So, with the purchase of a new computer, I get to test out Numbers. Currently I have been using NeoOffice.
I have two major concerns:
[1] Numbers files tend to be A LOT larger than the equivalent files in NeoOffice, or a .xls version of the NeoOffice file. For comparison, consider a two-page spreadsheet with 3 columns of calculations about 50 rows each.
Example 1:
NeoOffice file: 69 KB
Exported Excel version: 21 KB
Numbers version: 203 KB
Another example: I have a spreadsheet that is 640 rows by 232 columns, 8 of which are calculations.
NeoOffice file: 248 KB
Exported Excel version: 1.2 MB
Numbers file: 3.8 MB
The trend is that Numbers files are much larger than the other formats, and this seems to be true for most other files that I test.
Why are Numbers files so big?
[2] Also, going back to my two-page spreadsheet example, QuickLook will take 4 seconds to preview the .xls version, 0.2 seconds to preview the .ods version, and almost 30 seconds to preview the Numbers version. Here is the real kicker: When I asked Numbers to import the .xls file, it took Numbers a whole 30 seconds to fill in a bunch of basic calculations (only basic operations, like this cell times that cell divided by that cell, done), for 3 columns and 50 rows. This is on a quad-core Mac and it still took that long, and it heated my computer up a bit. And each time that I go back to highlight that file in Finder, Quicklook takes a whole new 30 seconds to reprocess all of those basic calculations.
Example 1:
Quicklook with NeoOffice file: Instantaneous (only 1 page is previewed)
Quicklook with Exported Excel version: 1 second (4 seconds the first time)
Quicklook with Numbers file: 30 seconds (each time), also 30 seconds upon first calculation with document imported
Example 2: 640 rows by 232 columns (8 of which are calculations)
Quicklook with NeoOffice file: Instantaneous (only 1 page is previewed)
Quicklook with Exported Excel version: 4 seconds and then gave me a blank page
Quicklook with Numbers file: 3 seconds, 9 seconds if I pressed spacebar, but then couldn't preview the other pages
Why is Numbers so slow?
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