Adobe Releases Flash For Mac Beta With GPU Acceleration

Adobe has just released Gala, the first version of Flash for the Mac that supports GPU-based hardware acceleration, taking advantage of OS X 10.6.3’s hardware video decoding API, pushing the task of decoding H.264 videos to the graphics chipset rather than the main processor, easing the strain on the system and helping to preserve battery life. It requires a modern NVIDIA video chip, such as the GeForce 9400M, 320M or the GT 330M. Users shouldn’t need to change their usage patterns, but there will be a small square in the corner to indicate when GPU acceleration is in progress.