparison data to prove their point. This update will include even more power-saving improvements, using fewer CPU cycles, consuming less memory, and minimizing the impact of background activity.
Browser Comparison Outcomes
Microsoft Edge has been built to maximize your PC’s potential when you’re browsing the web with multiple open tabs. Microsoft has revealed benchmarks for each browser by programming them to perform a particular set of tasks. Jason Weber, Director, Microsoft Edge says that,
We automated each browser to perform the same series of activities: opening browser, scrolling through articles, and watching videos, opening new tabs for each task. We used the same websites you spend your time on – Facebook, Google, YouTube, Amazon, Wikipedia and more.
And as you would expect Microsoft Edge stood out among the batch of browsers. It’s upto 36% – 53% more energy efficient than other browsers on Windows 10.
And these results aren’t theoretical, but have been measured using aggregated telemetry using millions of Windows 10 devices around the world. The data presented above is consistent with real world, and reiterates the fact that Edge is more efficient than its competitors.
And if you think this much proof isn’t enough for you, Microsoft has another real life test up their sleeves. Redmond went ahead and tested the latest browser offerings by streaming the same high-definition video wirelessly on each device. It then noted the time when the PC battery died and stopped playing the video.
And as you might have guessed it — Microsoft Edge lasted about three hours longer than its competitors. so, it downright burns the competition to ashes.
Changes coming with Anniversary Update
The Windows 10 Anniversary Update is expected to bring even more battery improvements to Microsoft Edge. Here are four areas in which you will feel the changes made to the browser:
- Background tabs will become more power efficient, thanks to the improved JavaScript timers implementation. It now use less JavaScript when running actively.
- Flash will now run in a seperate process, so the team can now control its impact on the memory usage.
- Even the user interface has been redesigned, to make it more power efficient. Reading mode now uses even less battery power.
- Windows networking improvements include a news TCP Fast Open(TFO), Tail Loss Probe(TLP) and Recent Acknowledgement(RACK).
To know more about the improvements in-depth, refer to the Edge developed blogpost by Brandon Heenan.
