Microsoft announced that the new Edge version should be faster, leaner and more efficient than ever before. “It is our mission to develop a browser that will never let you slow down.” This should be achieved, among other things, by means of boost and sleeping tabs.
After a “long test phase”, Edge 89 is now available as a stable version. A “startup boost” should ensure that the browser starts particularly quickly – both when opening links in general and when opening links. According to Microsoft this is now 29 to 41 percent faster when the boost is switched on than without it.
The company describes the process behind it as follows: “The function is based on some Microsoft Edge core processes in the background.” In the community blog it is then explainedthat parts of Edge just run continuously without being seen. Experiments have shown that this hardly consumes any resources. In addition, differentiate between devices to ensure that performance gets better – and not worse. The startup boost can also be deactivated in the settings.
Sleeping tabs based on Chromium
Since tabs in the background also need resources and can slow down the browser, Microsoft also intervenes here: With “sleeping tabs”. Internal tests would have shown that they use the CPU by 26 percent less and require 16 percent less storage space. However, this depends on the browser usage and the number of open tabs. The function is based on Chromium’s tab freezing technology. Before tabs fall asleep, they must have been inactive for two hours – at least that’s the default setting. The time span can also be changed in the browser settings or the function can be deactivated entirely. Edge tries to identify tabs that are supposed to play music and not sleep. Heuristics are still being worked on.
Microsoft also states that all performance improvements announced by Google last November also apply to Edge. The function of the sleeping tabs is based on Chromes tab throttling.
(emw)
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