Google appears to be hitting back at claims by Microsoft that its browser, Chrome, is heavy on laptop battery use, by posting a video of the new version, 53, running a movie clip on a Microsoft Surface Book for as long as 10 hours and 39 minutes.
Side by side, the company displayed (below) the same video running on an earlier version, 46, released in 2015, and running out of battery power on a Surface Book after eight hours and 27 minutes.
In a bid to get Windows 10 users to switch to Edge, its new browser that has replaced Internet Explorer, Microsoft claimed in July that Edge was the most efficient when it came to battery usage.
As iTWire reported in July, a video posted by Microsoft showed the same video clip running on Edge, Firefox, Chrome and Opera using identical hardware.
{loadposition sam08}According to that video (below), Chrome lasted four hours and 19 minutes, Firefox five hours and nine minutes, Opera six hours and 18 minutes and Edge seven hours and 22 minutes.
In a blog post accompanying the video of the two Chrome versions running on Surface Books, Google made no mention of Edge, but contrasted the features of version 53 against those of version 46.
"When measured with tools like Speedometer, improvements over the last year have made Chrome more than 15 percent faster on both desktop and Android. That’s good news if you’re working against a deadline or trying to place a last-minute order," the post read.
"We also know that you want to get as much browsing time out of your laptop’s battery as possible. So Chrome now uses less battery for sites that people visit the most. For example, Chrome for Windows lets you watch more video on sites like Vimeo, Facebook and YouTube than it did a year ago."