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Macbook Air 13" Minor concerns.

H

hobbes203

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 1, 2010
9
0
Anytime I watch a video, at least 3 minutes, my new MBA gets very toasty at the hinge and if I mute the volume, I can hear the fan. Is this normal? The video resolution is 720p, only stutters once in like a couple of minutes on Hulu.

Also, if I add widgets or something like Gmail Notification, would it affect my CPU usage significantly? One percent is significant, for something as little as that.

Also, I'm getting about 10% CPU usage right now, with Google Chrome Helper taking a good portion and Windows Server (??? WHAT???) taking the other half of the portion, with everything else negligible. I'm assuming the Google Chrome Helper is the Chrome extensions I'm using (Only one, SpeedDial). What the hell is Windows Server? I have Microsoft Office '11 installed, maybe that is the source?
 
Hulu uses Flash and Flash is CPU intensive and if the CPU is in intensive use, the CPU draws more power and thus generates more heat and thus the fan starts to spin.

The process "WindowServer" is responsible for the nice graphics, called Graphical User Interface - GUI, you see when interacting with Mac OS X. If that process would not run, you probably would have to use text based communication with the OS to do anything.

Also have a look at the following links to learn more about Mac OS X:


MRoogle is a good tool to search these fora for already existing threads about questions you have. It might be able to answer you quicker than waiting for an answer.

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Thanks for the response! Cleared up everything, excuse my knowledge, first time using an Apple product.
 
spinnerlys said:
No problem. Have a good time with your new tool.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, Adobe Flash for Mac is still not able to use decent hardware acceleration - it taxes the CPU significantly more compared to the Windows version... That's one of the reason that I left Mac for a while. Luckily, Flash is only a small portion of the Mac experience...

Furthermore, if you look at the new developments, more and more use of HTML5 video is taking place on the net. Also, Adobe has been working on a better version of Mac Flash - the "square" betta has been working ok, but does not support Hulu or Netflix yet...
 
I went to the apple store and on the 11in standard base one, i installed chrome. After I installed chrome...it ran at 1080P Flash. tested on youtube. The one without safari installed much be using older flash version.
 
Dammit Cubs said:
I went to the apple store and on the 11in standard base one, i installed chrome. After I installed chrome...it ran at 1080P Flash. tested on youtube. The one without safari installed much be using older flash version.
Click to expand...

Interesting.I'm really surprised the Apple stores didn't have the password protection set up. The stores I've been to do. They shouldn't allow customers to download and install anything.
 
Was watching House on Hulu and only once did Flash explode on me. I do especially hate the emocon they use to indicate that Flash died.
 
OP make sure you have the newest flash available that uses GPU acceleration. Your flash will run just fine with this installed. I can do 1080p flash video on youtube just fine.
 
Latest Flash on Firefox on 13" MBA 2.13 run under 70% CPU for me - dual displays with Activity Monitor on the MBA and full screen Youtube Big Buck Bunny 1080p on my 46" LCD TV. Fans did spin up but the case never got really hot, just somewhat warm.

Hardware acceleration does not mean all the work is being done by the GPU, but its providing a lot of good assist. And FireFox isn't exactly efficient by any means - I suspect Safari and Chrome will run a bit lower.
 
same experience. my 11 inch air was running cool as a cucumber, and then i loaded flash and watched a 3 minute video and it was toasty warm.
 
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