How does this handle large PDFs?

[David58117]

I'm thinking of selling my 15" for this. I don't really do anything processor intensive, or need ports.

I really just want something to view large pdfs (3-4000 pages).

I use Skim..

 

[noi747]

FYI, I'm running on my base rMB. my largest pdf file sized about 350MB and 7,200 pages in total.

It took 10 second on average to open this file. but once it's opened. I'm able to smoothly scroll it, jump to anywhere on the file in a flash.

My other large files are 150 MB in size. and all of them can be open much faster than the largest one above.

 

[Kristine]

I'm thinking of selling my 15" for this. I don't really do anything processor intensive, or need ports.

I really just want something to view large pdfs (3-4000 pages).

I use Skim..

I sold my high-end 15" rMBP (current model) for my base rMB. I read A LOT of medical research journals. Would not go back to the 15".

FYI, I'm running on my base rMB. my largest pdf file sized about 350MB and 7,200 pages in total.

It took 10 second on average to open this file. but once it's opened. I'm able to smoothly scroll it, jump to anywhere on the file in a flash.

My other large files are 150 MB in size. and all of them can be open much faster than the largest one above.

I agree with these statements.

You'll be fine with the Macbook.

 

[HengenJL]

I have an 780MB PDF of 1200 DPI scanned photos from a previous job that I test on the rMB and it works perfectly.

 

[wolfie]

Im going to throw the cat among the pigeons.

I find it hard to believe it works 'perfectly'. I often open demanding PDF's (medical textbooks) and it is not smooth. there is a jumpy/lag feel. Sometimes I even get the spinning beach ball.

Ive got a 1.2

 

[at0m]

For what it's worth on PDF's I don't think it has to be huge, I haven't tried this on a rMB but on my cMBP ( quad 2.2 ) this one is a killer:
http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/sites/defa...l-capital-greenbelt-all-seasons-trail-map.pdf

only 2 pages, around 20MB.. zoom to actual size to read the trail maps and scroll around == death for my cMBP.. not sure what secret sauce they put in that PDF I'd be curious if the rMB handled it smoothly via some new CPU instructions or something that my old cMBP doesn't have.

 

[David58117]

For what it's worth on PDF's I don't think it has to be huge, I haven't tried this on a rMB but on my cMBP ( quad 2.2 ) this one is a killer:
http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/sites/defa...l-capital-greenbelt-all-seasons-trail-map.pdf

only 2 pages, around 20MB.. zoom to actual size to read the trail maps and scroll around == death for my cMBP.. not sure what secret sauce they put in that PDF I'd be curious if the rMB handled it smoothly via some new CPU instructions or something that my old cMBP doesn't have.

Wow, thanks for killing my 2014 11" air!

Ill try my 2014 15" retina later!

 

[legioxi]

For what it's worth on PDF's I don't think it has to be huge, I haven't tried this on a rMB but on my cMBP ( quad 2.2 ) this one is a killer:
http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/sites/defa...l-capital-greenbelt-all-seasons-trail-map.pdf

only 2 pages, around 20MB.. zoom to actual size to read the trail maps and scroll around == death for my cMBP.. not sure what secret sauce they put in that PDF I'd be curious if the rMB handled it smoothly via some new CPU instructions or something that my old cMBP doesn't have.

1.2rMB and it beechballs a lot on that specific PDF.

My tech manual PDFs, 5-150MB, 100-1200 pages each, all work flawlessly though.

 

[snapper64]

For what it's worth on PDF's I don't think it has to be huge, I haven't tried this on a rMB but on my cMBP ( quad 2.2 ) this one is a killer:
http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/sites/defa...l-capital-greenbelt-all-seasons-trail-map.pdf

only 2 pages, around 20MB.. zoom to actual size to read the trail maps and scroll around == death for my cMBP.. not sure what secret sauce they put in that PDF I'd be curious if the rMB handled it smoothly via some new CPU instructions or something that my old cMBP doesn't have.

Same experience with my 1.1GHz MacBook, Preview becomes unusable and everything grinds to a halt.

It's definitely not a MacBook specific issue though, I loaded the same file on my 15" rMBP and the same thing happens (even if I force it to use the discrete GPU). It's either an issue specific to that PDF or more generally Preview not working well with a PDF containing very high resolution graphics.

