Regrets obout my MBP - Why is Office 2008 slow as sh**???

[imetazoa]

UG. So I made the switch and purchased a MBP 13". I make a lot of detailed power point slides/presentations with Office PowerPoint. On my old VAIO I used Office 2003. Well I upgraded to Office 2008 for this MBP and its sooooooooo slow. If I'm in PowerPoint and I type a letter in a text box it takes a few seconds for the letter to show up. I'm not even running any other programs in the background (except maybe Firefox).

Is this common? It is honestly making me consider returning it.

 

[yojitani]

No. It's not normal. Open up activity monitor to see if something is gobbling up resources. Nothing should be gobbling up resources like that, but if you've installed a dodgy program like Vuze or something like that, it could happen.

Also, what size is the file you're editing? It could be powerpoint, not your computer. I never use powerpoint unless I have to share the file with a PC. Keynote is much better and more robust.

 

[imetazoa]

No. It's not normal. Open up activity monitor to see if something is gobbling up resources. Nothing should be gobbling up resources like that, but if you've installed a dodgy program like Vuze or something like that, it could happen.

Also, what size is the file you're editing? It could be powerpoint, not your computer. I never use powerpoint unless I have to share the file with a PC. Keynote is much better and more robust.

The file is 10.2 MB.

Here is the thing... I have bootcamp running Windows 7 and Office 2010 and I do not experience any delay typing on the same slide in the text box.

I wanted to be able to use the MBP w/ Office, not keynote :/ And it seems the two are not compatible...

 

[yojitani]

The file is 10.2 MB.

Here is the thing... I have bootcamp running Windows 7 and Office 2010 and I do not experience any delay typing on the same slide in the text box.

I wanted to be able to use the MBP w/ Office, not keynote :/ And it seems the two are not compatible...

Well then the problem is microsoft's. You might try contacting them. Perhaps there is some sort of fix or known issue? There's a new version of office coming out soon, btw. It may be better.

No, they aren't compatible and I would strongly recommend against creating in keynote and exporting. That is a disaster worth avoiding. Is there a reason you need to use powerpoint?

 

[Deepek]

It's Windows... Yuk

 

[dr. shdw]

Did you update it all the way?

 

[iLog.Genius]

No, they aren't compatible and I would strongly recommend against creating in keynote and exporting. That is a disaster worth avoiding. Is there a reason you need to use powerpoint?

I wouldn't completely rule it out. I'm sure there might be issues depending on what tools you're using to create the presentation but it does work. I've created simple to intermediate presentations in Keynote and exported them to PowerPoint with very minor problems that can be simply fixed in PowerPoint (when reviewing) and sometimes with no problems.

To OP, it's something you might want to try and not completely rule it out. I for one hated the UI in PowerPoint for Mac that I switched to Keynote (first time user) and it was pretty straightforward with a small learning curve.

 

[iggypod]

To say Office 2008 for the mac is horrible is an UNDERSTATEMENT. Go read any reviews (on Amazon for example) and you'll quickly see how awful it performs on a mac.

Office 2011 arrives late October (the 26th I believe) and is supposed to be significantly improved (for, example VBA macros return) along with performance gains (or so I read).

 

[CaoCao]

It involves Microsoft

 

[dal20402]

Office 2008 is a bit doggy. But it shouldn't be doggy enough to make you wait seconds to enter text.

Make sure Office is all the way up to date. There have been meaningful performance improvements in several of the updates.

Also make sure you aren't starved for RAM. If you see a lot of page outs in Activity Monitor, make sure you aren't running lots of hidden background programs.

 

[530farm]

Look for Office 2011 Beta. I'm running beta 4, they're now on 6 or 7 I believe and it has been great for me.

 

[aristobrat]

So I made the switch and purchased a MBP 13".

I don't think you'll find many people impressed with the performance of Office 2008 for Mac.

