Google Chrome… A Battery Killer for Windows-based Laptops?

Forbes appears to have found a major flaw in Google’s popular browser, Google Chrome. It is said that the Chrome browser consumes more battery that Mozilla’s Firefox and even Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, significantly reducing the device’s battery life.

The main issue is said to be caused by the “system clock tick rate”, the feature responsible for waking up the CPU at certain times. Google Chrome is said to trigger the CPU’s ‘tick rate’ more often, drawing more power from the battery and reducing the overall battery life. Google’s browser is said to have a default timing of 1.000 ms, while Firefox and Internet Explorer is set at a Microsoft recommended setting of 15.625 ms.

“In fact, at 1.000ms the processor is waking 1000 times per second. The default, of 15.625ms means the processor wakes just 64 times per second to check on events that need attention. Microsoft itself says that tick rates of 1.000ms might increase power consumption by ‘as much as 25 per cent.'” said Forbes.

While the issue is present on Microsoft-based systems, it is said that the same cannot be said for Linux and Mac users. This is mainly due to the latter operating systems having different ‘tick rates’ compared to Microsoft’s OS. A web browser battery usage test reveals that Internet Explorer is still on top, followed by Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera.

Google apparently has no fix for the given issue at the moment, but users are able to go to Google Chrome’s bug report website and flag the issue in order to give it more priority.

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