I've a fairly decent MacBook (2.4 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB of ram running Mac 10.5.6 OS), but I've experienced similar problems with the slowness of Excel 2008 when I add charts. I tried Iwork09 and Calc, which is a part of OpenOffice; both of which showed the same problem.
I don't have these problems when I use Excel 2003, which I run through Parrallels on my laptop.
I am trying to find another program that I can use to process my files. Does anybody have any suggestions for 2-D plotting packages for Mac?
I've a fairly decent MacBook (2.4 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB of ram running Mac 10.5.6 OS), but I've experienced similar problems with the slowness of Excel 2008 when I add charts. I tried Iwork09 and Calc, which is a part of OpenOffice; both of which showed the same problem.
I don't have these problems when I use Excel 2003, which I run through Parrallels on my laptop.
I am trying to find another program that I can use to process my files. Does anybody have any suggestions for 2-D plotting packages for Mac?
Have you installed all the available updates for Excel 2008? I've found that performance has improved dramatically (from totally unacceptable to mediocre/ok). What size data-sets are you using?
Sounds like your best bet is to use 2003 via Parrallels when performance is an issue.
Have you installed all the available updates for Excel 2008? I've found that performance has improved dramatically (from totally unacceptable to mediocre/ok). What size data-sets are you using?
Sounds like your best bet is to use 2003 via Parrallels when performance is an issue.
Yes, I've the most recent updates. The file has 15 columns and about 15000 rows. I've started to use 2003 via Parallels, but there are some minor issues when I cut and paste figures into word. This is absolutely crazy that I've a better performance on Parallels than running Excel 2008 directly on my Mac
The other available programs suffer from the same problem; most probably everybody is using the same corrupt API.
Perhaps. Or maybe today's programmers are just incompetent at optimisation.
That's quite a lot of data you're dealing with. Have you tried something like MATLAB instead?
No, I've not explored MATLAB yet. I guess I need to move up the food chain. I was successfully using Excel 2003 on a Windows machine with even larger files.
I have been having the same issue with Excel 08 and plotting large data sets as X Y (scatter) charts.
I've found that the performance significantly improves if you change the marker type from the default solid triangle to the vertical cross, and also if you reduce the thickness of any lines you're plotting. For instance, after changing from the (default) solid triangle marker, the time taken to select the graph and move it across a couple of cells reduced from 8 seconds to practically 0, reducing the thickness of the line has less effect but there's still a slight improvement.
I have been having the same issue with Excel 08 and plotting large data sets as X Y (scatter) charts.
I've found that the performance significantly improves if you change the marker type from the default solid triangle to the vertical cross, and also if you reduce the thickness of any lines you're plotting. For instance, after changing from the (default) solid triangle marker, the time taken to select the graph and move it across a couple of cells reduced from 8 seconds to practically 0, reducing the thickness of the line has less effect but there's still a slight improvement.
I hope that helps anyone having similar issues.
I'm glad to say that the performance of Excel 2008 has improved significantly since my original post, but it's still nowhere near as good as it should be. It's quite bizarre that changing the marker type should make such a huge difference; thanks for the tip.
Comments
I don't have these problems when I use Excel 2003, which I run through Parrallels on my laptop.
I am trying to find another program that I can use to process my files. Does anybody have any suggestions for 2-D plotting packages for Mac?
I've a fairly decent MacBook (2.4 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB of ram running Mac 10.5.6 OS), but I've experienced similar problems with the slowness of Excel 2008 when I add charts. I tried Iwork09 and Calc, which is a part of OpenOffice; both of which showed the same problem.
I don't have these problems when I use Excel 2003, which I run through Parrallels on my laptop.
I am trying to find another program that I can use to process my files. Does anybody have any suggestions for 2-D plotting packages for Mac?
Have you installed all the available updates for Excel 2008? I've found that performance has improved dramatically (from totally unacceptable to mediocre/ok). What size data-sets are you using?
Sounds like your best bet is to use 2003 via Parrallels when performance is an issue.
Sounds like your best bet is to use 2003 via Parrallels when performance is an issue.
I was going to suggest this.
Have you installed all the available updates for Excel 2008? I've found that performance has improved dramatically (from totally unacceptable to mediocre/ok). What size data-sets are you using?
Sounds like your best bet is to use 2003 via Parrallels when performance is an issue.
Yes, I've the most recent updates. The file has 15 columns and about 15000 rows. I've started to use 2003 via Parallels, but there are some minor issues when I cut and paste figures into word. This is absolutely crazy that I've a better performance on Parallels than running Excel 2008 directly on my Mac
The other available programs suffer from the same problem; most probably everybody is using the same corrupt API.
Thanks for your reply.
The other available programs suffer from the same problem; most probably everybody is using the same corrupt API.
Perhaps. Or maybe today's programmers are just incompetent at optimisation.
That's quite a lot of data you're dealing with. Have you tried something like MATLAB instead?
Perhaps. Or maybe today's programmers are just incompetent at optimisation.
That's quite a lot of data you're dealing with. Have you tried something like MATLAB instead?
No, I've not explored MATLAB yet. I guess I need to move up the food chain. I was successfully using Excel 2003 on a Windows machine with even larger files.
Thanks again for your reply.
I have been having the same issue with Excel 08 and plotting large data sets as X Y (scatter) charts.
I've found that the performance significantly improves if you change the marker type from the default solid triangle to the vertical cross, and also if you reduce the thickness of any lines you're plotting. For instance, after changing from the (default) solid triangle marker, the time taken to select the graph and move it across a couple of cells reduced from 8 seconds to practically 0, reducing the thickness of the line has less effect but there's still a slight improvement.
I hope that helps anyone having similar issues.
Hi,
I have been having the same issue with Excel 08 and plotting large data sets as X Y (scatter) charts.
I've found that the performance significantly improves if you change the marker type from the default solid triangle to the vertical cross, and also if you reduce the thickness of any lines you're plotting. For instance, after changing from the (default) solid triangle marker, the time taken to select the graph and move it across a couple of cells reduced from 8 seconds to practically 0, reducing the thickness of the line has less effect but there's still a slight improvement.
I hope that helps anyone having similar issues.
I'm glad to say that the performance of Excel 2008 has improved significantly since my original post, but it's still nowhere near as good as it should be. It's quite bizarre that changing the marker type should make such a huge difference; thanks for the tip.