Browser efficiency comparison - Vimeo

Windows 10 Anniversary Update

Methodology summary

The Microsoft Windows team measured the time it took four identical Surface Book laptops to run fully through their batteries while streaming video from Vimeo. The results were recorded with a camera and a time lapse was made available publicly.

The test was done on four Surface Books running 1607 (build 14393.105) and connected to the Internet through Wifi.

Results summary

Microsoft Edge lasted the longest of any browser in this test. Specifically, Microsoft Edge lasted:

• 11% longer than Chrome
• 40% longer than Opera
• 62% longer than Firefox

Methodology details

Computer setup

The test was performed on 4 separate Surface Book laptops running Windows 10 Anniversary Update (14393.105 release). These computers were configured to the following settings, to increase consistency between measures and reduce tasks that may start during the measurement and interfere with the results, while still representing a realistic user setup:

• Display brightness was set to 50%
• Location was disabled
• Bluetooth was disabled
• Device was connected to a wireless network
• Defender cache was completely built
• Defragmentation was temporarily disabled
• Ambient light sensor was temporarily disabled
• All queued Ngen complication jobs were completed
• Windows update was temporarily disabled
• "New network found" prompts were disabled
• Windows Error Reporting was temporarily disabled
• Queued idle tasks were forced to complete
• Defender was running normally and up to date
• Device was physically unplugged and running on battery
• Volume was muted
• Windows Battery Saver mode was set to activate at 20% battery
• Bitlocker was disabled
• The cache was cleared on each browser

OS and browser versions

OS	Windows 10 Pro 14393.105 rs1_release
Microsoft Edge	Microsoft Edge 38.14393.0.0
Chrome	Google Chrome 53.0.2785.101 m (64-bit)
Firefox	Firefox 48.0.2
Opera	Opera 39.0.2256.71 (battery saver enabled)

Hardware

The specifications for the Surface Books were:

• Processor: i5-6300U @ 2.4GHz 2.5GHz
• Memory: 8G
• Intel HD Graphics 520

Pre-Test

While plugged in, each respective browser was navigated to https://player.vimeo.com/video/24003197 on each browser. Each computer was verified to have brightness set to 50% (with ambient brightness disabled) and volume muted.

Test

1. Start recording with camera
2. Play the video on each browser
3. Unplug the power bar that all four devices are charging from, ensuring they switch to battery at the same time
4. Activate battery saver on Opera
5. Fullscreen all videos
6. Wait until all devices have run out of battery, recording the time for each of them

Results details

The times it took for each device running each respective browser to completely drain its battery are as follows:

	Time	Minutes
Firefox 48	8:16:49	497
Chrome 53	12:08:28	728
Opera 39	9:37:23	577
Microsoft Edge	13:25:49	806