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From: Rowland McDonnell on 11 Aug 2010 15:33
Roger Merriman <NEWS(a)sarlet.com> wrote:

> A.Lee <alan(a)darkroom.+.com> wrote:
>
> > I've just got hold of a 933mhz iBook for my g/f.
> > It'll be running 10.4 with 1gb ram.
> > She'll be needing a MS compatible Office program for occasional use,
> > what is the current favourite?
> > I'm using Neo-Office here, but that seems a little sluggish, especially
> > when starting up, is Open Office any better?
> >
> > Ta
> > Alan.
>
> openoffice should be a little quicker, iwork is intended for modern macs
> so is sluggish,

It's normal for the up to date Mac software to be not at all sluggish on
an up to date Mac. I've not noticed iWork being at all sluggish on the
few occasions I've fired up bits of it to play with (still haven't even
figured out how to use Pages yet - at least there are tutorials out
there to play with if I should ever feel the need).

> oddly the fastest office suite is microsoft office,
> partically if you can find a older version 2nd hand?

Claris Works is faster, if horribly obsolete.

Rowland.

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From: Roger Merriman on 11 Aug 2010 17:17
Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote:

> Roger Merriman <NEWS(a)sarlet.com> wrote:
>
> > A.Lee <alan(a)darkroom.+.com> wrote:
> >
> > > I've just got hold of a 933mhz iBook for my g/f.
> > > It'll be running 10.4 with 1gb ram.
> > > She'll be needing a MS compatible Office program for occasional use,
> > > what is the current favourite?
> > > I'm using Neo-Office here, but that seems a little sluggish, especially
> > > when starting up, is Open Office any better?
> > >
> > > Ta
> > > Alan.
> >
> > openoffice should be a little quicker, iwork is intended for modern macs
> > so is sluggish,
>
> It's normal for the up to date Mac software to be not at all sluggish on
> an up to date Mac. I've not noticed iWork being at all sluggish on the
> few occasions I've fired up bits of it to play with (still haven't even
> figured out how to use Pages yet - at least there are tutorials out
> there to play with if I should ever feel the need).
>
the OP mac or rather GF's mac is a 7 year old ibook iwork is likely to
be very slow indeed.

the 09 demo seems to open docs etc quick enought and not feel slow, but
then this MBP has plenty of ram and CPU spare.

snips

> Rowland.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com
From: Rowland McDonnell on 11 Aug 2010 17:41
Roger Merriman <NEWS(a)sarlet.com> wrote:

> Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote:
[snip]

> > It's normal for the up to date Mac software to be not at all sluggish on
> > an up to date Mac. I've not noticed iWork being at all sluggish on the
> > few occasions I've fired up bits of it to play with (still haven't even
> > figured out how to use Pages yet - at least there are tutorials out
> > there to play with if I should ever feel the need).
> >
> the OP mac or rather GF's mac is a 7 year old ibook iwork is likely to
> be very slow indeed.

I don't see why, given that it's got a hugely fast CPU all things
considered. Hundreds of megahertz, 32 bit - that's lotsaCPU until you
start doing video work and suchlike.

> the 09 demo seems to open docs etc quick enought and not feel slow, but
> then this MBP has plenty of ram and CPU spare.

Lack of RAM might be the cause of sluggishness on an older Mac, though -
what with the huge memory requirements of OS X and so on.

Rowland.

--
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From: Roger Merriman on 11 Aug 2010 19:12
Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote:

> Roger Merriman <NEWS(a)sarlet.com> wrote:
>
> > Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote:
> [snip]
>
> > > It's normal for the up to date Mac software to be not at all sluggish on
> > > an up to date Mac. I've not noticed iWork being at all sluggish on the
> > > few occasions I've fired up bits of it to play with (still haven't even
> > > figured out how to use Pages yet - at least there are tutorials out
> > > there to play with if I should ever feel the need).
> > >
> > the OP mac or rather GF's mac is a 7 year old ibook iwork is likely to
> > be very slow indeed.
>
> I don't see why, given that it's got a hugely fast CPU all things
> considered. Hundreds of megahertz, 32 bit - that's lotsaCPU until you
> start doing video work and suchlike.

my old powerbook which was close in age and speed found pages etc
sluggish.
>
> > the 09 demo seems to open docs etc quick enought and not feel slow, but
> > then this MBP has plenty of ram and CPU spare.
>
> Lack of RAM might be the cause of sluggishness on an older Mac, though -
> what with the huge memory requirements of OS X and so on.
>
> Rowland.

I suspect cpu, since other office programs faired better on the whole.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com
From: Rowland McDonnell on 11 Aug 2010 19:56
Roger Merriman <NEWS(a)sarlet.com> wrote:

> Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote:
>
> > Roger Merriman <NEWS(a)sarlet.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote:
> > [snip]
> >
> > > > It's normal for the up to date Mac software to be not at all sluggish on
> > > > an up to date Mac. I've not noticed iWork being at all sluggish on the
> > > > few occasions I've fired up bits of it to play with (still haven't even
> > > > figured out how to use Pages yet - at least there are tutorials out
> > > > there to play with if I should ever feel the need).
> > > >
> > > the OP mac or rather GF's mac is a 7 year old ibook iwork is likely to
> > > be very slow indeed.
> >
> > I don't see why, given that it's got a hugely fast CPU all things
> > considered. Hundreds of megahertz, 32 bit - that's lotsaCPU until you
> > start doing video work and suchlike.
>
> my old powerbook which was close in age and speed found pages etc
> sluggish.

Yeah, but why? My old 4G5 got faster when it was loaded up with 4GB -
although shoving it up further to 6.5GB only helped speed things up when
opening really huge graphics files.

<shrug> I don't say it's definitely one or the other - just that it
might as well be a RAM issue as a CPU one that's causing the
sluggishness.

> > > the 09 demo seems to open docs etc quick enought and not feel slow, but
> > > then this MBP has plenty of ram and CPU spare.
> >
> > Lack of RAM might be the cause of sluggishness on an older Mac, though -
> > what with the huge memory requirements of OS X and so on.
> >
> > Rowland.
>
> I suspect cpu, since other office programs faired better on the whole.

I'm unconvinced myself - why assume that Pages isn't limited by the RAM
issue? Why not think that Apple might have assumed a certain amount of
RAM for MacOS X to work most efficiently, and written everything with
that in mind?

<shrug> But we'll never know one way or the other for sure, not without
careful tests.

Rowland.

--
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