Excel for mac 2008 slow?

James J · 25 Nov 2009 at 13:16

Is it just me or is this program insanely slow to use? It's even sluggish when launching the program compared to the others which are nice and quick lol. I've got the latest 13 inch MBP so spec isn't the issue so whys it so damn slow? I'm guessing poor coding?

Due to this I'm looking at other office based software for the mac. Just downloaded the trial of iWork 09 and it seems nice and nippy plus quite easy to use.

Anyone using excel 08 and actually have it running faster than a disabled snail?

James J · 25 Nov 2009 at 13:44

I dont need to use excel a lot of the time to be honest. I've got a field trips results to put in table format but word for mac 08 uses excel for the table results which is retardedly slow. Excel by itself is also stupidly slow. Just had a play with numbers and it does exactly what I want it to do. The only thing is, can the information in the numbers program be used in publisher (on a pc of course) if I save it in the excel format?

James J · 26 Nov 2009 at 00:13

JKD said:
That sounds like bad news, I've bought Office 2008 for Mac on its way for my Macbook (also on its way). Before I crack the seals, shall I send it back and get iWork do you reckon?

entourage, word and powerpoint work really nicely and as they should, its just excel I have major problems with usability wise. I only paid £8.95 for my office for mac software (NHS discount) so I can't complain too much!

Trying iWork 09 out myself, the numbers program is abit simple compared to excel if your using massive spreadsheets but otherwise its rather good, plus it opens office files

James J · 26 Nov 2009 at 18:40

meghatronic said:
How is is slow?

It loads in 6 seconds here, 8 seconds for numbers. I copied a complicated formula in both down to 1200 rows and it was comparable on both.

Not trolling, actually wondering.

Lag on entering data into any cells even on a blank worksheet. Even clicking on document theme takes a good few seconds to actually pop up and the animation is bugged to hell of the box dropping down. The entire program just looks like one massive memory leak. Really poor coding

James J · 10 Dec 2009 at 01:41

Thought I'd update my thread. Found a FIX

Seems theres a problem with excels latest version in page layout view if you have a HP printer driver installed on your macbook. Way around this without uninstalling your printer is to use normal view instead and go into excel preferences and tell it to open also in normal view instead of page layout. Works very quickly and smoothly then!

0 complaints from me since I discovered this