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I run applications that use Adobe Flash.

This causes my MacBook Air (1st generation) to heat up and end up becoming unusable.

Someone suggested running flash after creating a new Windows Partition, because Mac OS-X does not support Flash very well.

Will it help to run Flash that way?

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2 Answers

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I have found that Parallels and VMWare are painfully slow on a 1st gen MBA. You could use Chrome when you need Flash as it runs a browser-specific instance of Flash rather than calling the system Flash instance. Flash is very CPU-intensive so it may very well heat up the machine more than normal — I seem to recall mine always being pretty hot on the bottom.

John Gruber has a great article on removing Flash from OS X and then just using Chrome when you need it here - http://daringfireball.net/2010/11/flash_free_and_cheating_with_google_chrome

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+1 for Gruber's article. I did this to all of my Macs and I noticed they all perked up a bit. I really didn't want yet another browser to use, but I also didn't need Flash enough to justify having it available all the time at the system level. – Philip Regan Feb 21 '11 at 15:32
I have actually not missed it much and I don't mind launching Chrome every once in awhile. – john busteed Feb 21 '11 at 16:19
Agreed. Flash really is a timewaster, and chromium is my work browser. Sadly I've been hearing the fans again on gmail pages. – chiggsy Feb 21 '11 at 19:05
up vote 1 down vote

It's actually Flash that does't support OS X very well.

But simply running Flash can't make your MBA so hot, what kind of applications are you using with Flash that demand such huge heat-ups?

You could try installing a Windows partition, but I suspect that it won't lessen your problem.

I think your problem are the applications oyu are using with that laptop, as it doesn't have active cooling and can't handle too much CPU/GPU heat.

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Will using active cooling pads solve the problem? – Jon Feb 21 '11 at 5:03
@Jon It might work, though usefulness of cooling pads is highly contested. I'd recommend you try a cooling pad from a friend or ask the shop if you can try it out before you buy it. – deiga Feb 21 '11 at 8:30

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