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For college: I'll do everything in os x EXCEPT for word, powerpoint, excel, etc...

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nihao1234

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 12, 2008
62
0
Hey,

I've had a mac for 4 years, and love it. The one thing I hate, though, is running the Microsoft Office suite on it. I really prefer word processing/spreadsheets/powerpoints in the windows environment, don't ask me why-I just do.

I'm looking into Parallels and VMWare fusion for when I get my MacBook Pro. I'm kind of ruling out boot camp because I don't think I need to go THAT far when all I'm doing is running Microsoft Office 2007 in Windows (am I right?). They say boot camp is a pain to switch back and forth, and I don't need that power because it's not like I'm running 3D games; I'm simply using documents!

Would a virtual machine suit my needs just fine if all I wanted to use was excel, powerpoint, and word in the windows environment? If so, which one-VMWare or Parallels?

Thanks!
 
W

Wondercow

macrumors 6502a
Aug 27, 2008
559
365
Toronto, Canada
You could also give CrossOver a try. One thing you really should consider: have you tried Keynote for your presentations? It makes PowerPoint presentations look like rough sketches drawn by a three-year-old.
 
U

uaaerospace

macrumors 6502
Feb 15, 2005
396
0
Alabama
nihao1234 said:
Would a virtual machine suit my needs just fine if all I wanted to use was excel, powerpoint, and word in the windows environment? If so, which one-VMWare or Parallels?!
Click to expand...

Yes, a virtual machine will suit your needs just fine. I use Parallels 5 each and every day on my iMac at work (IT at a university). Some for MS Office, some for other (more resource hungry) apps. It always works fine.

I can recommend Parallels 5, but I can't compare it to VMWare since I've never used it.
 
D

dal20402

macrumors 6502
Apr 24, 2006
290
0
Just make sure you have enough RAM, or you'll get a lot of swapping and bogging down. A Windows VM running nothing but Office will want 1 GB for XP and 1.5 GB for Vista or 7. Add about 100 MB to that for VM overhead and make sure the remaining RAM on your Mac is enough. I wouldn't use a VM without 4 GB.
 
N

nihao1234

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 12, 2008
62
0
Gee, thanks guys for the suggestions/advice. Anyone else have anything to contribute?

Thanks again!!
 
S

Semimorphus

macrumors newbie
Nov 28, 2009
17
0
Hi, I use parallels desktop for the same reason. With parallels crystal mode you can use the windows office suite while still being in a osx environment. It works great and it doesn't slow my mac down.
 

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N

nihao1234

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 12, 2008
62
0
Wow, this looks great. Now that I know I can run my Windows Microsoft Office easily, what do people think of the difference between VMWare and Parallels for my needs?

Gracias, thanks, merci :)
 
J

Jack F

macrumors newbie
Jun 11, 2010
9
0
nihao1234 said:
Wow, this looks great. Now that I know I can run my Windows Microsoft Office easily, what do people think of the difference between VMWare and Parallels for my needs?

Gracias, thanks, merci :)
Click to expand...

If you're not bothered in running the apps in Crystal mode, I would go for VirtualBox, mainly because it's free, I found it easy to set up and have had no problems with it.

PS - you might want to check the Office 2011 Mac beta. I've had a play with it and I like it myself.
 
P

pinsrw

macrumors regular
May 30, 2010
194
0
nihao1234 said:
Hey,

I've had a mac for 4 years, and love it. The one thing I hate, though, is running the Microsoft Office suite on it.
Click to expand...

Have you tried OpenOffice? It's got all the same features and, by the generosity of Sun Microsystems, it's free.
 
V

vistadude

macrumors 65816
Jan 3, 2010
1,423
1
Wow those graphics look really good. I thought parallels and vmware might look like remote desktop or VNC scaled down graphics. It actually looks great, and the menubar is attached to the program! I might have to try parallels.

Semimorphus said:
Hi, I use parallels desktop for the same reason. With parallels crystal mode you can use the windows office suite while still being in a osx environment. It works great and it doesn't slow my mac down.
Click to expand...
 
M

M-B-P

macrumors regular
May 15, 2010
169
0
I was in the same type of situation as the OP. I just wanted to use the windows version of MS office on my mac. I was thinking bootcamp, but i knew that it would be a hassel. So I have been using Parallels 5, and I was completely blown away by how well it works (especially in crystal mode---Amazing!). I havent used any other virtualizing software but I don't have any reason to after using Parallels 5
 
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