Microsoft again shows Edge to be better on your battery than Chrome, Firefox and Opera

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
published

In an effort to show off some of the battery-saving improvements made to Microsoft Edge in the Windows 10 anniversary update, Microsoft has conducted a new round of tests to compare the browser to its competition. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this new round of tests echoes previous testing done prior to the Anniversary Update, with Edge edging out Google Chrome, Firefox and Opera.

In the Netflix streaming test show in the video above, Edge lasted 69% longer than Firefox, 45% longer than Chrome and 23% longer than Opera. As for general web browsing, Microsoft claims the Anniversary Update allowed it to boost efficiency by 12% over Edge running on Windows 10 version 1511. As for the competition, Edge won out once again, with Microsoft stating:

We're thrilled to see improvements across the board, but the trend may look familiar! Microsoft Edge remains the most efficient browser on Windows 10, offering 24%-43% more efficiency across a sample of typical activities including video playback, multi-tab productivity, shopping, social media, and more.

Browser Efficiency Test

Of course, choosing a browser can often have a lot more to do with desired features or integrations than battery life. However, for fans of Microsoft's browser, Edge is clearly standing tall in Microsoft's tests. For more on Microsoft's methodology, be sure to read up on the full blog post.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. 

72 Comments
  • Love edge
  • thing is.. I don't care.. firefox does it for me :)
  • you cared enough to post
  • yes
  • Thing is, did anyone ask you if you cared? We're all entitled to our opinion and can use whatever browser we want; Kinda like you use firefox!
  • Yeah been using edge since win 10 came out. Since I've never, ever used extensions in the history of My Internet experience (I was on the web with telnet before http:// was used), edge has done everything I've needed it to do from day one.
  • Don't forget about Finger and Gopher.
  • Not me! I still like more IE!
  • Love using edge too. Well, Will this spark another roll from opera?
  • Maybe. Wonder which browser Satiya Nadela is using.
  • Safari!
  • Ye, on his MacBook, iPad and iPhone 7 Pro
  • While I do like Edge, my experiance so far is that Chome is still much more responsive. When moving between pages, Chrome is twice as fast as Edge.
  • Not sure why you're getting downvoted, but anyone with 2 minutes to spare can confirm your observation.
  • Completely agree. Edge is a dog when it comes to switching tabs, translating pages, operating media controls on various websites...and, it doesn't have a full screen mode. MS need to try harder. (Surface 3 128GB/4GB)
  • Not from my experience
  • On PC it's not measruable for me at all. On my Surface 3 i see a slight win for Opera 12 (maybe because it does not need much RAM), followed by Edge (with Adblock). No difference to Vivaldi or current Opera, while Firefox feel like it has to think about every action i do.
  • I have tried to use edge and it is just not as responsive as chrome. Trust me I want to use it...especially since its tied now to MS reward points but I get frustrated too easily to have to deal with that. And moving tabs into a new window or back into a window is ridiculously bad. I wonder how that has not been handled yet. 
  • Indeed! It really boggles my head why the Tab management on Edge left at this horrible usability and fans of Edge and MS seems do not care about such a basic feature for modern web browser. We get new unique features which is great but where not everybody will use anyways (then killing it later when they realized few people use it regardless it's not meant to be useful at all cases or the feature stagnate without further improvements). Why can't MS and the Edge nail first all the standard features whether how small it is that every other Web browsers I encounter have. Even IE fro example had Tab syncing that Edge still didn't have because reasons. Lastly, stability and reliability is still hit-or-miss on Edge. It tends to freeze, reload Tabs or crash altogether. While the Chrome being basher being memory hog manage to stay intact indefinitely without odd behaviors. Even with 16GB of RAM Edge tends to chew up as much as it wants too and decided to freeze the Tab for whatever reason. Edge is even especially bad when you happens to visit a website with so many ads or other interactive content, good luck since Edge will likely freeze itself after a while if left uncheck, making Adblocker becoming a rule rather than optional to use (and sometimes the extension doesnt even work). Posted from alternate universe
  • I used to love edge until AU dateup, constant freezing etc. Very disappointing
  • I used to hate Chrome until the AU update. Now it's faster and much more stable. Extensions are available (especially adblock). It's a real browser now, but it's somewhat dodgy moving tabs around.
