Solver for Excel 2008

[Gregory...@officeformac.com]

Version: 2008 I just installed the freeware solver stand excel 2008. I just came over from PC and I can't take the slowness. I installed it about an hour ago and it is still solving! I restarted my old windows machine just to test it out and it solved in about 3 seconds. Am I doing something wrong or is the mac fix just this mindnumbingly slow? Any help would be grately apprecited.

[John McGhie]

You have not provided enough detail to answer this properly: We always need
the version and update level of both OS X and Microsoft Office, without
which, our answers all come under the heading of "Depends..." :-)

Excel 2008 is slower than Excel on the PC.

That said, it's not usually "mind-numbingly" slow.

There is a bug that affects Excel if all of the following are true:

* Paper size is anything but US Letter

* Printer driver is from HP

* View is Page Layout

Change any one of those parameters (e.g. Use Normal view) and the speed
improvement is dramatic.

Apart from that, many of the Microsoft fixes are dependent on Apple fixes,
so first make sure your OS is right up-to-date. OS X is currently at OS
10.6.2.

Then you need to ensure your software has the latest updates: the current
revision level is Excel 12.2.3: if yours is not at that level, you have
missed the fixes.

Check how much RAM is in your Mac. Attempting to work large spreadsheets
with less than 4GB of RAM can be an exercise in patience.

Report back if you are still having problems.

On 28/12/09 7:44 PM, in article 59baf...@webcrossing.JaKIaxP2ac0,
"Gregory...@officeformac.com" <Gregory...@officeformac.com> wrote:

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:jo...@mcghie.name

[Grego...@officeformac.com]

THanks so much for your response. Sorry it was a brand new computer and I've never used Mac so I wasnt aware of its specs. I can now report the following:
It is Mac OS X (10.6.2)
Memory 4 GB - 1067 MHz RAM
I'm also running Excel 2008 ver 12.2.

The solver app i'm running is essentially a simple one. I ran it on the mac and it takes 7 min and 2 seconds (which i define as mind-numbing - esp. since solver apps often take a lot of trial and error to perfect. Since I still have my windows PC I ran it and it was solved faster than i could work the stop watch.

My paper size was set to letter and the view is normal. I DO ues HP printers on an 802.11B network so I never actually installed a driver, they just work on my old (windows based) network.

Given that the app runs in 7 minuets plus on MAC v near instantaneous on windows PC, can you tell me if that is a "normal result" or do you feel there is a problem? Thanks very much in advance.

[Xin...@officeformac.com]

Could you please try this KB to see whether it resolves the slowness issue? If not, I'd be happy to take a look at your workbook. You can send me a copy of your workbook to xin...@microsoft.com.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976445

Thanks,
XinXin
Macintosh Business Unit, Microsoft

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.