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2011 MBP and "Flash" performance?

d_saum

d_saum

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 14, 2005
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So a long time ago in a thread far far away, I inquired about why my 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo with 4GB of ram had a hard time with Youtube. Responses varied from "I don't have any problems" to "Flash sucks". Needless to say, my MBP still struggles with streaming video online, both from Netflix and Youtube. I'm at the point where I'm thinking about purchasing a new 15 inch MBP with 8GB of ram and was wondering if anyone out there was having flash and/or streaming video issues at all?

Thanks!

*Edit* I should also mention that I'm a browser abuser. I typically have anywhere from 25 to 30 tabs open. Currently using Firefox, but I switch back and forth every so often between FF and Safari.
 
Last edited:
Your internet speed will be a factor in streaming of course, not a whole lot to do with the actual machine, 4gb of ram and that processor is plenty powerful!

If you are having problems streaming then just shut a few tabs down? as they will be using bandwith in the background

what are your internet speeds? :) down and up
 
I also use firefox mainly as a browser and notice with multiple tabs open it eats up quite a bit of memory and youtube is sluggish, stuttering playback, however I launch safari and usually is fine. but sometimes the same videos on both browsers stutter.
Its random videos that jerk/stutter so I pinpoint that to more of a flash problem.
 
George3625 said:
Your internet speed will be a factor in streaming of course, not a whole lot to do with the actual machine, 4gb of ram and that processor is plenty powerful!

If you are having problems streaming then just shut a few tabs down? as they will be using bandwith in the background

what are your internet speeds? :) down and up
Click to expand...

That's what I thought too, but I have a great internet connection. (wow.. just ran "Speed Test" and got 25Mb down, 1Mb up). I've closed down tabs in the past, and no difference. Also, I have flashblock installed so flash is only running on the tab I'm viewing at the time. Crazy huh?
 
Well, my 2.4 GHz C2D MacBook with 4GB of RAM plays flash beautifully...
I realize that doesn't help you, but at least it means it's not a problem with all machines.
 
strang said:
Updated to the latest build of Flash 10.1?
Click to expand...

I've been at 10.1 since it was released, and just installed 10.2. I didn't even know it was out! Now it looks like video stutters a little bit less, but my fans just kicked way the hell up!?!?!?! What the heck? :mad:
 
JTToft said:
Well, my 2.4 GHz C2D MacBook with 4GB of RAM plays flash beautifully...
I realize that doesn't help you, but at least it means it's not a problem with all machines.
Click to expand...

Ya know.. actually it does help me.. kinda. I still think I'm going to buy a new MBP because I want newer stuff, but I'm going to wait at least a month or 2 for them to iron out the kinks. In the meantime, I may re-image my current MBP and start "fresh".
 
d_saum said:
So a long time ago in a thread far far away, I inquired about why my 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo with 4GB of ram had a hard time with Youtube. Responses varied from "I don't have any problems" to "Flash sucks". Needless to say, my MBP still struggles with streaming video online, both from Netflix and Youtube. I'm at the point where I'm thinking about purchasing a new 15 inch MBP with 8GB of ram and was wondering if anyone out there was having flash and/or streaming video issues at all?

Thanks!

*Edit* I should also mention that I'm a browser abuser. I typically have anywhere from 25 to 30 tabs open. Currently using Firefox, but I switch back and forth every so often between FF and Safari.
Click to expand...

Youtube and Netflix stutter because of Flash and Silverlight, respectively. Flash 10.2 should improve things a lot (if you haven't updated yet), and you can also use the "clicktoflash" extension to handle Flash and force it to display as simple H.264 video instead (MUCH easier on the processor). My old '08 2.4 GHz C2D handled Flash just fine with those, and so does my new 1.4 GHz MBA. With regards to Silverlight, you're stuck. Silverlight sucks, I have no idea why Netflix chooses to use it, and it is a worse resource hog than Flash, in my opinion. AND, there are no alternatives.

