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Google Chrome is one of the best web browsers out there, for both mobile and desktop. But it is also among the most resource-hungry ones. For years, the company never seemed to be bothered to make it less taxing on your computer. Finally, in December last year, it announced a new Memory Saver mode that would reduce Chrome’s memory usage by up to 30 percent. This much-needed utility is now rolling out to users with the release of Chrome 110 for desktops. The latest version also brings Energy Saver.
Google‘s new Memory Saver utility for Chrome frees up resources by putting inactive taps to sleep. It won’t kill the tab, so you can continue from where you left off whenever you return to it. But as long as a remains inactive, Chrome will ensure that it isn’t hogging resources. Inactive tabs will also remain visible on the tab strip, allowing you to quickly switch to them. When you return, Chrome will tell you that the tab was inactive and note the amount of memory freed by putting it to sleep. A speedometer icon on the address bar indicates that the tab is active and using resources again.
Memory Saver is enabled by default on Chrome 110. But Google lets you disable it from the Performance section in Chrome settings, which sits below Privacy and security. You can also exempt certain sites from being put to sleep. Of course, it’s always better to just close a tab that you won’t be returning to anytime soon. This would save more resources than Chrome’s Memory Saver. But the new utility is also extremely useful if you have some tabs that you don’t use much often but can’t entirely close either.
Google Chrome is also getting an Energy Saver
Energy Saver is another handy feature that Google has added to Chrome. It reduces power consumption by limiting background activity and visual effects. The new utility kicks in automatically as soon as your laptop’s battery drops below 20 percent, though you can also set it to come into play whenever the charging is unplugged. It disables smooth scrolling and website animations and reduces video frame rates to save power. A leaf icon beside the address bar indicates the Energy Saver is active.
Both Memory Saver and Energy Saver will be available to users with Chrome 110, which started rolling out a few weeks ago. Chromebooks received the ChromeOS 110 update last week. If you have already updated but these features aren’t available yet, you can enable the following flags (copy-paste them on the address bar and hit Enter). To check Chrome’s version, click the vertical three dots on the top-right and Select Settings. Then, click on About Chrome at the bottom of the left panel.
- chrome://flags/#high-efficiency-mode-available
- chrome://flags/#battery-saver-mode-available