Browser Face-Off: Battery Life Explored
by Jarred Walton on September 11, 2009 6:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Netbook Browser Battery Life
The first two laptops are representative of a large portion of the mobile market. Both processors are reasonably fast, you get 4GB RAM, and battery life is acceptable if not great. Discrete graphics would improve performance in gaming applications by a substantial amount, but it would also eat into the battery life, which is why most laptops utilize integrated graphics. Our last laptop for the browser battery life testing represents the last major chunk of the mobile market where battery life would matter: netbooks. The ASUS 1005HA represents the current state-of-the-art in netbooks, with an Intel Atom N280 processor, 1GB memory, a 160GB hard drive, and a 10.1" LCD. It uses the Intel 945GSE + ICH7MU chipset with integrated GMA 950 graphics.
Unlike our testing for the 1005HA review, we set the Super Hybrid Engine to "High" instead of "Auto", so the N280 won't underclock on battery. This reduces battery life by around 6%. Since the 1005HA runs XP instead of Vista, we also chose the "Portable/Laptop" power profile rather than the "Max Battery"; the reason is that the netbooks tend to run too slow when set to "Max Battery" and the gains aren't as substantial as with faster laptops. We measured a 7.5% increase in battery life by switching to the "Max Battery" profile, if you're interested.
| ASUS Eee PC 1005HA Specifications | |
| Processor | Intel Atom N270 or N280 (Tested) N280: 1.66GHz, 512KB L2, 45nm, 667FSB |
| Chipset | Intel 945GSE + ICH7MU |
| Memory | 1x1024MB DDR2-533 @ 4-4-4-12 Timings |
| Graphics | Integrated Intel GMA 950 |
| Display | 10.1" Glossy LED-Backlit ~16:9 WSVGA (1024x600) |
| Hard Drive | 2.5" 160GB 5400RPM 7MB (Hitachi HTS543216L9SA00) |
| Networking | Atheros AR8132 Fast Ethernet Atheros AR9285 802.11n WiFi |
| Audio | Realtek AL269 2-Channel HD Audio (2.0 Speakers with headphone/microphone jacks) |
| Battery | 6-Cell 11.25V, 5600 mAhr, 63.0 Whr |
| Front Side | None |
| Left Side | Heat Exhaust Kensington Lock 1 x USB 2.0 VGA AC Power Connection |
| Right Side | SD/MMC reader Microphone/Headphone Jacks 2 x USB 2.0 100Mb Fast Ethernet |
| Back Side | None |
| Operating System | Windows XP Home SP3 |
| Dimensions | 10.31" x 7.01" x 1.02"-1.44" (WxDxH) |
| Weight | 2.8 lbs (with 6-cell battery) |
| Extras | 1.3MP Webcam Super Hybrid Engine (software over/under clocking) Available in White, Black, Blue, and Pink |
| Warranty | 1-year standard ASUS warranty (USA) Extended warranties available |
| Price | Black 1005HA-PU1X-BK starting at $381 |
Unlike the other laptops, all of the browsers offer almost the same battery life on the 1005HA. Google Chrome comes in first this time, offering 2.5% more battery life than IE8. There's only a four minute gap between IE8 and Opera 10, a difference of less than 1% total. AdBlock doesn't help Firefox this time, most likely because of the amount of processing it takes to parse HTML and perform regular expression matching.
The gap between first and sixth with a netbook looks to be 3.5%, so if you're using a netbook you can select a browser based on other features, though Chrome does come in first by almost 15 minutes. The major exception is that Apple's Safari 4 web browser again comes in last, again by a large margin. Chrome managed 36% more battery life on the 1005HA than Safari, and Flash content within Safari 4 used a significant amount of CPU time. Safari seems to want more CPU power than the Atom can provide, with the result being the processor is often near 100% utilization for significant amounts of time on Flash-heavy sites.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
76 Comments
View All Comments
JarredWalton - Sunday, September 13, 2009 - link
No. No they don't. Does "anything" mean the same as "all"? Does "everything" mean the same as "anything"? I'll give you the use of "except" in place of "but" for this phrase, but to suggest I replace a two syllable phrase with a 5/6 syllable phrase (assuming you want to be snobbish and pronounce "everything" as ev-er-ee-thing instead of ev-ree-thing) is at best a stylistic difference of opinion and at worst flame bait. Living in London doesn't actually make you a master of the English language.If you want to prove me wrong, you're going to have to do it with links that show how my usage is improper rather than vague statements like, "I have an Oxford English dictionary in my lap and I'm in downtown London, so I bloody well know what I'm talking about!" Right now you've given nothing other than your own opinion to show you're right, along with claims of references that support you. At least whatthehey had some links to some site, but of course your "superior" opinion is that the linked site is wrong as well. So far, I haven't even seen anything that supports your opinion -- not even with the help of Google.
Here's a US reference to support my cause. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/all%20bu..." target="_blank">Definition: "all but". Merriam-Webster supports my usage as meaning "nearly", and indeed in 2002 the browser wars were nearly over. The only usage I've heard for "anything but" is in a phrase like, "Please don't cry - anything but that! I can't take crying." Obviously, that usage isn't anything like "all but" or "nearly". "Anything but" conveys a message of being far from something. "This vacation has been anything but fun, what with the bad weather, car problems, and trolls running rampant in the forums."
Now quit the trolling and keep things civil and we can all get along.
whatthehey - Sunday, September 13, 2009 - link
Well said Jarred. With every response fsardis only proves more completely that he's a complete asshat."I first saw this misuse of the expression on the internet and it seems there are many places it is incorrectly explained." Clearly you're not well read, as the phrase has been around for a hell of a lot longer than the Internet!
