Serous Numbers doubts...

jverschu · #1 January 18th, 2008, 12:00 AM

Hello MacOSX supportmember,

I am just dabbling in Numbers here but am frustrated from the start. I am used to Excel and THOUGHT that using a Mac native spreadsheet would work better, smoother more stable maybe, quicker and more responsive for sure. However I have to let the beachball spin for a FULL 25 seconds before being able to proceed. In Excell the excact same simple Command S action takes one second...
This makes me really wonder about Numbers versus Excel here. Is Numbers version 1 worth looking at for productive and reliable spreadsheet work?

Thanks
Jan

artov · #2 January 18th, 2008, 10:20 AM

Number's time functions are quite bad. I have an Excel sheet I'd like to move
to Number but cannot, since I can't subtract a time from another (like 11:30 - 10.12). So, I use Excel on VMWare Fusion.

pds · #3 January 18th, 2008, 10:29 AM

I don't have issues with speed or responsiveness on a MacBook with a gig of ram. Still, Numbers has a limited use AFAICS. It does what it does well - look at the templates - but as a general purpose replacement of Excel, I don't think it fills the bill. No pivot tables is one shortcoming. The formula set is different too - I use the countif a lot, but Numbers doesn't understand it.

jverschu · #4 January 19th, 2008, 03:50 PM

Yeah thanks for the input. I am using numbers on MacMini Core2Duo with 4 GB of Ram, which is not much use for THAT application anyway, but Excel is just more responsive and just FAST and keeps me going. Simple things I do in Excel are cumbersome in Numbers. Maybe just because it is a new software for me. I'll walk into an Apple store and see what the same actions do on another machine. Like said the, the simple SAVING a spreadsheet takes almost 30 seconds which is totally unacceptable. I am hoping that that is just due to something ELSE?
Thanks guys
Jan

Ashka · #5 January 19th, 2008, 10:19 PM

Numbers works best with multiple tables on multiple sheets. The Tables are individual graphics which is a different way of working for a start.

It doesn't have excel's monolithic grid although it can open most excel sheets.

I enjoy using it but had to take off the old 'excel' hat first, similar to taking off the old 'word' hat before using Pages.

Have fun with it, It really does comes under 'Think Different'

aicul · #6 January 20th, 2008, 02:45 AM

As already mentionned by others, I also noticed many functions that make Excel essential for me (and my business) such as pivot tables and conditional count/totals are missing. A real nuissance.