New Windows Insider Build Looks to Improve Battery Life
Mike Sanders / 5 years ago
You may be aware of the Windows Insider Program which, essentially, allows certain people to access test builds of the Windows 10 operating system that contain features that (all going well) will likely form part of a formal update in the future.
The most recent build release, however, is more than a little unusual. Offering two separate versions, one of which includes a rather impressive feature that could significantly increase the battery lifespan of your notebook.
New Windows Insider Build
In a somewhat unusual step, Microsoft has rolled out two new Windows Insider tests builds that will, effectively run as a coin toss to which you get. In one of the versions, however, (specifically 18362.10013) a new feature has been added to help improve the battery lifespan by making how the processor runs more efficient.
“We have made general battery life and power efficiency improvements for PCs with certain processors. A rotation policy that distributes work more fairly among these favored cores,”
So how does this work? Well, in very basic terms, Windows 10 will look to spread a light workload over several cores. This, rather than pushing 1 (or a few) to high levels. So what would this do? Well, in theory, this should help reduce the power consumption and, on the whole, make your notebook battery last longer. That is, at least, the theory.
What Do We Think?
In terms of Windows Insider releases, while this might sound a bit of a bland feature, it does represent one of the first times that Microsoft has very deliberately tried to find a way to make it’s operating system work more efficiently with hardware. Specifically, in finding ways to make the CPU run more efficiently.
It is believed that this feature may only work with certain processors and, as above, this is limited on a 50/50 split of the two versions. If they can, however, find a way to make notebook batteries last longer, I daresay their owners will be happier!
What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!
