Why doesn't Flash run smoother on Macs?

[hello880]

I have a MBP 13" 2011 and I've tried both Flash 10 and Flash 11 but both play Youtube videos slightly choppy (the frame rate, not the speed) and not as smooth as videos play on my Windows laptop even though it has worse specs than my MBP. Does anyone know why this is or how to make Flash smoother?

 

[TheJing]

I have a MBP 13" 2011 and I've tried both Flash 10 and Flash 11 but both play Youtube videos slightly choppy (the frame rate, not the speed) and not as smooth as videos play on my Windows laptop even though it has worse specs than my MBP. Does anyone know why this is or how to make Flash smoother?

On both my Pro and on my Air Flash videos are as smooth as on my Windows machine. They do get hotter though. But videos are just as smooth even if I'm watching 1080p videos.

 

[thermodynamic]

On both my Pro and on my Air Flash videos are as smooth as on my Windows machine. They do get hotter though. But videos are just as smooth even if I'm watching 1080p videos.

Lack of GPU acceleration makes the CPU do all the work.

They run smoothly on my 2009 Mac Pro, but CPU usage does go up. On Windows, CPU usage is lower...

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/web-video-showdown-flash-vs-quicktime-vs-windows-media/13176

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archive...eat_flash_surprising_results_of_new_tests.php

also have some useful information.

 

[dusk007]

flash shouldn't be choppy. GPU acceleration and all such features always came to Windows first and some featurs that flash is advertised with still doesn't work in OSX.

As far as youtube goes there is an alternative for everybody with HD 3000 GPUs like yourself. It apparently works only well with Intel HD 3000.
Switch to youtube HTML5
youtube.com/html5 -> activate html5 trial

Usually even full software (only CPU) a core i5 should be able to handle flash videos without frame dropping. It will only mean very bad battery life.

 

[hello880]

I downgraded from Flash 11 to 10.2 and it seems to run much smoother strangely... and also it seems to run smoother in Chrome than in Safari, with a higher CPU usage in Chrome.

 

[GuitarG20]

I downgraded from Flash 11 to 10.2 and it seems to run much smoother strangely... and also it seems to run smoother in Chrome than in Safari, with a higher CPU usage in Chrome.

This is probably because chrome has flash built into its sandbox; the version given with chrome will always run well for the version of chrome that you have.

 

[hello880]

Never mind... it's not smoother. After watching a few videos, youtube's frame rate starts becoming choppy again...

 

[hello880]

Flash runs super smooth in Camino though... no stutters at all in youtube videos. Does anyone know how I could make Safari be like that too?

 

[DoctorOwl]

It could be your WiFi connection isn't very good, and you have to remember to keep your Flash player updated (it seems to auto-update nearly daily on Windows and rarely/never on Mac).

 

[hello880]

It could be your WiFi connection isn't very good, and you have to remember to keep your Flash player updated (it seems to auto-update nearly daily on Windows and rarely/never on Mac).

Wouldn't be a WiFi problem if Flash videos run perfectly smooth in Camino but not in Safari and I've already tried updating, doesn't make a difference.

 

[Lee Adama]

Does having more ram help or is it a limitation of the integrated GPU on the 13"?

 

[GuitarG20]

Does having more ram help or is it a limitation of the integrated GPU on the 13"?

that depends if the OP is having page out issues.

the 17" (which I have) has a HD3000 integrated and it runs flash and 1080p youtube without problems.