  • U meant Egde, not Chrome right?
  • Right! Sorry
  • Edge is so slow Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • And chrome is a pig... Posted via the Windows Central App for Android.. But waiting for the HP Elite so I can get rid of this junkie Galaxy S5...
  • I like the design but chrome is really faster Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • I don't care power consumption because I have PC. haha and chrome does the job faster and edge doesn't. Used for about a week and gave up.
  • I'm pretty fond of Edge - it works great with touchscreens, and is pretty snappy with the recent builds. Now that extensions are here, it's pretty much my go-to for most things. I still use Firefox for research purposes - sometimes I need to switch search engines, and/or use a citation manager (Zotero.)
  • Since i can use adblock im using edge too, nice and clean, few features, no fuzz. Its a lot likechrome when it came out (which is now a bloated browser like all others)
  • Chrome is bloated? Plz stop. It becomes bloated only if you make it to Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • I'll keep edge as my backup browser, but for now I'll stick to Chrome.  It does its job well enough. 
  • I'm surprised Edge didn't freeze in those 8 hours
  • They ran this test on the AU... not on one of the Insider Fast Ring builds... Definitely a good thing they didn't try this test with build 14926 that came out yesterday...
  • I use Edge but it sure does become unresponsive a lot - and this is on a decently powerful computer with 16 GB of RAM.
  • Yep. Have to reload tabs fairly regularly. Also, nNlow that MS have done all they can to kill Windows Phone, I no longer get the benefit of synced bookmarks/passwords etc. For anyone using an Android phone, Chrome just works better. Slick syncing and fast...(but poor on battery life and video playback above 1080p)
  • Edge is definitely slower actually the reason is not the ram its the hard drive. Edge does the work just as smooth as chrome but only when you're using Solid State drives.
    Edge is same as responsive as on the surface pro 4 just because of the SSD. I'm also planning to upgrade my laptop to SSD.
  • Edge is definitely slower actually the reason is not the ram its the hard drive. Edge does the work just as smooth as chrome but only when you're using Solid State drives.
    Edge is same as responsive as on the surface pro 4 just because of the SSD. I'm also planning to upgrade my laptop to SSD.
  • I am using an SSD.
  • I have the same issues with Edge freezing intermittently, then I have to kill the process and restart. Is there a way to stop it happening?
  • I would be interested knowing how much IE drains. I have been using that over Edge simply because Edge didn't render some sites well that I have used and it isn't compatible with some state gov sites I use at work and an EHR site I use at work also.
  • Yep. Use Chrome or Firefox :)
  • Loving Edge myself. Keep up the good work Microsoft.
  • Is weird to see different users have different experience with the same set of browsers. I was using Firefox as the primary browser and Chrome as the secondary browser. After the Anniversary Update, Edge becomes my primary browser and Chrome as the secondary browser. Edge performance is better than Chrome. The only thing missing is the right click to search Google option. Since I'm using a MS Sculpt Comfort Mouse, I configured the Swipe Up option to Google Search and Swipe Down for other search option.
  • why not use right-click Cortana instead?
  • Not everybody will have Cortana. Thing is if the region doesn't have Cortana of just plain limited, that Right-click option should be replaced with whatever default search engine currently configured. This is rather basic feature that I don't know why MS never even bothered. Tab management is still a usability nightmare and Tab syncing still missing on AU because reasons and weird priorities (They are bothered with integrating Snooze feature which is nice, but not a modern web browser standard features???). Posted from alternate universe
  • Because Bing still sucks? Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • I use Edge because it has a clean UI with reading mode, especially with dark theme. Now that Microsoft Rewards program gives points just for using Edge I use it even more.
  • I hate Edge, that freakin WWE wrestler..
  • he gave up playing for U2 to take up wrestling?
  • Still a great guitar player though...
  • I mostly use Edge, but I'd like the popup blocker to be more iron clad. On IE11, I could set it to block all popups or hold Ctrl+Alt then click to override the popup blocker (or right click and open).
  • my current primary browser in Home & Office is MS Edge. However, it hangs alot. If they rectify the issue I can 100% depend on it.
  • I love edge but it has been buggy for me and keeps crashing. I'm using a VPN, could that have anything to do with it?
