What's the difference on battery life moving from 10S to 10Pro

[Windows Central Question]

I have a Surface Laptop and I am contemplating moving to 10 Pro. The only programs I would install are Google Chrome, Google Allo, and Maybe MightyText which is an extension for Chrome. Should I expect to see a hit on my battery life and if so, by how much?

 

[Pneen]

Honestly nothing. Microsoft's claims are because 10 S restricts installations to the Windows Store. The difference in battery life between Edge and Chrome is very subtle for me. I personally find Chrome much more stable and reliable than Edge. Microsoft's claims about Edge's battery life compared to other browsers are outdated IMO. The FCU might make a difference but I don't know. You should just switch to 10 Pro IMO. You can uninstall all of your win32 programs and go to the settings and restrict installations to the Store to go (practically) back. If security is an issue use uBlock Origin, uBlock Protector, uBlock Origin Extra and HTTPS Everywhere. Privacy badger if you want

 

[Zachary Boddy]

I have a Surface Laptop and I am contemplating moving to 10 Pro. The only programs I would install are Google Chrome, Google Allo, and Maybe MightyText which is an extension for Chrome. Should I expect to see a hit on my battery life and if so, by how much?

You really won't see much of a difference, if any. The reason 10 S has supposedly better battery life is because there's little chance of a runaway program draining your battery. Because you're limited to the efficient, optimized Store apps, you should see better battery life in the long run. There's no immediate differences.

 

[Hirox K]

My Chrome still drain much more bat than Edge... maybe I need an update?

 

[jefrra]

Im sure the only reason windows s could provide a better battery is the absence of certain apps. If your version of chrome is cpu intensive, sure you will have a gain in battery life. Windows 10 S seem like a hoax because there is no real progress, only limitations. For sure, one of the main reason Windows 10 can become buggy is the installation of badly designed win32 applications. But for me Edge is hell because any improvement need many months when chrome is updated every month. And guess what, Edge is the only option in Windows 10 s. I think the even think that people will switch to Bing without complaining. Windows 10 s wont survive. I dont see any reason why it could succeed.

 

[Serpentbane]

I have a Surface Laptop and I am contemplating moving to 10 Pro. The only programs I would install are Google Chrome, Google Allo, and Maybe MightyText which is an extension for Chrome. Should I expect to see a hit on my battery life and if so, by how much?

 

[Serpentbane]

Let me ask, how many of you answering here have tested this yourself?

In real life tests comparing two pairs (one set of Dell laptops with N4200 chip and one set of HP laptops with Core i5) of identical machines with both OS', W10S boots faster and lasts longer than W10Pro, even at baseline configuration.

Do notice that the changes might be more or less noticeable depending on your HW configuration, but in the test the Intel Core i5 chip shows little difference in battery life with only a few minutes less for the Pro on average, while the N4200 on W10Pro takes a more noticeable hit of over half an hour on average.

Again, after installing apps the W10Pro on Core i5 loses only 10 minutes to the W10S, while the N4200 falls behind even more with an hour or more less battery.

To wrap it all up, with applications installed, the W10S had on average 15% longer battery life and up to 80% better boot performance.

So, yes. Installing x86 apps will most likely make your computer drain the battery faster. However, Windows 10S and Windows 10 Pro with baseline setup is not exactly the same as others here claims. As the actual HW in your system might also be a key to how big a difference you would actually experience, it would be impossible to predict exactly how your system would be affected upgrading to Pro. I use the CPU to differentiate here, but it could very well be other components that are causing the difference.

Update: One more thing to remember is how x86 applications tend to clog up the OS/registry over time. Comparing two identical systems after a year could show numbers even more on in favor of the W10S OS.

 

[v_2samg]

Thank you for the brilliant answer. Most people here seem to go by perceptions and hearsays.

 

[Podster16]

if windows 10 S don't match the battery life of windows 8.1 rt it's not worth it

 

[jgservices]

If you really want to save battery life when browsing, don't use Edge or Chrome at all. Go with Opera. It uses the same Chromium engine Chrome does and it's far more stable than either of them and still has extension support. Not to mention the battery saving feature on it can't be touched for laptops

 

[giganotosaurus]

People seriously believe everything everyone says.. nobody has tested claims about battery life, just heresay and blanket statements.. Bing and google in the united states don't even show a difference.. anyone saying otherwise is uninformed and just ignorant.. Edge, well is another matter.. It has got some ways to go before it tips over chrome. 10s is better for battery, but being stuck to Edge is my only fear.. Google search is bollocks.. you will not miss it.

 

[giganotosaurus]

Dude.. windows RT was a different processor.. It was arm.. an Arm processor will give you better battery life than Intel x86.. windows on arm will always be better!! windows 10s on arm with be what you should look for, for comparison.. They should be coming out soon, as per windows central

 

[giganotosaurus]

Why Allo? Skype's plenty good