While Chrome has had a recent streak, an ambitious rival has been quick to capitalize. But now Google has given potential defectors a great reason to stick with their browser.
Google Chrome is about to become much faster and more efficient
After getting internal documents from Google TheWindowsClub, it has revealed that Chrome will become dramatically more energy efficient. And it looks like it will result in hours of additional battery life for laptop and smartphone users.
TheWindowsClub explains that Google will accomplish this by limiting the use of non-essential Javascript tasks in the background tabs. These tasks include things like log reports, ad interactions, scrolling position monitoring, and more, and Google has found that they are a major source of battery loss. In a test by TheWindowsClub, Google limited Javascript checks to once per minute and opened 36 tabs in the background. The result was a 28% increase in battery life that resulted in another two hours of use (graph below).
Google Chrome tests show dramatically improved battery life with new Javascript changes
In a second test, Google also found that even when running an intensive process on a foreground tab (in this case, YouTube videos), limiting Javascript checks on background tabs still resulted in an increase 13% of the battery. Also, this is not something for the distant future. TheWindowsClub discovered that this feature is now available for testing thanks to a hidden setting in Chrome Canary. This is how Chrome Canary users can enable it now:
- Type Chrome: // flags in the search bar
- Search for: Speed up Javascript timers in the background
- Adjusted to: Immediately enable when a tab is hidden
- Relaunch Chrome
While Chromium-based browsers will receive the same functionality, the key for Google is to keep Chrome itself as agile as possible, given the rise of more privacy-focused and more hostile Chromium browsers like Brave and Vivaldi.
Interestingly, Microsoft recently gave Chrome a hand here with its new ‘Segment Heap’ memory optimization software, introduced in the Windows 10 May 2020 update. Early tests show that this could reduce Chrome’s infamous memory consumption. up to a third. In return, Google has increased pressure on Windows by announcing its ambitious plan to run Windows programs (including Office) natively on Chrome OS.
The browser wars are back.
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