Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

saintforlife

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 25, 2011
1,045
329
I have decided not to install flash player on my brand new MBA for surfing the web as I rarely plan to use Safari. I also don't want to install Clicktoflash or any other application if I don't need to use Safari. I almost exclusively will use Chrome for browsing which comes with its own flash plugin.

Anybody else do this? Can you get away with not having flash at all on your MBA?
 

TheRealDamager

macrumors 65816
Jan 5, 2011
1,043
11
Absolutely. No issue here at all - you just wont be able to view flash content, but if that not an issue for you, everything else will work fine.
 

alpha752

macrumors newbie
Feb 25, 2011
25
0
Please forgive my ignorance, but ive seen a couple of mentiones about not using flash on the MBA, and was just wondering why such a decision would be beneficial. I use Chrome and havnt directly installed flash, but its not because of conscious decision, just havnt had the need yet.

So whats the deal with avoiding flash?
 

sparkomatic

macrumors 6502a
Jun 8, 2007
820
27
Orange County, CA
I installed Chrome so I get the built in flash browser in case there's something I really need to see with flash. In reality though, I'm using Safari daily and never open Chrome. Plus, I have a flash blocker plugin on Chrome anyway.
 

TheRealDamager

macrumors 65816
Jan 5, 2011
1,043
11
The issue is that flash is a CPU (and therefore a battery) hog. Many mac users refuse to install or run flash.
 

joefrank64k

macrumors 6502a
Feb 12, 2008
627
622
Please forgive my ignorance, but ive seen a couple of mentiones about not using flash on the MBA, and was just wondering why such a decision would be beneficial. I use Chrome and havnt directly installed flash, but its not because of conscious decision, just havnt had the need yet.

So whats the deal with avoiding flash?

http://daringfireball.net/2010/11/flash_free_and_cheating_with_google_chrome

I just use Chrome, but make sure I close whatever tab has flash running when I'm done...really helps with the battery life.
 

Scottsdale

Suspended
Sep 19, 2008
4,473
283
U.S.A.
Why would you want to miss out on the full Internet? My biggest problem with the iPad is it cannot really surf the Internet. The MBA is fully capable and Flash is improving.

Adobe and its Flash really get a bad rap. There are bad implementations of Flash ads, but in general the app is a great solution. I understand Apple challenging Adobe and wanting HTML 5 to succeed, but for now Flash is the Internet.

You are missing the Internet all for Apple that has no short term solution to the problem.
 

ZipZap

macrumors 603
Dec 14, 2007
6,075
1,445
Why would you want to miss out on the full Internet? My biggest problem with the iPad is it cannot really surf the Internet. The MBA is fully capable and Flash is improving.

Adobe and its Flash really get a bad rap. There are bad implementations of Flash ads, but in general the app is a great solution. I understand Apple challenging Adobe and wanting HTML 5 to succeed, but for now Flash is the Internet.

You are missing the Internet all for Apple that has no short term solution to the problem.

I agree with this...especially on the iPad. My surfing experience in the iPad is less than ideal.
 

supernaut

macrumors newbie
Jul 7, 2008
9
0
I've just spent a couple of months out of the country with just an iPad for company. Can't say that I missed out on the full 'Internet' experience.

(Very) Occasionally frustrating, but never had a reason to use another machine just for Flash.

If you've never tried to live without Flash, you'll be surprised at how little difference it actually makes to your browsing experience. And pleasantly surprised how much difference it makes to your battery life.
 

Stingray454

macrumors 6502a
Sep 22, 2009
593
115
Just get any of the tons of "Click to view" plugins available for all browsers. I personally run Firefox with FlashBlock. Displays a nice empty box instead of annoying adds, and if there is something I want to see (video, flashgame or similar) I just click it and it works as expected. Win-win!

Also, I noticed the battery time went way up after installing this.
 

Panch0

macrumors 6502a
Feb 23, 2010
684
9
Virginia
Why would you want to miss out on the full Internet? My biggest problem with the iPad is it cannot really surf the Internet. The MBA is fully capable and Flash is improving.

Adobe and its Flash really get a bad rap. There are bad implementations of Flash ads, but in general the app is a great solution. I understand Apple challenging Adobe and wanting HTML 5 to succeed, but for now Flash is the Internet.

You are missing the Internet all for Apple that has no short term solution to the problem.

OK, but in counter-point, Flash is the implementation of choice for the parts of the web that I prefer to avoid anyway. I installed Click-to-Flash about 2 years ago, not because Apple says Flash is bad but because I can't stand all of those blinking ads in the headers and sidebars of so many sites. In that time I've found that I very rarely click any of those big grey boxes that show up, and I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

I see Flash as the rundown neighborhood of the internet that's in need of a re-gentrification program.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
I actually find flash 10.2 to be very good on my air. It certainly doesn't cause it to ramp the fans like it used to. Also I use 'click to flash' and 'adblock' extensions to prevent crappy adverts loading.
 

scottgroovez

macrumors regular
May 20, 2010
148
1
I work for a company that develops an online maths tutoring service that is done in flash. So flash is essential for me. Now that flash supports GPU rendering performance will improve. Throwing all those vector calcs to the CPU can be pretty heavy going. That combined with flash being easy to develop with meant that non-progammers could create pretty sophisticated apps/sites. However they'd have no regard in creating optimised code and limiting the number of vector paths.
 

halledise

macrumors 68000
I have decided not to install flash player on my brand new MBA for surfing the web as I rarely plan to use Safari. I also don't want to install Clicktoflash or any other application if I don't need to use Safari. I almost exclusively will use Chrome for browsing which comes with its own flash plugin.

Anybody else do this? Can you get away with not having flash at all on your MBA?

well you're obviously ok.
some of us prefer Safari, in which case the latest Flash offering from Abode followed by ClickToFlash installation produces everything one needs for the internet and no annoying advertising, unless one wants it.

Chrome sucks, imho :D
 

michael.lauden

macrumors 68020
Dec 25, 2008
2,326
1
well you're obviously ok.
some of us prefer Safari, in which case the latest Flash offering from Abode followed by ClickToFlash installation produces everything one needs for the internet and no annoying advertising, unless one wants it.

Chrome sucks, imho :D

Let me breakdown this reply: You don't like ClickToFlash? Well I do. I think your browser sucks.



You can disable flash in Chrome under about: plugins, no 3rd party extensions. If you can 'live without it' do it. If you can't. Re enable. Simple - not sure why there's a thread on this.
 
Last edited:

neteng101

macrumors 65816
Jan 7, 2009
1,148
163
Flash is not a huge issue at all, 10.2 is even better than 10.1, and 10.3 will bring even more improvements.

As for all those ads - I don't have to deal with any ads. Just get Glimmer Blocker. ;)

http://glimmerblocker.org/
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.