If you made the switch and purchased your copy of Office 2008 for Mac after August 1st, you get a free upgrade to Office 2011 for Mac when it comes out in October.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/Office2008/office-2011-upgrade.mspx

 

[aeboi]

using mac office 2011 beta 6, works fine
2008 was a little slower for me

 

[Str8edgepunker]

Don't return it just yet. Wait until Office 2011 comes out, as the applications are a lot faster and better, if Beta 6 is any indication.

 

[imetazoa]

My activity monitor (from what I can tell because I am new to Mac) seems to be reasonable. I also have the most recent updates.

I'm somewhat relieved to find out this is a common issue because it means I have not gone crazy and/or didn't get a dud machine. It was also making me question whether the Core2duo was a good choice for me... but if the Office 2011 is suppose to be better, I will wait.

Thanks for the advice, guys.

 

[molala]

Above posts about Office 2008 true. In fact, it was a downgrade (speed-wise) from Office 2004. I personally use Keynote, you could also try OpenOffice which is free.

 

[revelated]

My activity monitor (from what I can tell because I am new to Mac) seems to be reasonable. I also have the most recent updates.

I'm somewhat relieved to find out this is a common issue because it means I have not gone crazy and/or didn't get a dud machine. It was also making me question whether the Core2duo was a good choice for me... but if the Office 2011 is suppose to be better, I will wait.

Thanks for the advice, guys.

My advice: stop using Microsoft Office on Mac. I doubt they'll ever get it to work as well as iWork does. My opinion.

 

[ski2moro]

When I made the switch in 07, I had the same issues with the (old) Microsoft Office for Mac. I suffered through it for a while, but when I had some seriously large files, I went to Bootcamp, booted Windows XP, then used my old copy of MS Office for PC. The next version of Office for Mac was better. Now, I've made the change to iWork and I really like it.

 

[Rithem]

using mac office 2011 beta 6, works fine
2008 was a little slower for me

Just got it. It's verrrry nice.

 

[3lionsbecks]

I'm using Office for Mac on m MBP and its totally fine.

It should be running much better than what you have said you are experiencing I think you have something wrong with your MBP or your settings.

 

[sup3r1or]

What I can say, it is definately not normal for it to be slow. However note that office on windows is much faster (in terms of loading, processing, etc.)

try reinstalling it and also make sure you update it several times, because it can only dload 1 update at a time.


To a person who said "Windows yuk"

U know I can agree with you up to the point of Windows Vista, but when it comes to 7 Im still sure that performance wise it is much faster than OSX. Besides you do no need a 2000-6000 dollars investment to get that performance.

 

[greythorne]

I'm using Office for Mac on m MBP and its totally fine.

It should be running much better than what you have said you are experiencing I think you have something wrong with your MBP or your settings.

Wrong!!

I am experiencing the same here.... Its pretty much slow, Office for Mac 2011 seems to be better but then beta 6 was not smooth sailing for me. I have not tried iWork yet perhaps should give the trial a go and see how it performs.

My macbook pro is the mid-2010 13inch 2.4GHz just changed to WD Scorpio Black 320gig 7200rpm and no difference at all.

Some suggestions maybe change to a faster hard drive like Seagate momentus XT or even an SSD.

 

[MacModMachine]

Wrong!!

I am experiencing the same here.... Its pretty much slow, Office for Mac 2011 seems to be better but then beta 6 was not smooth sailing for me. I have not tried iWork yet perhaps should give the trial a go and see how it performs.

My macbook pro is the mid-2010 13inch 2.4GHz just changed to WD Scorpio Black 320gig 7200rpm and no difference at all.

Some suggestions maybe change to a faster hard drive like Seagate momentus XT or even an SSD.

how could he be wrong ?

mine runs great on all 5 of my macs....your doing something wrong.

 

[Pavia]

Because it was made by Microsoft.

 

[bigjobby]

Because it was made by Microsoft.

My Aperture often runs slow or hangs. Does that mean Microsoft made that too?