Windows 11 will mark its first anniversary next month. The operating system has already received its first feature update, and Microsoft plans to drop another set of new capabilities next month. The 2022 Update and its feature improvements are enough for some users to finally pull the trigger and upgrade to Windows 11, while others keep using good-old Windows 10 as they see no solid reasons to migrate or are unable to.
Microsoft has received a fair amount of complaints for controversial feature changes (primarily for crippled taskbar). As most Windows users discuss new capabilities and things Microsoft has taken away (without intent to bring them back), one question remains unanswered: what about energy efficiency? Does Windows 11 give you better battery life?
Test configuration
Like our recent browser efficiency test, it’s time to look at how identical hardware behaves when running four different operating systems:
- Windows 11 21H2 (original release)
- Windows 11 2022 Update (version 22H2)
- Windows 11 Dev (build 25201)
- Windows 10 (version 21H2)
To make the test as accurate as possible, we have clean-installed each system on four different partitions before looping PCMark10 Extended three times from 100% to dead battery. We have signed into our Microsoft account and installed the latest drivers available for each version. Each installation had no extra third-party software.
Here is the test device (upgraded from 8GB to 16GB of RAM since the browser efficiency test):
| HP Pavilion 14 x360 | |
|---|---|
| Processor | 11th Gen Intel Core i3-1125G4 at 2.00 GHz |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4 3200 MHz |
| Storage | 500GB PCIe SSD |
| Screen | 14-inch touchscreen. 1920×1080 pixels at 40% brightness |
| Power Mode |
Balanced, Battery Saver at 20% |
| Battery | 43Wh with 50 cycles, 0% wear reported |
We have picked PCMark10 Extended to simulate the standard home and office use that includes video conferencing, office apps, photo/video editing, gaming, browsing, etc. Some might argue that PCMark10 might be unoptimized for Windows 11, but remember that not every software you use has already received updates for the newest OS (some never will). We try to see how a single set of software affects battery life in different operating systems.
Before you grab your torch and pitchfork: You might get slightly different results depending on your software and hardware configuration, battery capacity, battery wear, drivers, brightness, power mode etc. Consider this more an experiment rather than a scientific claim.
Testing
It appears that those wanting to get the most out of the battery inside their Windows laptop or tablet might want to stick to Windows 10 for some time. Three Windows 11 versions showed the more-or-less identical result, achieving about three hours of life under strain of the PCMark10 Extended benchmark.
As for Windows 10, Microsoft’s “previous-gen” operating system showed a notably better result, surviving for an extra 18 minutes. That might sound not-so-impressive to you, but it is an 11% uplift under a stress test. An 11% worse battery life is nothing to scoff at, especially for the operating system that many consider just …….
Source: https://www.neowin.net/news/is-windows-11-more-energy-efficient-than-windows-10/