The Verge posted “Chrome is still a threat to your MacBook’s battery” but failed to mention one of the main culprits of Chrome: Flash.
Chrome has Flash baked into the browser distribution. Each Chrome update always contains its own version of Flash, and it saves the user from being forever pestered by Adobe flash updates and better yet, you can keep your other browsers flash free.
Chrome’s flash is very easy to disable. Copy and paste into your browser bar:
chrome://plugins/
Click Disable. Crazy part? You probably won’t miss it in 2015, and it prevents nefarious Flash cookies.
Congrats, you are now Flash free. This won’t solve Chrome’s battery life issues but it helps. Disabling plugins help too as massive javascript libraries contained in some lesser plugins can cause excessive CPU usage.
The Verge’s article insinuates that Apple has some sort of secret sauce (API?) to make Safari better at Battery life but truth is, Chrome’s fast development cycle puts features over optimization. That’s it.
Now, I’d be happier if Chrome crashed less….