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iWork '08 - Numbers Lags?

rdp5008

rdp5008

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2006
111
0
Florida
I purchased iWork '08 when it first came out. Things are working pretty well for me, I haven't used all of the features yet.

I do have one problem, Numbers runs slow and there is a noticeable delay from when I type a number and when it actually appears on the screen (or any other action I do).

I am running all of this on a 12" PB G4 1.5ghz with 1.25 gb ram and 10.4.10. Has anyone else had this problem? Is my little Powerbook not powerful enough to run numbers? Any ideas on how to remedy this issue?
 
Same hardware, same software, same problem.

I'm also having this other problem: sometimes when I type a text with newlines (Control+Return) and finish with Return, the row resizes to show the extra lines, and at other times it doesn't. Pretty annoying.

Luckily I'm still running the trial.
 
I'm running a 1.33 GHz PowerBook with 1.5 GB of RAM and it seems fine for the version 1.0 it is. Give it 5 weeks and there will be a performance enhancement and bug fix update that might even include new features, as has been the case with Keynote and Pages.
 
Honestly tho, you guys are running really old hardware.

Anything not running Intel chips needs to go. I know its not what you want to hear, but this is the life of a computer. Every ~ 3 years, its defiantly time for a new one or be left in the dark.
 
I think I agree. But with my current budget, I can barely buy iWork :p Hope that's going to change soon, though.

As of note, my PB is not nearly 3 years old - in a month it'll be 2. I plan on using it for another year, until the AppleCare expires.
 
iBunny said:
Honestly tho, you guys are running really old hardware.
Click to expand...

Well...I not sure my computer is that old yet (but I certainly don't mind upgrading it to something..like a Mac Pro :D).

Well, I've got a fuel log for my car which I've been keeping in MS Excel 2004. I've imported it into Numbers. Sure enough it doesn't have every feature of Excel, but it sure looks better.

ANYWAY...I remade the charts for the fuel price, that's about 88 entries, and well, every time you want to do something to the chart, like change a title, I can see my CPU usage jump to 50% (or one whole core) for about 10 seconds.

That's the smaller chart too! I have the full chart for my previous car, it's about 230 entries, in a similar line chart. And guess what, just selecting it makes pages hang for a whole minute. I can't even resize it! It's a 10cm by 8cm chart containing 230 little little data points all bunched up! USELESS!
 
If I upgrade to a Macbook or MBP would I notice a significant increase in performance with Numbers, or is this more of a software problem?

I love my 12" PB, but there have been some things lately that I cannot do with it. I mainly surf the net, check email, and I am a grad student so I do a fair bit of image processing, typing with Papers and TexShop, spreadsheet work with Numbers and Delta Graph, presentations with Keynote, etc...
 
I get the same problem in PB G4 15' 1.25 Ghz, 1.25 GB Ram - there is a big lag when the entry actually appears. Same file in excel is so fast that i went back to excel for my work. I really thought of getting rid of M ***** office, but i guess i wouldn't. By the way i upgraded my HDD which has significantly boosted the peppiness of whole system, so i dont think it is entirely old hardware problem. or may be it is if the whole software has lot of visual enhancements, etc which bogs the system down. :mad:
 
rdp5008 said:
If I upgrade to a Macbook or MBP would I notice a significant increase in performance with Numbers, or is this more of a software problem?

I love my 12" PB, but there have been some things lately that I cannot do with it. I mainly surf the net, check email, and I am a grad student so I do a fair bit of image processing, typing with Papers and TexShop, spreadsheet work with Numbers and Delta Graph, presentations with Keynote, etc...
Click to expand...

Would you notice a increase in performance? = Yes

The problem does lie with the software. This is the first release. So its gonna be slower than It "could" be and buggy. However your older computer dosent help either.

Look at it this way. You have a G4 Processor in your Powerbook. Since then, the following processors have been released.

G5
Core Duo
Core 2 Duo

So you are multiple generations behind. Not to mention the fact that you are running what? 1.33GHz maybe? The new C2D processors are running 2x 2.4Ghz (Effectivly 4.8Ghz of total power under the hood)

So yes, if would bennifit you to get a new MBP to replace your aging Powerbook. Not to say anything is wrong with your computer, its just that there is much better and much newer outthere.
 
