Excel 2008 version 12.1.5 is still slow forlarge files with charts

[shahroozohio]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I am a recent "convert" from the windows world to the mac world. However, the less than acceptable performance of Excel 2008 in dealing with large files (about 12000 rows and 15 columns) is driving me ABSOLUTELY crazy. I've had to run Excel 2003 (yes, Excel 2003 and not Excel 2004 because Excel 2004 is also slow) on Parallels in order to process my data. I am trying to do simple 2D x-y plots - nothing really fancy!

I am not sure if others have similar problems as I do. I am running the latest version of Excel 2008 on a MacBook running Mac OS X version 10.5.6 with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 4 GB of RAM.

Are the developers of Excel 2008 aware of this problem? Does anybody know if this problem will be handled in a new service pack release? Does anybody know when a new update will be released?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I am a recent "convert" from the windows world to the mac world. However, the less than acceptable performance of Excel 2008 in dealing with large files (about 12000 rows and 15 columns) is driving me ABSOLUTELY crazy. I've had to run Excel 2003 (yes, Excel 2003 and not Excel 2004 because Excel 2004 is also slow) on Parallels in order to process my data. I am trying to do simple 2D x-y plots - nothing really fancy!

I am not sure if others have similar problems as I do. I am running the latest version of Excel 2008 on a MacBook running Mac OS X version 10.5.6 with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 4 GB of RAM.

Are the developers of Excel 2008 aware of this problem? Does anybody know if this problem will be handled in a new service pack release? Does anybody know when a new update will be released?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi,

I do know that the developers are aware of this particular problem and
that they are working on it. What I can't do is foretell is the future.
How or when the problem will be addressed is something that I don't know.

-Jim

 

[gabem]

It's really frustrating that this made it to production preforming this poorly... I feel that those of us who have to deal with 40-100mb workbooks are left no option but to poison our systems with a windows install and go buy a copy of excel 07.

I would think that my 2.4ghz core 2 duo would be able to perform some simple cut and paste and vlookup functions without stalling for (no joke here) upwards of 10 minutes. How can my coworker's single core pc running windows perform an operation that takes 10 minutes on my system in under 30 seconds? That seems insane to me.

 

[shahroozohio]

Thanks to both of you for getting back to me.

Yes, indeed it is ABSOLUTELY maddening that we still have to rely on Windows products on a Mac that has such a beautiful and robust OS. My problems with Excel 08 have made me seriously doubt about my recent switch to the Mac world. I really thought that I would leave the windows world (after nearly 15 years), but I guess I have to keep windows kicking around on my MacBook.

I really hope that the developers read these blogs and see that serious users of Excel are badly handicapped with its lack luster performance. PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

By the way, I have evaluated a few other options such as NeoOffice and Mariner Calc; they suffer from the same dismal performance. Is everybody using the same API, or are the programmers becoming less competent about memory management and efficiency???

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Thanks to both of you for getting back to me.

Yes, indeed it is ABSOLUTELY maddening that we still have to rely on Windows
products on a Mac that has such a beautiful and robust OS. My problems with
Excel 08 have made me seriously doubt about my recent switch to the Mac world.
I really thought that I would leave the windows world (after nearly 15 years),
but I guess I have to keep windows kicking around on my MacBook.

I really hope that the developers read these blogs and see that serious users
of Excel are badly handicapped with its lack luster performance. PLEASE DO
SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

By the way, I have evaluated a few other options such as NeoOffice and Mariner
Calc; they suffer from the same dismal performance. Is everybody using the
same API, or are the programmers becoming less competent about memory
management and efficiency???

The developers and product managers do indeed read these threads, and are
aware of the issues. However, it is always best to express you requests and
impacts on you daily work by sending feedback via the help menu.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Thanks to both of you for getting back to me.

Yes, indeed it is ABSOLUTELY maddening that we still have to rely on Windows products on a Mac that has such a beautiful and robust OS. My problems with Excel 08 have made me seriously doubt about my recent switch to the Mac world. I really thought that I would leave the windows world (after nearly 15 years), but I guess I have to keep windows kicking around on my MacBook.

I really hope that the developers read these blogs and see that serious users of Excel are badly handicapped with its lack luster performance. PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

By the way, I have evaluated a few other options such as NeoOffice and Mariner Calc; they suffer from the same dismal performance. Is everybody using the same API, or are the programmers becoming less competent about memory management and efficiency???

Hi,

This second half of this blog sheds light on the nature of the speed
problem and why a fix has not been quick in the making.
<http://www.schwieb.com/blog/2008/10/23/risks-and-rewards/>

My take: the fix might cause calculation problems that don't exist now.
It's safer to wait until the next major Office release when everything
can be thoroughly tested. It's slow, but accurate now. Don't take chances.

-Jim