Battery life is a crucial factor in the contest between the latest version of Windows and Windows 8.1. This aspect is especially important if you use a laptop, notebook, tablet, or smartphone.
In 2019, the case of Windows Mobile can be left aside, as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella indicated that the company will focus more on developing apps for Android and iPhone.
Another important factor to consider in 2019 is the end of support for Windows 7. Microsoft has already issued notifications to existing users, urging them to upgrade to either Windows 8.1 or 10 by January 2020.
Since Windows XP support ended long back, the only chance for existing Windows users is to either upgrade to Windows 8.1 or 10. In this regard, let’s see some comparative benchmarks of Windows 10 vs. Windows 8.1 battery life.
Case Study #1
The latest upgrade of Windows 10 to v. 1809 revealed that apps consume the majority of battery life. Such usage can reduce the extended time of your battery. Windows 8.1 did not have that many built-in apps that were automatically updating in the background.
So while testing the difference in battery power between the two operating systems (OSs), one has to take notice of the apps installed and the notifications they present.
As it depends on the Wi-Fi network and the amount of battery life remaining, it should be an important parameter in the benchmark check.
Case Study #2
Time: Around May 2018
The Windows 10 v1803 battery life was tested with different browsers using Surface Books and reported on WindowsReport.
Edge’s Surface laptop lasted 14 hours and 20 minutes when streaming video, which is actually a drop of an hour and 42 minutes on its previous update. However, Chrome clocked up 12:32:58 and Firefox lasted 7 hours and 15 minutes.
On the contrary, Opera conducted its research in 2016 with its browser’s native power saving and ad blocker enabled. The Opera Developer (39.0.2248.0) lasts 22% longer than Edge (25.10586.0.0) on Windows 10 laptops. In this test, the battery lasted around 4 hours.
Case Study #3:
The following specs were used in this benchmark test and reported on by AVG.
- The Asus UX-501 is a high-end multimedia notebook.
- speed testing software, PCMark 8
Time: July 2015. Windows 10 Build 10240 (includes July 27th update)
We compared the battery life between Windows 10 and 8.1 in three different aspects.
1. While working
2. Gaming
3. Watching video
The notebook was allowed to run dry until the battery life ended. In the first and third cases, Windows 10 was a winner by a small margin.
While working, Windows 10 beat Windows 8.1 by 9 minutes in all 3 iterations tested using the in-house PCMark 8 app of AVG. In the video-watching category, Windows 10 scored an impressive 36-minute edge over 8.1.
Another crucial factor to consider in battery life statistics is its performance during gaming. For this aspect, GTA 5 was chosen as the gaming benchmark.
Windows 8.1 outperformed Windows 10 in this step. There was a 10-minute difference in battery life between the two. The result is 13% worse performance than 8.1%.
From this study, we can conclude that there is not much difference in battery life duration between Windows 10 and 8.1. A rather surprising fact is that Windows 10 lasted 3 hours while playing a single video of 1080p resolution using Windows Media Player.
Case Study #4:
In another study by pcworld.com, they used two identical HP Spectre x360 laptops of the same configuration to test Windows 10 and Windows 8.1. To test the benchmarks, PCMark 8 Creative Conventional was used.
The test was conducted prior to the July 2015 release of Windows 10.
The difference between graphics performance, CPU performance, WinRAR (a file compression tool), gaming, and 7-Zip (another file compression tool) was not much of value. It looks as if the benchmarks were a tie.
This study concludes that battery life benchmarks are similar.
Case Study #5:
In this test, different laptops were used to test the battery life between Windows 7 and Windows 8.
The test was conducted in March 2012.
Although the battery benchmarks are somewhat outdated, they still provide valuable insights. We should examine the battery life of outdated hardware.
Windows 7 outlasted Windows 8 by a significant margin, lasting approximately 6 hours on two laptops and 3 hours on one laptop.
1. ASUS Zenbook UX31
2. Samsung Series 7
3. Dell Inspiron 15
The above study allows for a partial conclusion. Windows 10 outperforms Windows 8.1, but falls short when compared to Windows 7.
It is found that Windows 8 lasted only around 3 to 4.5 hours on the first two laptops mentioned above. The test was made by continuously surfing on the web using Wi-Fi and Firefox.
Case Study #6:
Test of Battery life on Windows 10 vs Windows 8.1 Mobile version
Time: The test was conducted sometime in Mar 2016.
The Nokia Lumia 930 and Microsoft Lumia 640 mobiles were used.
The results were compared using the Windows 8.1 mobile version and then after upgrading to Windows 10.
The WP Bench battery test was conducted to know the difference in battery life for both the OS versions.
On the Lumia 640, the battery lasted around 4 hours in both Windows 10 and 8.1. Both versions of the Lumia 930 only lasted about two hours.
This test shows that battery life is the same for Windows 10 and 8.1.
Case Study #7:
Test time: Around Oct 2013
In these benchmark tests, Windows 8 battery life was compared on different Surface devices. It was observed that Apple iPhones had better battery life and optimization than Windows tablets and mobile devices.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 2 lasted 6 hours of battery life on a web browsing test using Wi-Fi. Not much difference was observed between the Microsoft Surface Pro, Pro 2, and RT versions.
But later it was found that the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 had faulty firmware, which negatively impacted its performance and battery efficiency. When it was updated, it was found that the battery life improved from 6.5 hours to 8.5 hours, an approximate improvement of 25%.
This evidence is in contrast to the media briefings made by Microsoft that Windows 8 will have better battery life compared to the 2009 version.
Case Study #8:
The test was conducted in October 2013.
In this study, the Sony VAIO Pro 13 battery life was tested on Windows 8 and 8.1. There was not much of a difference between the two.
In the light test, around 8 hours of battery life was observed. This duration was reduced to 3 hours during the heavy test.
Using the Metro Video app of Windows 8.1, the Sony VAIO Pro 13 lasted around 8 hours using both the 1080p and 720p versions. There is not much difference to compare.
