We know the MacBook M1 and M2 have incredible battery life, but the exact number can vary wildly depending on the apps you’re using. The latest Chrome update is designed to ensure that Chrome is one of the best.
Google on Tuesday unveiled some details about the new version of its browser that will be of particular interest to MacBook users. Thanks to “a ton of optimizations under the hood,” Google has made Chrome more energy-efficient and less draining on the MacBook’s battery. Google claims its new optimizations allow users to browse for 17 hours on a 13-inch MacBook Pro M2, matching Apple’s claim for Safari on the same laptop.
Google also claims you’ll be able to watch YouTube videos for 18 hours. Apple doesn’t provide a battery life rating for YouTube in Safari, but it does claim 20 hours of battery life while watching videos in the TV app.
The under-the-hood optimizations, which will also impact older MacBook models, but to a lesser extent, are detailed on Google’s Chromium blog:
- frames: Inline frames (iframes) are used to host other HTML elements in a web page, such as videos or advertisements. Google has refined the “garbage collection and memory compression heuristics” for newly created iframes so that they use less power and memory.
- JavaScript Timers: JavaScript is a scripting language used for interactive elements on a web page, and timers are used to set start and stop points. Google has adjusted these timers so that they wake up the processor less frequently and turn off when no longer needed.
- Data structures: When Chrome needs to access a data structure frequently, the browser can now optimize access to that data.
- The screen redraws: Google searched websites to identify Document Object Model editing patterns and tuned Chrome to detect “unnecessary styling, layout, paint, raster and GPU steps” so avoid unnecessary screen redraws.
Last December, Chrome launched Energy Saver, which activates when Chrome detects that the MacBook’s battery has reached 20% battery life. Energy Saver limits background activity and visual effects of animations and videos on a website.
The new version of Chrome is available for download. Users already using it can check for an update by launching Chrome, clicking the Chromium menu, then selecting About Chromium. The browser will download the update if available and restart to complete the installation.