I noticed the lag on my 17" G4 1.67GHz PowerBook.

Let me say that Numbers is the #1 best spreadsheet app I've ever used. I've done extensive work in Excel.
 
Numbers is horribly slow on a G4, but perfectly fine on a Core2Duo. I don't buy the argument that Numbers should be slow because a G4 is an old CPU though. The fact is that Excel works great on a G4. Numbers does less than Excel and yet still manages to take up more CPU cycles. This is just poor programming.

I mean, the UI I can understand maybe being slow. But doing simple things such as importing a CSV file take 9-10 times longer on Numbers than Excel. Importing a CSV file is hardly a complex thing.
 
I have a (oh, see below) and it is fine. Bet this new software is built better for the newer Intels.
 
Lesser Evets said:
For you maybe. Not for everyone.
Click to expand...
You're totally missing my point. The program is slow. A fast CPU masks this slowness, but it doesn't mean that it isn't slow. If a program takes 10 times longer than its main rival to accomplish a task, then it is clearly running inefficiently.
 
Chill pill, pal, chill pill.

You didn't read or comprehend my post. You are stating it as if the problem is universal. It obviously isn't.
 
Lesser Evets said:
I have a (oh, see below) and it is fine. Bet this new software is built better for the newer Intels.
Click to expand...

Anything is possible but it could just be that, being a version 1.0, they got it running, fixed some bugs, and stopped, as with Keynote and Pages.

They also aren't likely to test with a reasonable mix of applications. They probably have configurations with minimal RAM and those full of RAM.

It also seems that they want to forget that they ever had G4 machines, even though those machines kept them afloat not so long ago.
 
Lesser Evets said:
Chill pill, pal, chill pill.

You didn't read or comprehend my post. You are stating it as if the problem is universal. It obviously isn't.
Click to expand...

That your CPU might be blazingly fast doens't make the program more efficient. When a program performs a magnitude of 10 slower than its direct competitors, it's slow.
 
Slow too on iMac 20" coreduo

I am currently testing out iwork 08, on my iMac intel core duo, with 2GB of ram.

Numbers is very slow, specially editing the tables or selecting cells. If i insert a PDF file onto numbers, it's even ran slower.

But, if i open up the any default template. It's ran faster than my own files.

I think this is more of software problem... better wait for the patch before buy it.
 
on my macbook 1.83ghz w/2 gigs of ram numbers works quite well. i hope to be able to remove office off my mac in the near future
 
So after working with Numbers for awhile I HAD to reinstall Excel. I have a few spreadsheets with over 2000 cells of data and they are SLOW in Numbers, but they fly in Excel and even DeltaGraph. Numbers is okay for small data sets, but still lags like a $^W#&!

Buying iWork wasn't a total loss, I still use Keynote and Papers, (although I use TexShop for my articles and thesis). Papers has some cool features for short documents and letters and resumes. Keynote rocks. Too bad Numbers sucks! Hopefully they'll upgrade it in the near future.

I am not in a hurry to upgrade, my 12" Powerbook G4 kicks butt!
 
rdp5008 said:
I am not in a hurry to upgrade, my 12" Powerbook G4 kicks butt!
Click to expand...

Yaaay, join the 12-inch revolution! There will be a time when all the 12" Macs cease to be, but for now, we have the world! Except Numbers and iMovie 08...
 
rdp5008 said:
I purchased iWork '08 when it first came out. Things are working pretty well for me, I haven't used all of the features yet.

I do have one problem, Numbers runs slow and there is a noticeable delay from when I type a number and when it actually appears on the screen (or any other action I do).

I am running all of this on a 12" PB G4 1.5ghz with 1.25 gb ram and 10.4.10. Has anyone else had this problem? Is my little Powerbook not powerful enough to run numbers? Any ideas on how to remedy this issue?
Click to expand...

I have the same problem, usually only when editing (or attempting to edit) an existing formula. Despite the lag, it has not crashed yet.
 
Numbers just crashed for me for the first time. I clicked the Dock icon. It was supposed to open a new document, but it went boom.

edit: not the Steve Jobs kind of boom :p
 
I have the same issue with a newer macbook pro. I tried sorting a 200 line sheet and it took about 20 seconds, in excel it is instant.
 
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