adobe flash questions

[imHappy]

Hey guys,

Until now my experience with my new mba Ultimate has been wonderfull(my first mac).

The thing is that i realised i only had up to 4 hours if not less of battery but with adobe flash 10.3 installed which today i saw a series of articles that indicate that if i don't install the flash player, i will get 2 more hours of battery aprox.

So, while surfing I also discover the program ClickToFlash. Basically, i have to install ClickToFlash only if i have INSTALLED the adobe flash player? Also, would this app save me more battery and if possible the 2 hours lost from the adobe flash player?

Also would it be better to simply not have the adobe flash player so that i can safe more battery and Clicktoflash installed? but then... how am i supposed to watch youtube videos?


sry for my ignorance. but it would be the first time not using adobe flash player.

edit. sorry for my english!

 

[pgiguere1]

You will only get an extra 2 hours of battery if all you do is surf webpages that normally have flash enabled for the whole time. If you do something else, like use a program other than your browser or go to websites that have no flash at all, you're not going to increase your battery life with no flash installed vs installed. To have flash installed will not drain more battery unless flash content is displayed. ClickToFlash lets you chose yourself which flash content is enabled, so that unneeded ones, like flash ads, don't drain your battery for nothing.

2 hours is the theoretical extra battery you could gain, but since you're (probably) not using webpages with flash for 4 hours straight, expect an increase but not as much as 2 hours.

As for youtube videos, another possibility is to use HTML5 (go to http://www.youtube.com/html5) instead of flash. HTML5 is already integrated into all modern browsers, no plugin needed. Most video streaming website are starting to offer HTML5 as an option, which is more stable and uses less CPU power, giving you cooler operating temperatures and more battery life.

I know not all youtube videos are availabe in HTML5 for now though. There's this extension: http://www.verticalforest.com/2010/06/09/youtube5-html5-converter-for-youtube-videos/ that converts all youtube videos to HTML5, including the ones normally only available in flash. Not sure how that works though, I've never tried it myself but read good feedback online.

Edit: To answer your question, yes, you need to have flash installed already to install ClickToFlash, since all it does is block flash content unless you tell it not to.

 

[Dark Void]

i use clicktoflash and basically what it does is when you have flash installed, it acts as a plugin to your browser and displays anything flash as a "flash" button and you can click it if you want to view it, with a whitelist that you can add web addresses to. it's really helpful and can definitely save you at least some battery power as flash can be kind of demanding at times.