In MySQL, maximum row size for non-text columns is 65,535 bytes. MySQL is limited to 4096 columns per table, and 1017 columns per table if the InnoDB engine is being used.
Excel's limits are 16384 columns and 1048576 rows.
I'm talking wimpy hardware here, I admit. Basically, VirtualBox VMs on a quad-core i5 box with SSD and 8GB RAM. With the VM having three cores and 6GB RAM. But it was the same wimpy hardware for Windows 7 and Ubuntu.
Notwithstanding the row length and column count limits, did you also give MySQL more memory? Setting InnoDB buffer pool size to 3 or 4 GB might help; its default is about 134 MB.
Excel's limits are 16384 columns and 1048576 rows.
I'm talking wimpy hardware here, I admit. Basically, VirtualBox VMs on a quad-core i5 box with SSD and 8GB RAM. With the VM having three cores and 6GB RAM. But it was the same wimpy hardware for Windows 7 and Ubuntu.