Apple Macpro v Decent Windows Laptop

[Register1]

Hi all,

I am starting a new job end of month.
I have been told that the whole office works from Apple laptops.

I have never used an Apple laptop, only Windows, (currently W10)

Most of my work is Excel.

So does Apple open Excel sheets, just like W10 opens Excel sheets ?

I believe Apple are faster, but thats not the thing I am considering, as Excel is just number crunching for me.

What differences would I see opening an excel spreadsheet ?

[p1stonhead]

Whilst I don’t have one, a guy at my office did. I believe office 365 is effectively the same on both platforms now.

https://www.howtogeek.com/340435/whats-the-differe...

Whether or not there will be different ways of navigating the menus or not I’m not sure. That would really slow me down if it was.

Do you have to get an Apple one?

[Register1]

Hi P1stonhead,

Thanks for the reply.
Unfortunately, the whole office must use Apple.

I would prefer to stick with what I know, ie, Windows, but since almost all my work is excel spreadsheets I feel I will be slow on the uptake to Apple.

[CrouchingWayne]

Office 365 is virtually identical now between systems so you won’t be too far behind. You might want to make the function keys work as function keys by default instead of their usual brightness, volume, etc if you are used to using F2 to edit in cell.

[xeny]

Register1 said:

What differences would I see opening an excel spreadsheet ?

obvious differences is that shortcut keys are command and a letter rather than control and a letter, and the menu bar is at the top of the screen rather than at the top of each window.

command tab switches applications and command "~" switches windows within an application.

There are a bunch of Excel for Mac videos on youtube - might they be worth a watch to make yourself familiar with the UI differences?

[633Squadron]

Microsoft office runs on Macos.

I'm running it now.


A few minor differences to Excel under Windows.

Main difference being VBA isn't on Macos

Formulas, Vlookups etc etc - all the same.

[HootersGsy]

633Squadron said:

Microsoft office runs on Macos.

I'm running it now.


A few minor differences to Excel under Windows.

Main difference being VBA isn't on Macos

Formulas, Vlookups etc etc - all the same.

VBA does work on Mac OS

Some of the newer advanced features don't seem to work properly (e.g. Power Pivots) and have actually caused me a few headaches with spreadsheets corrupting when going from Windows to Mac. Generally it's fine though and if you're all using Macs you shouldn't hit the compatibility issues I do occasionally.

[Register1]

633Squadron said:

Microsoft office runs on Macos.

I'm running it now.


A few minor differences to Excel under Windows.

Main difference being VBA isn't on Macos

Formulas, Vlookups etc etc - all the same.

Brilliant, thanks,
Thats reassuring.

[camel_landy]

Register1 said:

633Squadron said:

Microsoft office runs on Macos.

I'm running it now.


A few minor differences to Excel under Windows.

Main difference being VBA isn't on Macos

Formulas, Vlookups etc etc - all the same.

Brilliant, thanks,
Thats reassuring.

MS Office has been available on the Mac for a very long time...

Don't worry, you'll be fine. It's the same but (slightly) different.

M

[SCEtoAUX]

Don't forget that you can get the Apple Macbook experience on a Windows laptop by simply buying the Windows machine and setting light to £500.00

[p1stonhead]

[mmm-five]

Is it a MacBook Pro or a MacPro - two very different beasts.

If it is a MacBook Pro, then make sure it's a top of the range one, whether that be an Intel one or an Apple Silicon one - as Macs ARE NOT as fast as the same hardware under W10...and get them to make sure the SSD/RAM is well above the standard minimum as that will be a pain (or impossible in the M1 case) to upgrade later.

I use both for different clients - and despite being a Mac Fanboi, I still prefer Office/Creative Suite under bootcamp (for speed) - W10 on Mac hardware...also have 2 iMacs, a MacPro and AMD gaming PC and a HP Z-Book work laptop.

[RSTurboPaul]

I bought a Mac for personal use and have ended up using it for work (because a new job hasn't given me any IT equipment whatsoever... ) - I'm accessing the system via a Citrix window, so basically running Windows from the office servers down a very long cable, and it seems fine.

Macs are not that different to Windoze in terms of user experience - different shortcuts and all that but it's all pretty easy to pick up and get used to.

I can swap between Mac and Windows pretty easily now, but I have been impressed with the Mac reliability and the fact that if it crashes (only very rarely) it tends to open everything back up exactly as it was, whereas with the Windows machine you have to do it all yourself (well, the last time I used one, anyway...)


You'll soon adapt, don't worry about it!