Category: Chromebooks

A guest blog from Wilson Cheng at Acer Inc.

on February 12, 2015

Two years ago, I got a job to evaluate cross-platform benchmarks for comparing Windows and Android.

Usually, Web-based benchmarks focus on only Java-script and HTML5 functionality. I found WebXPRT is easy to use and includes the tasks that you do every day. It reliably tests the user experience and gives a simple score for comparison. I suggested to our manager that we use it to evaluate our platform and he agreed.

Recently, Chromebooks have become very popular. Testing the battery life of Chromebooks has been difficult because you have needed to use the power_LoadTest image from the Chromium project or the test image from the Chrome OS Partners Web site to do power load testing. Without reimaging the system, you couldn’t test battery life. Because CrXPRT is designed to test battery life as well as performance on ChromeOS, this extra step is no longer needed. We can run CrXPRT without updating the test image, which is very useful in our battery life testing.

The advantage of XPRT benchmarks is that they are easy to use and give real-world results. The disadvantage is that they are not yet popular on review sites.

Posted in Android, BenchmarkXPRT, Chrome OS, Chromebooks, CrXPRT, Google Chrome, WebXPRT, What makes a good benchmark? |

An updated CrXPRT 2015 build is available

By Eric Hale

on February 10, 2015

Today we’re releasing a new build of CrXPRT 2015 (v1.0.2) in the Chrome Web Store. The updates included in this build correct the handling of outlier scores for individual workloads, check the duration of each battery-life test iteration, and introduce a check to ensure that the system is not plugged in during battery-life testing. The tests have not changed, and the method of calculating the overall score and battery-life score is the same, so the main scores are comparable with previous CrXPRT scores.

We published the update today in the Chrome Web Store as of 3:00 PM EST, but it may take some time for the update to appear on your system. You may have to manually approve the update notice when it appears on your system.

If you have any questions about the update or any other XPRT-related topic, feel free to contact us at BenchmarkXPRTsupport@principledtechnologies.com.

Posted in Battery life, Chrome OS, Chromebooks, CrXPRT, Google Chrome |

Polishing the chrome

By Eric Hale

on February 5, 2015

Early next week, we’ll be releasing an update for CrXPRT that addresses a couple of issues. First, the individual workload scores were not always discarding outliers correctly, which could have had a small effect on those scores. The update handles outliers correctly. Because the overall score is calculated separately from the individual workload scores, this change does not affect the overall score or battery life score, and results from previous builds are still comparable.

The update also checks the duration for each battery life test iteration. This helps detect conditions that could invalidate the test, such as someone manually putting a test system to sleep.

Finally, the update checks between iterations to see if the Chromebook is plugged in during the test. If so, CrXPRT will report an error and stop the test. This can potentially save time that would otherwise be lost on an invalid run.

These are small changes, but they will help make CrXPRT a more robust benchmark.

In other news, we’ve been asking members of the community if they would care to share their experiences and thoughts on the blog. We’re delighted that people are interested, and we’ve already received our first guest post that we’ll be publishing in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, if you’d like to write a post, or just want to share your thoughts on the XPRTs, please let us know!

Eric

Posted in Battery life, Chrome OS, Chromebooks, Collaborative benchmark development, CrXPRT |

So easy a child can do it!

By Eric Hale

on January 15, 2015

Tomorrow we are releasing a new video featuring CrXPRT. This one is set in a school science fair, where “Ellie Smith” explains how she used CrXPRT to help her school decide which Chromebook to buy. We were lucky enough to get a thoroughly professional and charming young actress to play the role of Ellie. (I have a tiny cameo as the guy in the gray sport coat at the back of the room.)

Before we started shooting the video, we asked an actual 10-year-old to install and run CrXPRT. I hate to sound like an old commercial, but it really was so simple that a child could do it!

We also created a faux science report to go with the video. An adult—not a sixth-grader—wrote the report, but the results in it and in the video are real. (You can follow the links in the science report to see the real-world results online.)

When it goes live, you’ll find the video and the report on CrXPRT.com, as well as on YouTube and SlideShare. We hope you’ll enjoy seeing Ellie’s project!

Eric

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Posted in BenchmarkXPRT, Chrome OS, Chromebooks, CrXPRT, Google Chrome, Video, What makes a good benchmark? |

CrXPRT 2015 is here!

By Eric Hale

on December 18, 2014

Today, we’re releasing CrXPRT 2015, our benchmark for evaluating the performance and battery life of Chrome OS devices. The BenchmarkXPRT Development Community has been using community previews for several weeks, but now that we’ve released the benchmark, anyone can download CrXPRT and publish results.

Download CrXPRT 2015 from the Chrome Web Store

You can read more about CrXPRT in the CrXPRT 2015 User Manual located here. The User Manual also explains how to configure your device for testing and discusses the options that are available to you.

After trying out CrXPRT, please send your comments to BenchmarkXPRTsupport@principledtechnologies.com.

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Posted in Chrome OS, Chromebooks, Collaborative benchmark development, CrXPRT |

Today is the day!

By Eric Hale

on December 18, 2014

We release CrXPRT 2015 to the public later today. Many thanks to all the community members who’ve used the community previews for all their help. CrXPRT will be available in the Chrome Web Store, but for now, it will not be available as a direct download from the CrXPRT page. We’re looking into ways to host a direct download on our site, and hope to have a solution after the first of the year. If you’re having problems getting CrXPRT from the store, the community previews will still be available in the members’ area.

If you are new to testing in a Chrome environment, be aware of some things. One is that a Chromebook will check for updates every time it reboots. If you’re running multiple tests, be sure to not reboot the system, or it may upgrade the operating system between your tests.

For those testing multiple devices, it’s a good idea to use a separate account for each device. If you have multiple Chromebooks logged into the same account, Chrome OS will sync all devices. This could be useful in some circumstances, but it could be a problem at other times.

We are very excited about the release. Let us know what you think!

Eric

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Posted in BenchmarkXPRT development community, Chrome OS, Chromebooks, CrXPRT |

Category: Chromebooks

A guest blog from Wilson Cheng at Acer Inc.

An updated CrXPRT 2015 build is available

Polishing the chrome

So easy a child can do it!

CrXPRT 2015 is here!

Today is the day!

Check out the other XPRTs: