Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome Review

Windows 10 comes with a brand new web browser called Microsoft Edge. It's got a lighter design, it's blazing fast and Cortana is baked right into it.

Each web browser was tested as new, meaning Chrome didn't have any extensions to slow it down and the history and cache were reset on each browser after every trial.

Two important things to note: Chrome does come with Adobe Flash pre-installed. We didn't disable it during our benchmark tests as that's the state it would be downloaded in by a normal user.

All tests were performed three times and then the average taken.

Futuremark Peacekeeper

Peacekeeper is a JavaScript benchmark that runs through a number of tests from rendering capabilities, to HTML5, to Document Object Model operations (an API used to create dynamic websites) and text parsing.

The higher the Peacekeeper score is, the better overall performance the browser is.

	Microsoft Edge	Google Chrome
Trial 1	2563	3917
Trial 2	2551	3915
Trial 3	2461	3920
Average	2525	3917

As you can see in the benchmark scores above, Chrome smokes Edge in speed and overall performance.

Winner: Google Chrome

Sun Spider Java

ScriptSun Spider is another JavaScript benchmark, but unlike Peackeeper, it only tests JS and none of the other stuff. Developed by Apple's WebKit team in 2007, it's a commonly used benchmark to compare web browsers as it takes into account features like encryption.
We used the latest 1.0.2 version and here are the results (lower is better):

	Microsoft Edge	Google Chrome
Trial 1	105.4ms	255.8ms
Trial 2	102.3ms	276.2ms
Trial 3	102.7ms	270.2ms
Average	103.5ms	267.4ms

In this test, Edge beats Chrome with an average of 103.5ms, showing it's more equipped to tackle "real performance problems that developers have encountered" (how SunSpider describes its test).

Winner: Microsoft Edge

V8 Benchmark Suite - Version 7

Google developed its own JavaScript benchmark to test JS performance for Chrome (because Internet, presumably). 

Generally it favors Chrome, but let's see how well Edge performs with it. The higher the score, the better.

	Microsoft Edge	Google Chrome
Trial 1	21554	23376
Trial 2	22381	23791
Trial 3	21566	23657
Average	21834	23608

Once again, Google Chrome comes out on top, but not by much.

Winner: Google Chrome

Real-world speed

The benchmarks above provide a good picture of how web browsers compare with one another, but they're far from the only metrics that matter. In my non-synthetic "real life-tests," I loaded Mashable.com, NewYorkTimes.com and Facebook.com, and then timed the two. These were the results:

Mashable.com	Microsoft Edge	Google Chrome
Trial 1	5.33 seconds	4.56 seconds
Trial 2	5.75 seconds	5.10 seconds
Trial 3	5.31 seconds	4.86 seconds
Average	5.46 seconds	4.84 seconds

NewYorkTimes.com	Microsoft Edge	Google Chrome
Trial 1	5.85 seconds	5.68 seconds
Trial 2	5.41 seconds	5.40 seconds
Trial 3	5.69 seconds	5.53 seconds
Average	5.65 seconds	5.53 seconds

Facebook.com	Microsoft Edge	Google Chrome
Trial 1	3.23 seconds	3.31 seconds
Trial 2	3.63 seconds	3.22 seconds
Trial 3	3.38 seconds	3.29 seconds
Average	3.41 seconds	3.27 seconds

Google Chrome just barely edges out Microsoft Edge, but you probably won't notice the difference in real life.

Winner: Google Chrome

Google Chrome is still king, but...

So what did we learn? Well, Google Chrome is faster than Microsoft Edge, but...only if you don't have any extras like extensions installed. When you add those in, Chrome slows down to a crawl.

Edge is no slouch, though. It's a very capable browser and after testing it out, I really like it a lot. If Internet Explorer left a bad taste in your mouth, you'll be happy to hear that Edge is a complete reset in the best way possible.