I’m using the Sublime for evaluation on large ( >3GB ) text files. I’m working on a project that has quite a few of them. Don’t bother arguing the poor logic that started this monster. I was brought in later and am working to address it.

On the first file, about 2.5G, I found that manipulation is painfully slow. Yes, it’s a big file. I should just go back to sed and I probably will. But, if I can figure out resource requirements, I’m confident that Sublime may have a place in my toolbox anyway.

My current MacBook Pro has 8G RAM and a 120GB Intel 320 SSD (SATA2). Opening the file takes a while. I can deal with that, but manipulating in memory leads to a spinning beach ball with every change. Are there guidelines for resource requirements or preference settings when dealing with large files? Adding another 8G RAM is a cheap upgrade and would eliminate some swapping. Buying a faster SSD is not out of the realm of possibility either. I’d just like to be sure I’m approaching the problem from the right angle.