Lag in Office

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I've been using a mac for a few months now, but I've noticed something that's been bothering me for the past while.



Why is there lag when typing in Microsoft Word, or Excel? I'm in Safari right now and whatever I type is showing up on the screen right away. And I type REALLY fast.



I have the new PB with 512mb or RAM. Not saying anything, but it's not SUPPOSED to be a slow computer... What am I missing here?



....and on a sidenote, what's the minumum "USABLE" ram requirements for applications such as Photoshop or Dreamweaver? I've used them in development before on a PC with 512mb or RAM no problem, and on a slower machine. Do I HAVE to upgrade to a gig? Virtual PC is extremely sluggish with my current setup, is OS X that memory hungry?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    It's not exactly a new phenomenon. Seems to me to it's an M$ built-in "feature." As in, aren't you lucky we haven't completely crippled this sh*t.



    You're right, you have a fast computer and there's no good reason this should happen.



    I think about how Apple has made the iPod the same for both platforms. It's a philosophy that seeks excellence.



    Now what might the other way suggest...?
  • Reply 2 of 10
    I have a 1.5 PB with 2 gigs of memory and there is still a lag in Office at times - and I don't type very fast. I think it is more their programming than anything else. Pages is faster and I prefer it when I don't have to work on a lot of tables.



    As for more memory, I originally added a (3rd party) gig stick when I bought the PB and later moved to 2 gigs when I could afford it. For heavy use I only work in PS Elements 3, but have some very large files and appreciated the bump. Macs love extra memory and it's an investment you'll appreciate if you add a gig stick.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    finboyfinboy Posts: 383member
    I get the same thing in Office for OS X and 2001, but not in 98. Most days I just boot from OS9 and use Office 98. It's really distracting. I've even tried turning all of the auto-format junk off, but it doesn't fix it. Windows gets that way too, sometimes, but it isn't as bad IMHO.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    hxc04hxc04 Posts: 145member
    Before I put the extra gig of ram in my iBook Office was awful, I wish pages was a better program because Office is terrible
  • Reply 5 of 10
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Wolber

    I've been using a mac for a few months now, but I've noticed something that's been bothering me for the past while.



    Why is there lag when typing in Microsoft Word, or Excel? I'm in Safari right now and whatever I type is showing up on the screen right away. And I type REALLY fast.



    I have the new PB with 512mb or RAM. Not saying anything, but it's not SUPPOSED to be a slow computer... What am I missing here?

    ...




    Nothing. This MS$-phenomen is bugging us a long long time.

    It is really strange. You actually can't judge MS Word as slow or

    sluggish, the interface is beautyful (well, compared to...),

    but sometimes these lags occurs. Seems to me the work is to some

    extent ... deliberately I n c o m p l e t e.



    my2cents
  • Reply 6 of 10
    I don't mean to sound snotty, but... please. It's intentional. It's a personal dig against Apple, like saying, "Who's no good?"



    Snot-nosed kid gets to rule the world.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    kaiwaikaiwai Posts: 246member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Wolber

    I've been using a mac for a few months now, but I've noticed something that's been bothering me for the past while.



    Why is there lag when typing in Microsoft Word, or Excel? I'm in Safari right now and whatever I type is showing up on the screen right away. And I type REALLY fast.



    I have the new PB with 512mb or RAM. Not saying anything, but it's not SUPPOSED to be a slow computer... What am I missing here?



    ....and on a sidenote, what's the minumum "USABLE" ram requirements for applications such as Photoshop or Dreamweaver? I've used them in development before on a PC with 512mb or RAM no problem, and on a slower machine. Do I HAVE to upgrade to a gig? Virtual PC is extremely sluggish with my current setup, is OS X that memory hungry?




    I've seen it, and I find it only lags (then catches up) whe it automatically saves or does a recovery file - that and it probably still relies on some old quickdraw code somewhere.



    btw, have you installed the latest update for Office 2004? Service Pack 2 (57MB) + Update (6.9MB) ?
  • Reply 8 of 10
    Yep, I've installed the latest patches and it's still crappy. Word is the de facto standard these days, and without it, it's hard to communicate with the windows world.



    I'm trying to install OpenOffice 2, but it requires X11. I installed x11sdk.pkg and OpenOffice still doesn't want to run. MatLab, which also uses X11 doesn't run either.



    Does anybody know how to install X11 properly and the steps required to run it?
  • Reply 9 of 10
    I know I sound like a raving lunatic when I say it, but seriously, it's got to be intentional.



    It's one of those subtle things that kind of erodes the experience of using something. It's grating. "Oh, but that doesn't happen on my $35 PC." Bleh.



    M$ is not dumb (entirely)-- they could make a good piece of software here, but they don't. While they may not be dumb, they are really, really competetive and underhanded. If they could inject all of us with OS-altering drugs, they would.



    Now back to cutting out newspaper clippings of people who have wronged me...



  • Reply 10 of 10
    kmok1kmok1 Posts: 63member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Wolber

    Yep, I've installed the latest patches and it's still crappy. Word is the de facto standard these days, and without it, it's hard to communicate with the windows world.



    I'm trying to install OpenOffice 2, but it requires X11. I installed x11sdk.pkg and OpenOffice still doesn't want to run. MatLab, which also uses X11 doesn't run either.



    Does anybody know how to install X11 properly and the steps required to run it?




    If you got Panther, go here:



    http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...formacosx.html



    If you got Tiger, it is on your install disk.

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