Browsers compared based on power consumption

Microsoft has staked an interesting claim regarding Internet Explorer 9, essentially labeling it the greenest browser. In an IEBlog post, the company graphed results from power consumption tests using IE9, Chrome 10, Firefox 4, Opera 11 and Safari 5. The first three browsers showed close numbers on an idle system, however IE9 achieved the lowest wattage when visiting a news site and running HTML5 applications.

For the news site comparison, IE9 shaved 33 minutes from the theoretical life of a 56Wh battery when running the browser on a blank page. Chrome 10 reduced the run time by 1:07 hrs, showing the worst performance, while Firefox 4 took 31 minutes off the idle time.

The HTML5 tests indicated similar results, with IE9 taking the lead and Firefox 4 coming in second. When all of the tests were combined, Microsoft claims IE9 battery life extended to 3:45 hrs. Firefox fell behind by 10 minutes, while Chrome 10 and Safari 5 were nearly an hour short and Opera 11 came in last.

It is unclear how the numbers might change when running different benchmark tests, as Microsoft did not state which news site was used for the trials. The company also used its own HTML5 demos, Galactic and FishIE tank, for the applications tests.

By Electronista Staff