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Flash 10.2 makes monster improvements in CPU usage

I know Steve Jobs doesn’t like Flash, so I’m just saying this matter-of-factly.  Flash 10.2 is a screamer!  We’ve been beta testing it since it was first released but now that Flash 10.2 is final, it’s on the MacBook Air that I use from day to day.  Opening a full screen 1080P YouTube on a MacBook Air used to cripple the whole machine.  Not anymore.

Now, we are seeing 10-15% of one CPU usage.  That’s about the same as playing a similar-sized MP4 in Quicktime.  That means Flash is offloading a lot of the heavy lifting to the Air’s GPU (they’ve said as much in their Flash 10.2 release notes).

Transformers 1080P reference video played on MacBook Air 1.8GHz

About F(lash)ing time. (download here)

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Avatar for Seth Weintraub Seth Weintraub

Publisher and Editorial Director of the 9to5/Electrek sites.


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