Chrome is the most used web browser in the world, it is also one of those that consume the most resources and the autonomy of your laptop suffers. Google has developed a new function to reduce this consumption.
It’s become a bad joke, Chrome is so resource intensive that it is sometimes compared to a full operating system. Moreover, in many ways, this is what Google’s browser has become with the proliferation of web services that are as complete as native applications.
Less JavaScript
The search engine has continued to make improvements to Chrome to reduce its resource consumption, but despite everything the browser continues to significantly reduce the autonomy of laptops. A new feature that has appeared on Chrome OS, the Chromium-based operating system, has some good news on that front that should trickle down to the browser quickly.
Version 105 of Chrome OS, currently available in the beta channel of the OS, improves a function of suspending JavaScript code when it is present on a web page displayed in a tab in the background. Currently, after 5 minutes of inactivity, Chrome automatically suspends the execution of the JavaScript code when the tab is not in the foreground (implied: when the Internet user is not on the page of the website in question ).
With Chrome OS 105, the timer drops to just 10 seconds. This allows the system to stop the JavaScript calculations of a tab in the background much more quickly, and therefore this function limits the unnecessary use of computer resources… And therefore of its battery.
Google confirms that this new feature should extend battery life, and also notes significant improvements in CPU time when all tabs are hidden. According to the company, this results in a 10% gain in CPU usage, which unfortunately does not mean a 10% improvement in battery life: it only means that the JavaScript code will use 10% energy in less. But everything is good to take!