The Battery-Efficient Browser

Have you ever wondered how battery-efficient your web browser is? It's not something we tend to think about very often, but browsers are applications like any other. That's why AndandTech decided to take a look at which browser is best for the battery life of your notebook or netbook.

First off, AnandTech found that plain Internet surfing used 50% less battery life than Flash intensive web browsing. Considering the fact that Flash content is everywhere, trying to avoid it is probably not going to be an option for most users. That's why, for the purposes of testing, AnandTech used Flash-heavy, resource-intensive websites to better simulate actual browsing.

Their results were surprising. For most situations, Internet Explorer 8 was actually the most battery-efficient browser out there. On the Asus Eee PC, however, Chrome 2 was the most efficient browser by almost 15 minutes. Safari was dead last in battery life for every test done. If you're concerned about saving juice, you should probably keep Safari over on your Mac where it belongs.

On the Gateway and Intel computers, IE 8 won the day with Firefox+AdBlock running a few percentage points behind. If you're looking to get the most out of your Firefox in a notebook, AdBlock is definitely the add-on to run. The exception for this appears to be netbooks, for which Firefox 3.5.2 is actually faster (although it still lost to Opera, IE8, and Chrome 2 in this category).

It should be noted that, in the most drastic cases, the differences in battery life between the most and least efficient browser were all under an hour. Unless you REALLY need to save juice, your current surfing choice is more than likely fine.

What Others Say about This

Indian shares seen opening up; Unitech may fall

MUMBAI, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Indian shares are expected to start higher on Wednesday after Asian markets rose on hopes for a solution to Greece's debt worries, but there could be resistance after the main index climbed more than 15 percent in just over six ...
Full article at: Reuters Mobile  More like this  5 hours ago

Indian shares seen opening up; Unitech may fall

MUMBAI, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Indian shares are expected to start higher on Wednesday after Asian markets rose on hopes for a solution to Greece's debt worries, but there could be resistance after the main index climbed more than 15 percent in just over six ...
Full article at: Reuters  More like this  5 hours ago

Indian shares seen opening up; Unitech may fall

MUMBAI, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Indian shares are expected to start higher on Wednesday after Asian markets rose on hopes for a solution to Greece's debt worries, but there could be resistance after the main index climbed more than 15 percent in just over six ...
Full article at: Reuters  More like this  5 hours ago

Don't miss ...

news

 

Internet Explorer User IQ Story was Hoax

Aug 3 2011

Good thing we did not cover it.

news

 

Google Image Search Could Hit You With Malware: How to Protect Yourself

May 6 2011

Keep safe and stay clean. The Internet is just filthy these...

shopping

 

Need a Netbook? This is the Buyers Guide for You!

Feb 28 2011

Choosing a netbook isn't hard if you watch for the...

reviews

 

Asus Eee 1215N Netbook Review

Aug 31 2010

 

 

Technology News

Solar Powered Clothing: The Future of Mobile Charging...

 

 

• More Technology News Stories
• I4U News Homepage