I've never wanted a cylindrical computer

[scooterscot]

I suspect the problem may not be the hardware....

That's MicroSh1te for you.

[d000hg]

My 4-year old £300 PC can open Excel just fine. So can my 5-year old MacBook running Windows8 in a VM.

[doodab]

Noticed it's assembled in the US of A. Could this be the beginning for poor quality productions for Apple?

Probably not. The Americans invented the CNC machine and their high tech engineering and manufacturing capabilities are as good as anyone else's. The only reason production of this sort of stuff ever moved offshore in the first place was cost.

[DaveB]

My 4-year old £300 PC can open Excel just fine. So can my 5-year old MacBook running Windows8 in a VM.

Hmm, because MS would never prioritise development and performance of the Windows version of it's products over those for other operating systems, would they?

[stek]

I have the Apple Cube, still got it in fact, PSU knackered though...

It's quite similar to the new Mac Pro in a nothing like it kinda way....

[CheeseSlice]

all that is missing is the Brabantia logo.

[scooterscot]

Probably not. The Americans invented the CNC machine and their high tech engineering and manufacturing capabilities are as good as anyone else's. The only reason production of this sort of stuff ever moved offshore in the first place was cost.

What could possible go wrong.

[NickFitz]

Perhaps now MS Excel will not show the rainbow wheel when opening.

FWIW I just launched Excel from cold (i.e. not been used since last reboot, so not cached) on my MBA (mid-2011 model, 1.7 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, Intel HD Graphics 3000 384 MB, OS X 10.8.5 (12F45)). I had 24 other applications already running, ranging from simple stuff like Calculator to known resource hogs like Xcode and Eclipse.

Excel started within three or so dock bounces (a second or so) and showed its splash screen for maybe a second, then auto-opened the last spreadsheet viewed, which happened to be SJD's spreadsheet. It then showed me the "Enable macros?" dialog which Microsoft use to cover their arses if I suffer at the hands of a number of terrible technical decisions they made in the early 90s, proving that it was fully up and running. No beachball at any time.

[d000hg]

Hmm, because MS would never prioritise development and performance of the Windows version of it's products over those for other operating systems, would they?

What the hell would be wrong with it if they did?
a)90%+ of users use the Windows version so of COURSE you prioritise it
b)Their developers know much more about Windows development than OSX

[NickFitz]

What the hell would be wrong with it if they did?
a)90%+ of users use the Windows version so of COURSE you prioritise it
b)Their developers know much more about Windows development than OSX

Actually, their Mac team know a lot more about OS X development than about Windows. The Mac version isn't just a sideline the Windows chaps knock out on rainy Thursday afternoons. IIRC the Mac Business Unit isn't even based in Redmond - they're down in San Francisco, as they work quite closely with Apple so need to be near Apple HQ.