2018 iPP and Excel

[Moakesy]

Can anyone with the new iPad Pro (2018) plus keyboard say what it's like using MS Excel?

Thinking of selling my old 2013 MBP which is only used occasionally by my girlfriend for doing her accounts on. The spreadsheet is nothing difficult, just a simple reconciliation of receipts vs her bank statement.

She won't use her existing iPad (3rd Gen, 2013) for this task as the experience is poor, especially when you consider half the screen is taken up by the virtual keyboard.

So keeping my old MBP for just her once a month home accounts reconciliation doesn't seem to make much sense.....so sell that, buy an iPad Pro 11" with keyboard and everyone's a winner.

Before I sell it though, would be good to know that Excel on iPad is actually a good experience. The current iPad is used everyday for other tasks, such as email, Netflix, web etc, it is just the Excel thing that is making me think twice.

 

[ericwn]

You could improve the experience with an external keyboard on the existing iPad- any regular Bluetooth keyboard will do and you immediately lose the onscreen keyboard.

 

[Moakesy]

You could improve the experience with an external keyboard on the existing iPad- any regular Bluetooth keyboard will do and you immediately lose the onscreen keyboard.

Thanks. Not sure she'd go for that....she can be quite particular when she wants to be!! Having both a bluetooth keyboard and a separate iPad on her lap doesn't feel like much of an improvement.

Thinking is upgrade to a larger screen size will help both with her day to day use of iPad, plus remove the need for the laptop on the once a month task of updating said spreadsheet. The MBP just sits there for weeks really, so better someone else gets more use of the MBP, I sell it and therefore she gets a 'free' upgrade to her iPad.

So that was my thinking, but I do sometimes wonder if I'm just trying to convince myself more than anyone else!! I did wonder if anyone had specifically used Excel on the new iPP though.

 

[mflpf]

I’ve used the 10.5” iPP for Excel, and I can tell you that it is awful. Inputting data, equations, and functions is cumbersome, and I’d say the experience is generally frustrating.

I don’t have the keyboard for my 2018 12.9” yet so I can’t comment about the experience on it, but the app hasn’t changed so I’d expect it to be the same.

 

[chrism_scotland]

Can anyone with the new iPad Pro (2018) plus keyboard say what it's like using MS Excel?

Thinking of selling my old 2013 MBP which is only used occasionally by my girlfriend for doing her accounts on. The spreadsheet is nothing difficult, just a simple reconciliation of receipts vs her bank statement.

She won't use her existing iPad (3rd Gen, 2013) for this task as the experience is poor, especially when you consider half the screen is taken up by the virtual keyboard.

So keeping my old MBP for just her once a month home accounts reconciliation doesn't seem to make much sense.....so sell that, buy an iPad Pro 11" with keyboard and everyone's a winner.

Before I sell it though, would be good to know that Excel on iPad is actually a good experience. The current iPad is used everyday for other tasks, such as email, Netflix, web etc, it is just the Excel thing that is making me think twice.

Personally I wouldn't use it without a physical keyboard - the on-screen one is always going to take up space.
I haven't got any issues using Excel though - personally I find it way better than Numbers and it does most of what I need it to do.

 

[Moakesy]

I’ve used the 10.5” iPP for Excel, and I can tell you that it is awful. Inputting data, equations, and functions is cumbersome, and I’d say the experience is generally frustrating.

I don’t have the keyboard for my 2018 12.9” yet so I can’t comment about the experience on it, but the app hasn’t changed so I’d expect it to be the same.

Hmm, that doesn't sound so good. I'd certainly want the keyboard...tried it on my older iPad without keyboard and just a pain. The main issues seems to be lack of screen estate when the keyboard is on screen, and moving from cell to cell without having arrow keys. Would you agree? I'd hope both of these issues disappear with a keyboard.

Excel is my thing and I know my way around it, so all the really complicated stuff would be done on the laptop, but basic data entry and looking at (and possibly amending) simple formula would be about as taxing at it'd get on the iPP.

Personally I wouldn't use it without a physical keyboard - the on-screen one is always going to take up space.
I haven't got any issues using Excel though - personally I find it way better than Numbers and it does most of what I need it to do.

Interesting that you seem to have had a better experience. Looks like I have one vote each for it being acceptable or not!!

 

[chrism_scotland]

Interesting that you seem to have had a better experience. Looks like I have one vote each for it being acceptable or not!!

It sounds like your usage would be similar to mine, basic stuff on the iPP and more complex stuff on a desktop - for that I'd say its more than adequate.

 

[Moakesy]

It sounds like your usage would be similar to mine, basic stuff on the iPP and more complex stuff on a desktop - for that I'd say its more than adequate.

Sounds like it. Cheers.

 

[mflpf]

Hmm, that doesn't sound so good. I'd certainly want the keyboard...tried it on my older iPad without keyboard and just a pain. The main issues seems to be lack of screen estate when the keyboard is on screen, and moving from cell to cell without having arrow keys. Would you agree? I'd hope both of these issues disappear with a keyboard.

Excel is my thing and I know my way around it, so all the really complicated stuff would be done on the laptop, but basic data entry and looking at (and possibly amending) simple formula would be about as taxing at it'd get on the iPP.



Interesting that you seem to have had a better experience. Looks like I have one vote each for it being acceptable or not!!

If the use will be truly basic and occasional it should be fine. My experience has been trying to use it for more complex applications while traveling and away from my iMac.