If you get a new MBP with 8 GB of RAM, your performance should be much, much better, simply because the new processors are worlds ahead of your old C2D. With all those tabs open, the RAM will probably help too.
 
d_saum said:
I've been at 10.1 since it was released, and just installed 10.2. I didn't even know it was out! Now it looks like video stutters a little bit less, but my fans just kicked way the hell up!?!?!?! What the heck? :mad:
Click to expand...

You should see better performance, overall, but your fans kicking all the way up isn't impossible either. 10.2 is good in that it lets the GPU do some of the heavy lifting. Possibly, if you continue to tax your CPU, and now your GPU is ALSO getting taxed, you might be causing MORE heat than before, and therefore, the fans will kick up faster.
 
Just get yourself a nice laptop with Windows if you don't want any problems with flash. I have a Desktop with 512mb of ram and 2.4ghz Pentium 4 processor and Windows XP that can run youtube with no problems. Should tell you something...
 
d_saum said:
So a long time ago in a thread far far away, I inquired about why my 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo with 4GB of ram had a hard time with Youtube. Responses varied from "I don't have any problems" to "Flash sucks". Needless to say, my MBP still struggles with streaming video online, both from Netflix and Youtube. I'm at the point where I'm thinking about purchasing a new 15 inch MBP with 8GB of ram and was wondering if anyone out there was having flash and/or streaming video issues at all?

Thanks!

*Edit* I should also mention that I'm a browser abuser. I typically have anywhere from 25 to 30 tabs open. Currently using Firefox, but I switch back and forth every so often between FF and Safari.
Click to expand...

The problem I've found is that the more tabs you have open, the MUCH worse performance you get, because there Flash is running on EVERY website you have open. Installing something like ClickToFlash will really improve the performance of your system when browsing because once a page is rendered, it doesn't do anything in the background. All of those silly Flash ads really suck up some CPU usage. Easiest way to confirm this is check your CPU usage with 1 tab and 25 tabs open, and you'll notice the stark difference between the two. That's why something like ClickToFlash makes browsing much better. Plus, no ads when watching YouTube videos, and you get hardware acceleration too! It's a win-win!
 
d_saum said:
So a long time ago in a thread far far away, I inquired about why my 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo with 4GB of ram had a hard time with Youtube. Responses varied from "I don't have any problems" to "Flash sucks". Needless to say, my MBP still struggles with streaming video online, both from Netflix and Youtube. I'm at the point where I'm thinking about purchasing a new 15 inch MBP with 8GB of ram and was wondering if anyone out there was having flash and/or streaming video issues at all?

Thanks!

*Edit* I should also mention that I'm a browser abuser. I typically have anywhere from 25 to 30 tabs open. Currently using Firefox, but I switch back and forth every so often between FF and Safari.
Click to expand...

You problem has nothing do with memory installed, browser choice, or any of these other nonsense things people bring up. Here is your problem. Flash for your particular computer does not use hardware acceleration. Period. End of story. Decoding flash on CPU is extremely CPU intensive. Get hardware that can do the decode on the video chip and it will hit your CPU much less and everything will be smooth. Pretty much any windows box will do this. I believe the last 2 generations of macbook pro's support hardware acceleration (when used with 10.2). Unfortunately it appears the 2011 MBP are not yet supported for HW acceleration (based on internet reports - I don't have 1st hand experience with the 2011s) but I would expect that to change fairly quickly.

Bottom line, get hardware acceleration and you'll be happy.
 
Have you cleaned out the book in a while? Maybe you have obscene amounts of dust in there. My GF's 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo (Nvidia 8600GT) can do 1080p with moderate to no fans depending on duration and 10.2.152.26 release of Flash. Something is up with the machine. New will fix it but your HW should do what you are expecting it to. Did you uninstall Flash prior to upgrading as Adobe requests?
 
The cpu is on low loading when play HTML5 youtube. HTML5 is the future for video player on mac.
 
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