"The entire UK uses the expression 'all but' as a way to say 'all except'." Congratulation to the entire UK, except that we're discussing "all but" and you started saying "anything but", you stupid twat. Go back and reread your post. Even better is this:
"Oxford Definition of 'all but' is as follows straight from the book: 'all but: everything short of'." Exactly. Do you not even know how to understand your own dictionary? Let's try this: "Seven years ago, the browser wars seemed everything short of ended." See, right there it's just as if he had written "nearly" in place of "all but"! You're putting your foot in your mouth so hard, it's a wonder you can breathe!
"Now if it means 'anything short of', then saying 'all but over' means 'anything short of over', which means it is not over at all if it is anything in the whole world apart from being over." You're right, but once again you're making a huge mistake because you just changed the bloody Oxford English definition from "everything short of" to "anything short of". Damn you're thick in the head! Are you such a cursed moron that you don't know that "everything" and "anything" have completely different meanings? Even in the UK, they mean different things.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=266...">http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=266...
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=336...">http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=336...
Stop substituting words that aren't equivalent and you'll avoid digging the hole you're in any deeper.
And the coup de grace: "And you got the idiot below trying to defend it when I live right in the centre of London and I am holding the bloody dictionary in my hands." That's like trying to say you're smart because you're from New York (lots of dumb people there as well, considering the millions that live there). Thanks for letting us all know that there are people in London with a bloody dictionary in their hands, and they can read it, and yet THEY STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IT SAYS!
Even a poor online translation to another language gets it right. In German, Bablefish suggests "Vor sieben Jahren, alle schienen Browserskriege als beendet." Close enough for our purposes. Put that back into English and you get: "Seven years before, all browser wars seemed as terminated." That's closer than your silly "anything except ended" mistranslation.
Perhaps I'm the only one that's reminded of a recent Dilbert comic. Who know that the English forum trolls could also be PHBs?
http://www.dilbert.com/fast/2009-09-04/">http://www.dilbert.com/fast/2009-09-04/ "BE WRONG FSARDIS! JUST BE WRONG!" And you are definitely wrong, whether you admit it or not.
Pirks - Tuesday, September 15, 2009 - link
Yeah, fsardis is a total fuckup cockoo type of guy, don't pay attention to him. Very well known troll he is ;) Gooood to see this stupid fsardis twit pwned thoroughly here, hehehe :))fsardis - Saturday, September 12, 2009 - link
You are a total idiot. Learn english. The site you linked is just as wrong as you are. Just to enlighten you of your own idiocy, the entire UK uses the expression "all but" as a way to say "all except".I first saw this misuse of the expression on the internet and it seems there are many places it is incorrectly explained. I suggest you pick up a real dictionary on paper written by some people at Oxford and open up your eyes before you go and ridicule yourself on the internet by linking sites that are anytihng but intelligent.
Oxford Definition of "all but" is as follows straight from the book: "all but: everything short of"
Now if it means "anything short of", then saying "all but over" means "anything short of over", which means it is not over at all if it is anything in the whole world apart from being over.
Or is this way too complicated for your shoe size IQ?
jojo4u - Saturday, September 12, 2009 - link
IE8 is beste because the Flash ActiveX Plugin is the most performant. The other browsers under Windows are still ok, but with OS X and Linux this bites you hard.yyrkoon - Saturday, September 12, 2009 - link
I suspect, but have no numbers to prove that Chrome uses more battery because it is faster. I have been using Firefox previous to Chrome at least close to when it came out. Lately, I have been using Chrome 2, and now that it works with the websites I frequent it is noticeably faster. Sites with lots of images load a lot faster, and the browser just seems more responsive. I have given consideration to trying Firefox mobile though. This could be a different story.Chrome does also seem to have its own flaws, but from what I have been seeing lately they are small. One would be the DNS pool cache problem I have read that Firefox also exhibits. A simple ipconfig /flushdns while elevated seems to do the job though. Between the two, I of course pick Chrome, because performance is what I am after.
IE has not even been a consideration in my book for a very long time, and I would rip it out if I could. Especially a browser that is *still* integral to the OS, which I am scratching my head as to why this is legal( again ). Maybe I Need a German licensed copy ? Oh well.
They all look fine to me though. Aesthetically. Well at least the top 3.
blackshard - Saturday, September 12, 2009 - link
Hi, maybe Chrome is compiled with some atom optimizations. I mean, common x86 processors have enough horsepower for anything, instead Atoms are still not so powerful, so *maybe* Chrome could have been optimized to help the "weaks", since the stronger processors don't need such help.I still like firefox, as it is a multi-platform software and still has very optimized code. It's really not common seeing such an optimization grade in multi-platform software.
yyrkoon - Saturday, September 12, 2009 - link
This is not using an Atom based system, this is on a T3400 based laptop with 4GB of RAM in Vista Home Premium. Also did some comparisons on a much older P4 2.4Ghz laptop I had as well. Even more noticeable on the P4, but still a big difference of time on both systems. Nothing was done "scientifically", but a person would have to have no concept of time not to see the differences. Think of the differences between nearly instant vs. several more seconds.Now, this noticeable difference was a few months ago, so maybe things have changed more recently. However, it seems to me that the graphics rendering routines are more optimized, or were in Chrome. Having done some development with graphics myself, I could see this happening, but can not say for sure that this is actually the case.
llongbourne - Saturday, September 12, 2009 - link
I run Portable Firefox from a RAM disk. I'd like to believe that it increases battery life through reduced HDD use, but of course I'm not equipped for any kind of rigorous comparison.I'd be interested to see this setup included, not least because it improves the speed of a number of browsing actions too. (I've written briefly here with the details.)
llongbourne - Saturday, September 12, 2009 - link
Sorry, link didn't embed. It's here:http://logantravels.blogspot.com/2009/08/browsing-...">http://logantravels.blogspot.com/2009/08/browsing-...