Does Firefox Cause Netbook Meltdowns?
I had not heard of this phenomenon before, but it is being reported that Firefox is causing systems to run harder than other web browsers. This is allegedly due to web pages that have a lot of Flash-based content which makes the CPU run harder and longer. It seems the system heat goes up and causes the fans to go into overdrive to keep things cool.
This is not causing netbooks to melt, but it would certainly hit lower spec hardware harder than its bigger siblings. I will have to keep an eye out for this, or maybe an ear open for increased fan noise. How about it — have you noticed Firefox hitting your fan harder than Chrome, Safari or IE?
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I gave up on Firefox on my eeepc netbook when the 3.5 update came out. Everything ground to a halt having only 3 tabs open.It seemed to have some serious problems.
Stuck with chrome as the default now, FF doesn’t get a look in.
My tweet from four days ago sums it up: “Ah… now I remember why I use Chrome over Firefox. FF eating gobs of memory and my MB fan is running like there’s no tomorrow.”
My MB fan only runs when I’m encoding video or when I’m using Firefox. The video bit, I can understand, but not when running the browser. No other browser (Safari, Chrome, or Opera) causes the fan to run like fighter jet.
Oh, IE does, too. Seems that Windows on my MacBook Pro 13″ (either booted using BootCamp or running in Parallels) and when using IE makes it run really hot (like my Lenovo X60 Tablet did). If I use the basics like OneNote or Word, it’s not as hot, but still much warmer than when only using OS X and its apps.
The most CPU-efficient browser on a netbook is IE, though. Simply because there’s a limited amount of DirectX acceleration that can be done with Flash, but only with the ActiveX version of the plugin. (And, at least on a GMA950, it helps a lot with video. For that matter, it helps a lot on my main laptop, with a 2.0 GHz Core Duo and an ATI FireGL V5250.)
But, I only use IE for trusted Flash videos.
Even my normal laptop HP TX2110US runs super hot with firefox. My Toshiba NB205 heats up big time as well. FF also gobbles up the free ram like there is no tomorrow, with 3 tabs open, gmail, facebook, and this page my FF is using 500MB of ram, lol.
To those using Chrome: I suggest trying out srware iron. It’s a more secure chrome that doesn’t compromise privacy and comes with a built-in adblocker.
NOSCRIPT, a Firefox extension will prevent most of the Java Junk you don’t want, and allow you to enjoy your time on the net
I have had netbooks for awhile and first noticed substantial cpu increases after Flash went to version 10 from 9 about a year ago. Adobe Flash is a CPU WHORE !!!
I admit I have had a bias against Flash even before this issue, since I believe Macromedia/Adobe Flash has done more to turn the web into a garbage-laden billboard of obnoxious in-your-face advertising than any other piece of software.
It’s proper name should be Adobe Trash.
Totally agree 100%. Rather than blame Firefox for slowing things down I’d put the blame on Adobe. Flash is nothing but a resource hog that causes more trouble on older hardware than any other plug-in, and this has become especially apparent since moving from v9 to v10. It is poorly coded, has no backward compatibility whatsoever and demands too much from CPU/GPU.
We can thank Adobe that the simple task of web surfing now requires a dual-core CPU and dedicated graphics. Your perfectly working old hardware now becomes unusable all because of Adobe Flash.
Flash is a terrible curse on computing!
Firefox does have particular problems with it. I often notice my CPU at 50% from flash on Firefox. And it only gets back to normal when you close Firefox completely and restart, closing the tab/window with the flash application is not enough.
IE8 is better because 1. if flash becomes unresponsive it prompts the user and offers to shut down that flash application and 2. there is more independence between tabs where there is none in Firefox.
(50% being one core maxed out)
my experience is that it is all about flash rather than firefox. the flashblock extensions has helped me in reducing overheating significantly.
Yes, the flashblock add on is great for any computer!
Yes. Firefox is definitely a problem, but I can’t say whether Flash is really the underlying cause. I added an extra cooling fan to my desktop Windows XP machine when I plugged in extra video cards. Certain Web sites (Forbes is one of them) make the CPU go way up (80-100%) and all the cooling fans run on high (very loud).
This never happens with Chrome and, now that you mention it, I’m using Chrome more and more often. In fact, I’m making Chrome my default browser right now because these problems always appear when I’m reading the news or other general browsing. I’ll use Firefox only when I need one of the excellent add-ons.