EDIT: Just to add I've been working with other large PDF's fine so far. A 300MB 1200 page textbook works perfectly.

 

[Cape Dave]

For what it's worth on PDF's I don't think it has to be huge, I haven't tried this on a rMB but on my cMBP ( quad 2.2 ) this one is a killer:
http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/sites/defa...l-capital-greenbelt-all-seasons-trail-map.pdf

only 2 pages, around 20MB.. zoom to actual size to read the trail maps and scroll around == death for my cMBP.. not sure what secret sauce they put in that PDF I'd be curious if the rMB handled it smoothly via some new CPU instructions or something that my old cMBP doesn't have.

That PDF sucks on my retina iMac i5 512GB 295x. Ouch.

 

[johngwheeler]

Kills my 2.3GHz rMBP 15 too!

Even with the dGPU enabled, this PDF beach-balls my late-2013 quad-core rMBP 15, for about 7-10 seconds each move.

Interestingly CPU is only just over 100%, which is for one CPU thread (maximum is 800% due to quad-core with 2 hyper-threads per core), so it's not really CPU bound, unless Preview runs single threaded!

 

[sunfire7]

For what it's worth on PDF's I don't think it has to be huge, I haven't tried this on a rMB but on my cMBP ( quad 2.2 ) this one is a killer:
http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/sites/defa...l-capital-greenbelt-all-seasons-trail-map.pdf

only 2 pages, around 20MB.. zoom to actual size to read the trail maps and scroll around == death for my cMBP.. not sure what secret sauce they put in that PDF I'd be curious if the rMB handled it smoothly via some new CPU instructions or something that my old cMBP doesn't have.

Beach ball for maxed rMBP 13'', 7-8 secs between zooms and moves

 

[JTToft]

For what it's worth on PDF's I don't think it has to be huge, I haven't tried this on a rMB but on my cMBP ( quad 2.2 ) this one is a killer:
http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/sites/defa...l-capital-greenbelt-all-seasons-trail-map.pdf

only 2 pages, around 20MB.. zoom to actual size to read the trail maps and scroll around == death for my cMBP.. not sure what secret sauce they put in that PDF I'd be curious if the rMB handled it smoothly via some new CPU instructions or something that my old cMBP doesn't have.

- Pretty much unusable on my 2.2 i7 cMBP as well. Something's up with that file.

 

[fatefulwhisper]

For what it's worth on PDF's I don't think it has to be huge, I haven't tried this on a rMB but on my cMBP ( quad 2.2 ) this one is a killer:
http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/sites/defa...l-capital-greenbelt-all-seasons-trail-map.pdf

only 2 pages, around 20MB.. zoom to actual size to read the trail maps and scroll around == death for my cMBP.. not sure what secret sauce they put in that PDF I'd be curious if the rMB handled it smoothly via some new CPU instructions or something that my old cMBP doesn't have.

my hunch is that Preview wasn't optimized to handle such a highly detailed PDF file properly; it's good for smaller, less detailed (or mainly text) PDF files.

I installed Adobe Acrobat Reader and it opens this file fine on the rMB. Although the CPU rises up to 160%, it is still able to handle the file fine. I even opened the PDF file in Photoshop and it's smoother on Photoshop; although it seems to render the file first (but keeps the same pixel density and dimensions).

 

[MyopicPaideia]

There is a lots of different things that can be happening with the internal "formatting" of the individual objects in the PDF's as well. If they are not optimised correctly, they can be huge pains to use. Sometimes Adobe Acrobat is better for these than Preview. I have noticed that PDF's that originated in OS X or Apple's ecosystem (iTunes U for example) all have worked flawlessly regardless of size even on iPads of various generations, while one can almost immediately tell when one runs across PDF created with a third party app amd hasn't been properly optimised.

 

[theSeb]

It's a pity that Adobe forgot what pdf actually stands for - portable document format.

 

[Niarlatop]

This file works perfectly fine in Firefox's native PDF reader, it takes a little while to load at first but you can scroll smoothly afterward. I guess it's just an issue specific to Preview and it must happen on every Mac.