# Google Chrome may be damaging your laptop's battery **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 15, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-may-be-damaging-your-laptops-battery/693197 "2014-07-15T18:58:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-may-be-damaging-your-laptops-battery/693197/1 "2014-07-15T18:58:48Z")
I don’t understand “tick rate”, but Business Insider [says](http://www.businessinsider.com/google-chrome-system-clock-tick-rate-2014-7)it’s a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-may-be-damaging-your-laptops-battery/693197/2 "2014-07-15T19:03:48Z")
“Running down”, and “ruining” are two different things. If Chrome was that bad, people would be screaming about reduced battery run time. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-may-be-damaging-your-laptops-battery/693197/3 "2014-07-16T04:47:29Z")
So does Chrome actually have to be _running_ to increase your “tick rate” like this, or is it permanently increased just by having Chrome installed, or by having run it at some point and then shut it down? (I have Chrome installed, and use it occasionally, but it is not my main, default browser.) ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-may-be-damaging-your-laptops-battery/693197/4 "2014-07-16T07:10:23Z")
_ **According to Microsoft** , such a drastic change in system clock tick rate can increase power demands by up to 25%_ _Surprisingly, little ol’_\* Internet Explorer\*\* is savvy enough to adapt its tick rate\* - " **Microsoft tests** have found \* _Kind of sad that **Windows** is beating you at this Google…_ ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-may-be-damaging-your-laptops-battery/693197/5 "2014-07-16T07:25:18Z")
its only 25% reduction in time. If you have 4 hours of battery life, chrome reduces it to as little as 3 hours… gee , big whoop… always put your laptop to sleep fully to sleep if you want to save battery ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-may-be-damaging-your-laptops-battery/693197/6 "2014-07-16T08:53:58Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > its only 25% reduction in time. If you have 4 hours of battery life, chrome reduces it to as little as 3 hours… gee , big whoop… always put your laptop to sleep fully to sleep if you want to save battery That seems pretty significant, frankly, and you can’t put it to sleep if you are actually trying to use it. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-may-be-damaging-your-laptops-battery/693197/7 "2014-07-16T08:57:22Z")
Two questions for the tech savvy: 1. Is there an easy way for a user to see what the tick rate is? 2. Should there be a tiny downloadable program to allow the user to restore a slower tick rate? (I realize Chrome might then re-impose irs preferred rate.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-may-be-damaging-your-laptops-battery/693197/8 "2014-07-16T09:38:34Z")
So buy a better battery, for Christ’s sake… My Chromebook [Acer C720](http://www.zdnet.com/six-months-with-the-acer-c720-chromebook-still-good-for-199-7000031583/) goes almost 12 hours on a battery charge. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-may-be-damaging-your-laptops-battery/693197/9 "2014-07-16T14:52:44Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > So buy a better battery, for Christ’s sake… My Chromebook [Acer C720](http://www.zdnet.com/six-months-with-the-acer-c720-chromebook-still-good-for-199-7000031583/) goes almost 12 hours on a battery charge. So you’re cool with your 12-hour battery working for only 9 hours? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-may-be-damaging-your-laptops-battery/693197/10 "2014-07-17T08:08:03Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > So you’re cool with your 12-hour battery working for only 9 hours? Yeup! Spinning hard drives? Windows?? The world moves on. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-may-be-damaging-your-laptops-battery/693197/11 "2014-07-17T12:56:04Z")
There are multiple timers available on computers these days. I wonder if Chrome is simply using one of them instead. > **[High Resolution Clocks and Timers for Performance Measurement in Windows.](http://performancebydesign.blogspot.com/2012/03/high-resolution-clocks-and-timers-for.html)** > > Within the discipline of software performance engineering (SPE), application response time monitoring refers to the capability of instrume...