Thought SSD’S were supposed to be fast

[jwolf6589]

I had my coworker on her Mac Mini launch Excel for the first time after a boot and it took about 30 seconds. Yes faster than my HDD but much slower than launching Excel 365 in Windows 10 on a SSD. I thought SSDS were supposed to be allot faster for running MS Office apps. Besides Office 2016 on Windows blasts away the Mac version. I use Outlook and Excel everyday at work and they have many more features.

I guess until I go SSD or get a new machine I will either be patient with Office or rather run iWorks apps instead which launch in seconds on my HDD.

 

[chabig]

SSDs are faster than spinning disks. Everything else is due to software.

 

[jwolf6589]

SSDs are faster than spinning disks. Everything else is due to software.

Why do Windows apps run faster on a Windows SSD?

 

[fisherking]

the mac versions are not windows apps, they're mac versions. some different coding, on a different OS. and there are SO many factors involved: which version of office, what OS, what processor on your mac; ram, what's open & running... etc etc...

 

[dangerfish]

Why do Windows apps run faster on a Windows SSD?

Ask Microsoft.

 

[jwolf6589]

Ask Microsoft.

Excel and Outlook 2016 take less than 5 seconds to launch on a SSD.

 

[mikzn]

something seems wrong - takes excel less than 2 seconds on my MBP + mojave and SSD

can also be processor type + memory +etc

 

[jwolf6589]

something seems wrong - takes excel less than 2 seconds on my MBP + mojave and SSD

can also be processor type + memory +etc

I don't know what her situation is. All I know is that she has a Mac Mini with a SSD.

 

[FNH15]

Office is slow in general (unoptimized code). Word especially takes considerably longer to launch than just about any other app on my MacBook Pro, which has one of the fastest SSDs and processors available in any computer...

 

[jwolf6589]

Office is slow in general (unoptimized code). Word especially takes considerably longer to launch than just about any other app on my MacBook Pro, which has one of the fastest SSDs and processors available in any computer...

Try running Office 2016 on a PC with a SSD. Launches in 2 seconds.

 

[FNH15]

Try running Office 2016 on a PC with a SSD. Launches in 2 seconds.

Your point?

 

[fisherking]

i've seen word open really slowly on some macs, really fast on others. again, lots of variables: the version of office, the OS, the hardware... ram. etc.

once you open the app, you work. what else matters? (unless it's taking minutes to open...)

 

[GGJstudios]

I had my coworker on her Mac Mini launch Excel for the first time after a boot and it took about 30 seconds.

There's more to it than just drive speed. What spec is her Mac mini? Processor & RAM? I just launched Word and Excel (2011 versions) on my 2015 MBP, 3.1GHz i7, 16GB RAM. Both launched in 2 seconds. I rebooted my Mac (49 seconds) then launched Excel again in 7 seconds and Word in 3 seconds.

 

[FNH15]

Just updated to office 16.20. Apps are much faster to launch across the board (Word launches in roughly 5 sec). Maybe she should try updating?

 

[kagharaht]

Try running Office 2016 on a PC with a SSD. Launches in 2 seconds.

Ridiculous argument. I launch Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iTunes, Mail, Calendar on my 2015 MBA. Within 2 to 3 seconds. If Office is that slow then blame Microsoft for shoddy optimization.

 

[MacManiac76]

Could be SATA SSD vs NVMe SSD also. NVMe is way faster.

 

[mkelly]

Excel and Outlook 2016 take less than 5 seconds to launch on a SSD.

Well in part, a number of the libraries that Office requires to run are pre-loaded into Windows on (or shortly after) boot. On the Mac, Microsoft doesn't have the same ability to integrate with the OS, so the entirety of the application loads when you actually double-click the Word/Excel/Powerpoint icon.

That said, a recent Mac with an SSD shouldn't take 30 seconds or more to load an MS Office app. I just tried loading Excel from a cold-start on my 2016 MacBook Pro, and I timed it at just over 6 seconds. I'd guess that there's more to the problem than you assume.

What are the specs of your co-worker's machine? What kind of SSD? Is it SATA, or an onboard NVMe-type drive as in the newer Macs? How much RAM is in the machine? There used to be an issue with Office taking a long time to load on Macs with tons of custom fonts installed, but I think that was resolved years ago... (maybe not?)

 

[jwolf6589]

Ridiculous argument. I launch Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iTunes, Mail, Calendar on my 2015 MBA. Within 2 to 3 seconds. If Office is that slow then blame Microsoft for shoddy optimization.

Hey those apps launch fast even on a HDD. Based Mac.

Well in part, a number of the libraries that Office requires to run are pre-loaded into Windows on (or shortly after) boot. On the Mac, Microsoft doesn't have the same ability to integrate with the OS, so the entirety of the application loads when you actually double-click the Word/Excel/Powerpoint icon.

That said, a recent Mac with an SSD shouldn't take 30 seconds or more to load an MS Office app. I just tried loading Excel from a cold-start on my 2016 MacBook Pro, and I timed it at just over 6 seconds. I'd guess that there's more to the problem than you assume.

What are the specs of your co-worker's machine? What kind of SSD? Is it SATA, or an onboard NVMe-type drive as in the newer Macs? How much RAM is in the machine? There used to be an issue with Office taking a long time to load on Macs with tons of custom fonts installed, but I think that was resolved years ago... (maybe not?)

No clue

Ridiculous argument. I launch Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iTunes, Mail, Calendar on my 2015 MBA. Within 2 to 3 seconds. If Office is that slow then blame Microsoft for shoddy optimization.

MS has had this problem for years on the Mac going back to word 6.0.

 

[flowrider]

?????What are you talkin' about???? I can open Excel in 2 seconds and another second to open a blank spreadsheet. A complex worksheet with 127 pages opens for me in 8 seconds.

What are you smokin'?

 

[trifid]

No clue

Then how do you know your coworker's mac mini has ssd? It sounds like it doesn't, 30 seconds delay sounds like a regular HDD not ssd. Regular hdd truly performs abysmally on macOS.

 

[jwolf6589]

Then how do you know your coworker's mac mini has ssd? It sounds like it doesn't, 30 seconds delay sounds like a regular HDD not ssd. Regular hdd truly performs abysmally on macOS.

She is doing intense graphic design. It has to be a SSD.

 

[trifid]

She is doing intense graphic design. It has to be a SSD.

Most mac minis come with the regular hdd. only about a month ago Apple released a new mac mini 2018 which does include ssd by default. Did she get the mac mini in the last few weeks? If not, it's highly likely it's regular hdd. The 30 sec delay highly suggests regular hdd, like you said it's not normal to take that long.

 

[jwolf6589]

Most mac minis come with the regular hdd. only about a month ago Apple released a new mac mini 2018 which does include ssd by default. Did she get the mac mini in the last few weeks? If not, it's highly likely it's regular hdd. The 30 sec delay highly suggests regular hdd, like you said it's not normal to take that long.

I did not know this. I stand corrected.

 

[GGJstudios]

I did not know this. I stand corrected.

Yes, the 30 second time certainly is indicative of a HDD, which is most commonly included in a Mac mini. Swapping it out for a SSD will make it feel like an entirely new computer.

 

[jwolf6589]

Yes, the 30 second time certainly is indicative of a HDD, which is most commonly included in a Mac mini. Swapping it out for a SSD will make it feel like an entirely new computer.

Not sure if the company will do this. It seems their policy is just to replace the machine with a new one when its time to upgrade.