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Microsoft Edge’s new Performance Mode could make it a more powerful web browser

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Microsoft Edge could be getting a bit of a performance boost. Now in testing with the Canary version of the web browser is a new “Performance Mode” option, which helps optimize your browsing experience for speed and efficiency.

Though the feature is currently hidden away in Edge Canary Build 91.0.856.0, Microsoft’s official in-browser description for the feature seems quite promising.

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“Performance Mode helps you optimize speed, responsiveness, memory, CPU, and battery usage. Performance improvements might vary depending on your individual specifications and browser habits,” notes Microsoft.

The feature is currently in controlled testing according to TheWinCentral. This means that some Edge Canary beta testers are seeing it, and others are not. However, if available for you, you can see it as a toggle switch under Edge’s System settings. From there, you have the choice to keep it to Always On which will turn off the Sleeping Tabs feature that usually tunes down Edge’s performance by putting inactive tabs to sleep.

Presumably, with this feature turned on, Edge will pull more system resources to ensure that webpages will not reload, or even load a bit faster. This is beneficial for users who might have devices with dedicated graphics cards, more than 8GB of RAM, or higher-end and newer processors like Intel’s new Ice Lake CPUs. It also could possibly help with battery life improvements when web browsing, too.

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Performance Mode would be just the latest feature Microsoft has added to Microsoft Edge, which now is updated more frequently and on the same schedule as Google Chrome. Previously introduced was Startup Boost. With this feature, Edge was able to start up to 41% faster than before.

Microsoft is also fresh off the launch of Edge version 90. This major Edge update introduced Kids Mode,  a feature catered to providing children a safe webspace, and giving parents a little extra peace of mind.

There’s no word yet on when this Performance Mode feature could roll out to the stable version of Microsoft Edge. But, knowing that such Edge features tested in the Canary version usually hit the Dev Channel, and then the Beta channel after, it could be more than a few weeks away.

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Arif Bacchus
Computing Writer
Arif Bacchus is a native New Yorker and a fan of all things technology. Arif works as a freelance writer at Digital Trends…
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