  • I don't use it because it's not cross platform. I want my tabs to sync to me iPhone and Chrome does just that. I also have a Chromecast too.
  • It is cross platform, just you have the wrong phone ;-)
  • Is it just me or others are also having this issue with Edge?
    MicrosoftStore website is always broken when open it in Edge on Dell Venue Pro 8" tablet.
  • It is pretty easy to save battery life when your browser doesn't work with different sites.
  • I still like Opera the best. Too bad no one gives Opera a chance. For those of you who don't know, Chrome's extensions will also work with Opera. That's not to say Opera also has its own extensions. Give it a try. Its awesome and apparently has better battery life than Chrome. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • Isn't Opera based on the Chromium source code?
  • That may be, but it doesn't have the speed dial that opera has. I have grown to live by it.
  • Glad MS is starting with a good foundation for MS Edge. Now, it's time to build out those features and make a good bookmark manager.
  •  bookmark manager -> totally agree on this.
  • Who conducted the test - Microsoft. Which browser was used - Microsoft Edge. Which OS did it run on - Microsoft Windows. Biased test, perhaps. No more credible than Apple saying FaceTime is the best instant messenger running on iOS on a iPhone.
  • What? How is this biased? The only variables were the browser and Microsoft Edge browser streamed in 1080p instead of 720p on all the others. That almost seems like it should be a disadvantage. Other than that, the same hardware was used, the same OS was used, and the same website and video were used. Google even ran a similar test using two Surface Books but they used two different versions of Chrome instead of going head to head with the competition.
  • Look at the test metrics before complaining. Same video, same hardware, this is no different than testing games, dumbass.
  • Thing is, Edge eats up my RAM, like all of it. Also ramps up my cpu to 100%. I'm on a Surface pro 3 so I don't get how this isn't fixed before this new crap comes out. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • I have a Surface Pro 3, and this definitely doesn't happen for me in Edge. I use Edge exclusively on my SP3 (but on home PC also FF), because my experience has been that I get a 1-1.5h extra when I don't use other browsers.
  • I have Edge set as my default browser, I really want to use it but it's just not there yet. Battery performance isn't the most important thing...
  • Did they test it with the latest Chrome? Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • I wish Edge would stop reloading my pages on its own.
  • With Gmail and google calendar and google maps to take him around Microsoft campus in Redmond
  • Something in the article and graph doesn't make sense: in both the photo and the text, it would appear that Opera comes in second. However, in the graph, it shows that Opera uses more power than Chrome, with Chrome coming in second. Which is correct, or is there some other factor that explains this seeming discrepancy? Edge has finally become my main browser, now that they've fixed the main issues and added extension support. I still really like Opera and use it for a lot. I also still like Firefox for its live folders as RSS feeds, especially for reading Windows Central. In fact, when it comes to Windows Central, that's pretty much a Firefox exclusive. Windows Central seems partially incompatible with Edge to me -- the posting editor is screwed up in Edge. Hitting enter in a post bumps the cursor to the top of the post. This must not be happenenig to everyone, or there'd be more complaints on this, but it happens to me on all of the systems I use and has happened with every version of Edge I've tried, through the current one in the latest update to the AU version. But other than Windows Central, my only gripe with Edge is that it uses more RAM than Opera and Firefox and still seems to choke with lots of tabs open and just stop showing the contents of new tabs until all of Edge is restarted. This was also my biggest problem with IE. But if I keep it to about 15-20 tabs, it seems to do alright. Holds up better than IE for sure. With Opera, my biggest complaint is that you can't easily open a new window. In every other program, if you hold down Shift and click the icon in the Taskbar or middle-click on the icon in the Taskbar, it will open a new window. Opera instead opens a new tab. Lots of questions on this in their formus dating back for years, but no fixes forthcoming from Opera. Minor, but not a problem with any other browser, including Edge. With Firefox, my biggest issue is that it won't highlight all on a Ctrl-F search unless I click on "Highlight All". With all other browsers, this is the default behavior. Like Opera's new window problem, this is pretty minor, but not a problem with any others, including Edge.