MS Powerpoint 2004 is terribly slow !

[mthangbk]

I'm using a Aluminum Powerbook 1.25Ghz, 1 GB Ram, OS X 10.3.8.
PowerPoint is very, very slowwwww when I type text ( it took about 2 seconds to display a character ). I've installed the lastest update but nothing changed.

Most other applications can run quite fast ( not very fast but acceptable). This Mac can run heavy games like UT2004 well so I assume it is a fast machine.

Any idea ?

 

[MisterMe]

....

Any idea ?

Not without some useful information. How long have you had PowerPoint installed before this problem presented itself? Are you running other foreground apps and how many? Do you have the same problem on other PowerPoint files? How large is the file that you are working on?

 

[jim.]

I'm using a Aluminum Powerbook 1.25Ghz, 1 GB Ram, OS X 10.3.8.
PowerPoint is very, very slowwwww when I type text ( it took about 2 seconds to display a character ). I've installed the lastest update but nothing changed.

You know, I have noticed this on all office applications, and on many apple ones too. I have the exact same PB that you do. I seem to recall a thread discussing the typing issue with OSX somewhere on here. I don't think any solution was ever found aside from waiting for Apple to get in gear and fix it.

I think it is a combination of OSX's bad type handling (maybe the font rendering path?) and Office's implementation of it (maybe it is double rendering?). I know similar problems are being hashed out in GNOME with its unicode rendering path.

Anyone with a Dual G5 notice the slow font rendering, as this would be CPU limited?


Jim

 

[GodBless]

I'm using a Aluminum Powerbook 1.25Ghz, 1 GB Ram, OS X 10.3.8.
PowerPoint is very, very slowwwww when I type text ( it took about 2 seconds to display a character ). I've installed the lastest update but nothing changed.

Most other applications can run quite fast ( not very fast but acceptable). This Mac can run heavy games like UT2004 well so I assume it is a fast machine.

Any idea ?

Try using Keynote 2, part of the iWork package. You can save your Keynote files as PowerPoint files so you can still be compatible with Microsoft Office. Keynote is better than PowerPoint overall anyway. I bought iWork less than 1 week ago and I like Keynote 2 better than PowerPoint already. If you want speed and quality as much as I do go for Keynote over PowerPoint.

By the way; did I mention that typing text is instant?

 

[goodwill]

I agree with the Keynote 2 suggestion. If you can use it and have compatibility with your presentation, it will blow them away.

 

[Passante]

I'm using a Aluminum Powerbook 1.25Ghz, 1 GB Ram, OS X 10.3.8.
PowerPoint is very, very slowwwww when I type text ( it took about 2 seconds to display a character ). I've installed the lastest update but nothing changed.

Most other applications can run quite fast ( not very fast but acceptable). This Mac can run heavy games like UT2004 well so I assume it is a fast machine.

Any idea ?

I use powerpoint on my rev 3 12" powerbook and its no speed demon but what you are describing looks like ram or cpu. restart and if it continues open activity monitor (in the utilities folder) you'll be able to monitor cpu activity and ram. What you are describing is not normal

 

[PlaceofDis]

typing is notoriously slow in Office apps for some reason, sometimes if i have a lot of open apps it can even get slow in Camino, so i believe it is a combination of Office and OS X being a bit behind in font and type rendering if i am correct

 

[aziz2]

i have this same problem. when i'm presenting it takes FOREVER for text and text boxes to load. any ideas?

- aziz

 

[Blue Velvet]

Try changing some of the preferences, particularly the 'check spelling as you type' option in the Spelling section of preferences.

 

[mthangbk]

It's weird since PowerPoint is faster when working with some certain files than working on the others.

And I found that most of OS X's applications that I'm using are much slower than their Windows/Linux counterparts (running on a PIII 800, which is definitely slower than my PowerBook). For example: Office, FireFox, Skype, DreamWeaver, Java applications.

There must be something wrong with OS X.

 

[Blue Velvet]

There must be something wrong with OS X.

Or perhaps something is wrong with how those applications have been ported & released for OS X.

 

[Passante]

I'm using a Aluminum Powerbook 1.25Ghz, 1 GB Ram, OS X 10.3.8.
PowerPoint is very, very slowwwww when I type text ( it took about 2 seconds to display a character ). I've installed the lastest update but nothing changed.

Most other applications can run quite fast ( not very fast but acceptable). This Mac can run heavy games like UT2004 well so I assume it is a fast machine.

Any idea ?

Powerpoint runs fine on my rev c 12inch pb. Open activity monitor and see what is going on with your machine. Then check back in.

That said I've had a couple of powerpoint files that would bring my mac or office PC to its knees. Not sure what causes it. But that is a rarity.

 

[EGT]

I've noticed this as well but not so much after recently reinstalling OS X.

Worryingly, running the exact same system, 1.25ghz, 1Gig RAM, 10.3.8