If you frequently struggle with laptop battery life, Microsoft’s latest Edge update could make all the difference. The company has released a desktop version of Edge that includes an efficiency mode that “significantly” reduces CPU and memory usage, potentially extending battery life at the expense of raw performance. When your battery is low, the feature should activate, but there’s also a settings toggle if you want to take control.
How to Turn On Efficiency Mode on Microsoft Edge
When you enable this mode, you may notice a slight slowdown in the browser‘s performance. This is because your browser is attempting to make the most of your current battery. However, if you have a good CPU, a minor drop will most likely go unnoticed. Follow the steps below to enable the feature:
Step 1: Launch the Microsoft Edge browser.
Step 2: In the top right corner of the window, click on the horizontal dots. This brings up the Settings menu. (You can also access this menu by pressing Alt + F.)
Step 3: From the menu, select the Settings option.
Step 4: From the left tab, select System and performance.
Step 5: In the Optimise Performance section, next to Turn on efficiency mode, there is a drop-down menu. Select the desired option from the drop-down menu. You can set the Efficiency mode to activate only when the battery is low, always, when the device is unplugged, or never.
After you’ve enabled it, you can turn it off by selecting the Never option.
Efficiency mode includes a number of preferences that users can change to tailor the feature to their needs. In fact, even if efficiency mode is not enabled, all settings can be changed.
- Sleeping tabs help you save resources by unloading inactive tabs, which frees up memory and improves performance.
- Fade sleeping tabs: To aid identification, all sleeping tabs are displayed faded.
- Put inactive tabs to sleep after the specified amount of time: 5 minutes by default, and that period is fixed if efficiency mode is enabled. Other periods can be chosen if the efficiency mode is turned off.
- Never, ever put these websites to sleep: Add websites to the exclusion list to ensure that they are never put to sleep by Edge.
Efficiency Mode may improve the battery life and performance of Microsoft Edge-enabled devices. With the mode enabled, mobile devices on battery and low-performance devices may benefit the most.
