Chrome Update Saves Windows Users Battery Life, Privacy

Google pushed anew Chrome stable release today, potentially saving Windows users battery life.

“We recently enabled GPU-accelerated video decoding for Chrome on Windows,” the company said in a blog post. “Dedicated graphics chips draw far less power than a computer’s CPU, so using GPU-accelerated video decoding while watching videos can increase battery life significantly.”

“In our tests, the battery lasted 25% longer when GPU-accelerated video decoding was enabled,” the company says. “Now Chrome users on Windows will experience longer battery life so they don’t get cut off while watching their favorite YouTube video on repeat.”

The update also comes with the ability to click on the page/lock icon next to a website’s address in the omnibox and see a list of the site’s permissions:

It also includes the option to send a “do not track” request to sites. Google does not that the effectiveness of that feature is dependent on the sites’ responses.