Scottsdale, did you try listening to streaming audio (flash one), via your display's speakers? I would be interested in knowing if the issue only happens to me.
I agree with you though, I love my Macbook Air and would not change it for anything. No issues at all running VMware FUsion, entourage etc...(even if it is slower of course than working with OS X). I also do some heavy Java stuff and it is fine.
Maybe you're trying to do too much with it. I don't recommend anyone use it with Parallels or Fusion because there isn't enough RAM.
Here is the thing with the Air; it has only 2 GB RAM, so you're limiting OS X and Windows to only 1 GB RAM (or some variation adding up to 2 GB). If someone wants to run Windows on the Air, they really should do it in Boot Camp.
It seems to me like you may be using the MBA like NOT intended. Next, no Mac is great with Flash. You're working around the acceptable CPU clock speed to deal with Flash, but you also have your resources tied up into Fusion and Windows.
Then you also mentioned "heavy stuff."
The MBA is right for people who use OS X. It is right for people who use most apps but not all. It is right for doing one intensive task at a time.
It is not right, in my opinion, for Windows virtually at the same time as OS X. It has 2 GB RAM which is fine in OS X but deadly to share. Also remember the 9400m is sharing the same memory too!
The MBA is also not right for people who run many intensive tasks at the same time. Sure you can have mail open, a few Pages documents, an Excel spreadsheet, and a video. But you cannot have Windows sharing half the RAM and all those same apps running in BOTH Windows and OS X.
You also cannot expect multiple videos with a few Flash pages in FireFox and several plug-ins going while limiting the RAM.
This is a problem of what people consider "normal" and what I consider normal. I am always reading someone say I have 14 FireFox pages going (a few plug-ins and Flash probably included), I have five other apps open, and I am trying to run a YouTube video in SD and the fans are blowing at 6200 rpms! Well, this is the problem.
To me it's NOT normal to want to run Windows at the same time as OS X, but if you do want that, you should honestly select a different Mac. Unless you're aware that you're sharing the resources and GPU RAM on both sides and running non-intensive and limited number of apps on both OSes.
If you want to run Windows on an MBA, it's great in Boot Camp! This is a limitation of the MBA. Another limitation is operating many apps and many Safari or FireFox tabs at the same time. I like to think that I cannot do 17 things at a time so why would I leave all those apps open. Here lies the differences with all the heat/fan complainers - they're doing too much.
The limitations of the MBA are that if you want it to do everything you want at fast speed, fairly cool, and Mac-like, you have to realize what's normal for an MBA. If I have Safari running and Flash pages are hitting the CPU you can be certain I don't have a bunch of other apps going. I leave Email and Pages open while working on Safari, but I don't have PS running with other apps at the same time I am actually surfing FireFox Flash pages.
I guess to some people it's normal to be sharing out system resources between two OSes and still expect amazing performance from the MBA but I
know its limitations.
I wouldn't expect there is anything wrong with the OP's MBA or ACD, I think a Mac Pro might work better for all that than the MBA. I seriously think the OP has demanded too much from the MBA and that's just a difference in opinion on what's normal.
