Flash bogging down my MacBook Air Rev.B

[aaquib]

Amidst all this HTML5-iPad hype, us Mac users are still stuck with Flash video for the vast majority of the web. My conundrum is that my MacBook Air completely slows down after about half an hour of a Flash video running even on 360p. I've found HTML5 to be significantly lighter on my CPU only utilizing about 30% when I watch video on it, as apposed to 140% with flash.

My computer becomes literally unusable. The video becomes jittery, my mouse barely moves, any action takes minutes to perform. I have a revision B MacBook Air 1.86GHz/SSD with the 9400M graphics and Flash is completely hogging my computer's resources.

Are there any procedures I can perform to rectify this issue? I'm running the latest Flash beta 10.1 beta 3 from Adobe's site.

 

[joelypolly]

try the beta of flash
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/

It has been reported to be better than the default version that comes with OS X

 

[Scottsdale]

Amidst all this HTML5-iPad hype, us Mac users are still stuck with Flash video for the vast majority of the web. My conundrum is that my MacBook Air completely slows down after about half an hour of a Flash video running even on 360p. I've found HTML5 to be significantly lighter on my CPU only utilizing about 30% when I watch video on it, as apposed to 140% with flash.

My computer becomes literally unusable. The video becomes jittery, my mouse barely moves, any action takes minutes to perform. I have a revision B MacBook Air 1.86GHz/SSD with the 9400M graphics and Flash is completely hogging my computer's resources.

Are there any procedures I can perform to rectify this issue? I'm running the latest Flash beta 10.1 beta 3 from Adobe's site.

Have you upgraded to OS X 10.6.3? Just an idea... and I assume you haven't yet.

 

[aaquib]

I am running the beta version of flash as well as 10.6.3. What I noticed, however, was the CoolBook wasn't set on "CoolBook Active" for some reason, and that seems to be the root of my problems.

What would I do without Coolbook!

 

[Scottsdale]

I am running the beta version of flash as well as 10.6.3. What I noticed, however, was the CoolBook wasn't set on "CoolBook Active" for some reason, and that seems to be the root of my problems.

What would I do without Coolbook!

Odd, because I have never used CoolBook and rarely have real problems as long as I keep the vents clear. They are very efficient, so if blocked at all problems occur. I keep a magazine under it most of the time if on the bed or lap. It would be nice to not have to do that, but the back left corner (from my view) gets extremely hot during video playback/Flash.

Perhaps CoolBook would help, but that seems sad. Perhaps my 2.13 GHz/CPU is helping??? I know that when I tried a B with 1.6 it struggled so much more than either my 1.86 or 2.13 MBAs.

Like your avatar. Will you upgrade when Apple updates the MBA?

 

[happyslayer]

I use a little program called ClicktoFlash which grays out all flash windows in the browser until you choose to click on it.

This is pretty nice since all the advertisements don't twist, turn, blink and flash at you unless you want them to.

I also found that this keeps my Air a bit cooler (maybe two degrees on average) during general surfing through flash heavy sites. When I want to watch a video, I click on it and it plays.

Flash video at full screen will cause my Air to still get very hot (high 70's-C ) but the video quality is good with little if any chop most of the time.

Some sites are choppy, but it seems to just be certain sites.

Don't know if that helps, but that is what I know with my 1.83 RevB Air with 10.6.3 and the beta Flash installed.

 

[bmb012]

The new Flash beta is EXTREMELY unstable, I'd recommend using the last main release with Safari running in 32 bit mode.

 

[youssefm]

I had the same issue with the same exact model air.. and I found the only solution to be making sure the vents for the fans are clear from ANY obstructions, even the smallest thing would make my air stutter and go crazy. Even with this method though, after 3 videos or so, it would freeze up anyway =/

 

[slapguts]

http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10.html

Flash 10.1 RC came out today. Anyone given it a shot? I uninstalled the previous versin, and downloaded the new, but haven't needed it yet. I'm going to see how long I can go without needing to see a funny video of a cat playing a piano.

 

[zunairryk]

I had the same issue with the same exact model air.. and I found the only solution to be making sure the vents for the fans are clear from ANY obstructions, even the smallest thing would make my air stutter and go crazy. Even with this method though, after 3 videos or so, it would freeze up anyway =/

+1. Thats the only complain i have with the MBA. If i put it on bed and watch some videos it will get extremely hot due to the vents being covered, and laptop will shutdown one of the processor's cores, which would result in poor performace

So to everyone having this problem, MAKE SURE the vents are not covered

 

[aaquib]

Odd, because I have never used CoolBook and rarely have real problems as long as I keep the vents clear. They are very efficient, so if blocked at all problems occur. I keep a magazine under it most of the time if on the bed or lap. It would be nice to not have to do that, but the back left corner (from my view) gets extremely hot during video playback/Flash.

Perhaps CoolBook would help, but that seems sad. Perhaps my 2.13 GHz/CPU is helping??? I know that when I tried a B with 1.6 it struggled so much more than either my 1.86 or 2.13 MBAs.

Like your avatar. Will you upgrade when Apple updates the MBA?

Thanks

I think the problem is the fact that I tend to read while in bed with the vents covered. It was never really an issue with CoolBook. It did get hot, but I never had one of my processor cores shut down.

I hope to upgrade to the new Rev.D MacBook Air as long as it's a justifiable upgrade. For now, my MacBook Air Rev.B and iPad are fine for my needs, but something about having a computer with 2GB of non-upgradable RAM worries me.

 

[Scottsdale]

Thanks

I think the problem is the fact that I tend to read while in bed with the vents covered. It was never really an issue with CoolBook. It did get hot, but I never had one of my processor cores shut down.

I hope to upgrade to the new Rev.D MacBook Air as long as it's a justifiable upgrade. For now, my MacBook Air Rev.B and iPad are fine for my needs, but something about having a computer with 2GB of non-upgradable RAM worries me.

Anyone wonder if Apple might go ahead and unveil its new Mac notebooks at the iPhone OS event? It seems that it has been so long that they would want to introduce all of the new tech, hopefully Arrandale and Optimus along with an 8 GB RAM capable MBA, LOL. I would think Apple would have its own Mac event, but I guess it's a speck of hope for us desperate MBA rev 3,1 devotees.

 

[blesscheese]

I use a little program called ClicktoFlash which grays out all flash windows in the browser until you choose to click on it.

This is pretty nice since all the advertisements don't twist, turn, blink and flash at you unless you want them to.

I'll second the ClickToFlash recommendation. I never liked Flash, and I find all the advertisements very distracting.

The cool part is you can just "click" on the Flash window to run whatever you want, whenever you want. Everybody who sees it on my computer always asks how they can get it.

Anyway, not running all those Flash programs all the time sounds like one of many possible answers to you troubles.

Good luck!
Blessed Cheesemaker

 

[Rizvi1]

My wife's 1.6ghz MacBook Air Rev. B has been really annoying w/ stuttering on applications and video. Seems the Flash beta is something to try out. also making sure the vents aren't covered, I've read in another thread about using compressed air on it. Any thoughts? any brand recommendations? Also, coolbook is something I've read about a lot too. I was thinking of picking it up but was wondering how to use it. What numbers would be I be putting in/setting?