Lose Flash - get an extra hour of battery life

[gw1]

That's my experience so far.

When I heard that there was no flash plug-in already installed, of course I immediately downloaded it. After considering how rarely I use flash, and discovering safari extensions, I've installed ClicktoFlash which switches flash off unless you specifically want to use it.

It works a treat and on my 11" MBA I now get 6-8 hours of battery life - a good hour more than before. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[rkahl]

I charge my MBA every two days. If i need to before then, I just plug it in.

 

[LouieSamman]

The Click-to-Flash Plugin is a dream. Works great but I use a lot of Flash sites such as YouTube, Justin.tv, Streaming videos and sites that requires flash such as my college website & it gets a bit annoying to always having to click to receive the flash video when I wanted it to play in the first place.

But whats great is the load time of websites.

 

[Hankster]

I have Flash installed and get just over 5 hours of battery life on a regular basis. Just don't go to crazy flash intensive sites, most reputable sites don't use "blinking ads" and "annoying flash apps".

Now, if I'm streaming video that's a different story. But, then again I'm streaming video so I expect shorter battery life.

Battery life is based on what you do with any notebook. There's no difference between using Flash and running PhotoShop. It's optional.

 

[pfjellman]

yeah, i deleted flash all together and use chrome for the rare sites i need that don't have an html5 option. also installed youtube5 and html5 audio safari extensions, both work very well.

ever since doing this a few days ago i've noticed a startling improvement in battery life.

 

[JD92]

...

 

[iKennett]

The Click-to-Flash Plugin is a dream. Works great but I use a lot of Flash sites such as YouTube, Justin.tv, Streaming videos and sites that requires flash such as my college website & it gets a bit annoying to always having to click to receive the flash video when I wanted it to play in the first place.

But whats great is the load time of websites.

Oh WOW! This little app is amazing!

 

[LouieSamman]

Oh WOW! This little app is amazing!

Looks like someone discovered this extension and loves it!

 

[pfjellman]

Oh WOW! This little app is amazing!

yes, it is amazing. but it's an extension, not an app. (sorry, i'm a developer, it's a pet peeve) =D

 

[zartemis]

I use Flash Block in Chrome and it works perfectly - and it significantly improves my battery life.

Soon you won't need Flash Block in Chrome. The dev version of chrome has 'click to play' built-in as an option on flash. So far the dev version has been reliable for me, but those who don't want to live nearer the cutting edge can wait for the feature to hit the stable version of Chrome.

 

[bamf]

The Click-to-Flash Plugin is a dream. Works great but I use a lot of Flash sites such as YouTube, Justin.tv, Streaming videos and sites that requires flash such as my college website & it gets a bit annoying to always having to click to receive the flash video when I wanted it to play in the first place.

But whats great is the load time of websites.

Whitelist the sites you want to always use flash from in Click2Flash then - problem solved.

 

[hcho3]

I hate flash so much. I hope they go away forever in next 5 years. Html 5 for the win. Battery life goes down so much with flash video.

 

[gw1]

Soon you won't need Flash Block in Chrome. The dev version of chrome has 'click to play' built-in as an option on flash. So far the dev version has been reliable for me, but those who don't want to live nearer the cutting edge can wait for the feature to hit the stable version of Chrome.

Interesting to hear this about Chrome - would be great to see this built in to Safari too.

I did wonder if Apple binning Flash was just some commercial spat, but I can really see the advantage. Flash could well find itself on the way out, particularly if the new MPA sales take off as predicted.

In the meantime, I'm just thrilled to get the extra battery life!

 

[nok123]

Recently installed Flash Block extension in Chrome on my MacBook Air Rev. C.

Initial results on battery life are encouraging.

 

[Loonytik]

I installed the extension in Firefox and it really isn't too annoying. It gives a play button over anything playing Flash so if I want to see it I just click play, simple as that.

 

[digitaldave]

I'd love to know if there's a difference in battery life between removing flash completely and installing ClickToFlash. I currently don't have flash installed, but it's a bit of a pain as there's a few sites where I occasionally want to run flash content.

Anyone got any experience with this?

 

[gw1]

Interesting if that's possible - so you don't have to have flash installed, just "click to flash" and you can still play the flash if you click on it?

 

[admanimal]

I'd love to know if there's a difference in battery life between removing flash completely and installing ClickToFlash. I currently don't have flash installed, but it's a bit of a pain as there's a few sites where I occasionally want to run flash content.

Anyone got any experience with this?

I don't see why there should be a difference in battery life between the two. Either way the Flash application/movie isn't running, which is what kills the battery life.

Interesting if that's possible - so you don't have to have flash installed, just "click to flash" and you can still play the flash if you click on it?

You need to have the Flash plugin installed if you want to play Flash, whether it's automatically or with ClickToFlash.

 

[T4R06]

got question guys about microsoft silverlight.. first thing i did on my MBA is to install clicktoflash.. its amazing. but how about this silverlight. does this as the same as flash? i need to install this because of netlix..

 

[digitaldave]

I don't see why there should be a difference in battery life between the two. Either way the Flash application/movie isn't running, which is what kills the battery life.

I have no idea how flash works, so I was wondering if there's a difference between loading it but not running it (as in click to flash) vs not loading it in the first place. I guess you are right, if it isn't actually running, then it's not using up power.

 

[MisterEd]

I have no idea how flash works, so I was wondering if there's a difference between loading it but not running it (as in click to flash) vs not loading it in the first place. I guess you are right, if it isn't actually running, then it's not using up power.

From what I can see, the Click to Flash extension doesn't even load the flash content unless you click it (after click, takes a good few seconds to load and render). In which case, you're saving both power AND bandwidth

 

[EggrollShop]

Just installed Flash Block for Chrome and I gotta say I love it! I was a bit skeptical at first after reading some of the comments on the Google's site saying that it did't work well with youtube, but I am happy to report that I have had no such issue.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

This thread title is misleading.

Simply having Flash installed on your Mac doesn't impact battery life. Using Flash most certainly will. Granted, there are those who use it and don't realize that they are using it (ads, etc.) but there is no reason to take Flash off your Mac and get some miracle "boost" to battery life.

Just choose when you use it. I'd rather have it when I need it and take the hickie on battery life than not have it installed on here at all and get the infamous empty video panel.

 

[gwsat]

This thread title is misleading.

Simply having Flash installed on your Mac doesn't impact battery life. Using Flash most certainly will. Granted, there are those who use it and don't realize that they are using it (ads, etc.) but there is no reason to take Flash off your Mac and get some miracle "boost" to battery life.

Just choose when you use it. I'd rather have it when I need it and take the hickie on battery life than not have it installed on here at all and get the infamous empty video panel.

Until today, I had not installed any of the flash blocking apps or extensions and my MBA's battery life was still significantly better than I had expected it to be. A few minutes ago, however I did install the FlashBlock for Chrome extension. Will report further when and if I get a read on how it works.

 

[alflavor]

I played with click to flash in Safarif, but being new to mac and preferring Chrome, I'm going to hang fire for the update to chrome that will hopefully deal with flash in a similar manner!