MBA - Office for Mac or in a VM environment

[FHayek]

I've been experimenting with a MBP running 10.5.8 with 2GB RAM and Office for Mac 2011. Excel and Word files open slowly and Outlook for Mac seems like a weak version of its Windows' counterpart.

If I buy a souped up MBA, will I have a better experience running Office 2011 for Mac (if I can get used to Outlook 2010) or running MS Office via Parallels?


Thanks-

FHayek

 

[miles01110]

Yes.

 

[GGJstudios]

I've been experimenting with a MBP running 10.5.8 with 2GB RAM and Office for Mac 2011. Excel and Word files open slowly and Outlook for Mac seems like a weak version of its Windows' counterpart.

Office for Mac is really not a weak version. You may have other factors causing the performance issue.

If I buy a souped up MBA, will I have a better experience running Office 2011 for Mac (if I can get used to Outlook 2010) or running MS Office via Parallels?

You'll probably get better performance using Office for Mac in native Mac OS X.

 

[kobyh15]

Use Office for Mac on better hardware. It runs fine.

 

[KPOM]

Outlook 2011 is still a bit crippled compared to Outlook 2010. Excel 2011 also misses out on the Data Analysis ToolPak, so there are some advantages to Office for Windows. As for performance, I've found the two comparable (I got a discounted home use license for Office 2010 from my employer and so I have both). Although Office 2010 running natively on a Windows PC or Boot Camp is faster than Office 2011, the added overhead of a virtual machine can slow it down a bit.

 

[WesCole]

I think Office 2010 runs better in my Parallels VM of Windows 7 than Office 2011 for Mac runs native on my Mac. Also, as mentioned before, there are some things only available in Office 2010. If you need to use Access for anything, you will have to use 2010 anyway. I run my W7 VM in coherence mode, so the windows appear like native Mac applications. Makes everything run very smoothly. Only downside is my battery life on my Air suffers (~25-30%) with my VM running all the time.

 

[FHayek]

Thanks for all the replies.

I think Office 2010 runs better in my Parallels VM of Windows 7 than Office 2011 for Mac runs native on my Mac. Also, as mentioned before, there are some things only available in Office 2010. If you need to use Access for anything, you will have to use 2010 anyway. I run my W7 VM in coherence mode, so the windows appear like native Mac applications. Makes everything run very smoothly. Only downside is my battery life on my Air suffers (~25-30%) with my VM running all the time.

Does Office seem laggy when in a VM? I test drove a MBA13 at the Apple Store, all the Office 2011 apps open very quickly.

FH

 

[WesCole]

Thanks for all the replies.



Does Office seem laggy when in a VM? I test drove a MBA13 at the Apple Store, all the Office 2011 apps open very quickly.

FH

I don't notice it being laggy in my VM at all. Like you said, Office 2011 opens quickly on the Air, but in my experience was you are using Word or Excel for a while and changing options, saving, printing, etc., it just seems less fluid than working with 2010. Your experience may vary and I may just be biased since I hated Office 2008 for Mac so much.

 

[stchman]

Unless you are doing some serious hardcore VBA or other MS Office specific stuff, use LibreOffice.

LibreOffice will do pretty much what you need. Did I mention that LibreOffice is FOSS?

 

[ixodes]

Unless you are doing some serious hardcore VBA or other MS Office specific stuff, use LibreOffice.

LibreOffice will do pretty much what you need. Did I mention that LibreOffice is FOSS?

I really like LibreOffice. It's been a great replacement for MS Office, and one that runs exceptionally well on our Linux laptops here at work. In fact that was one of the reasons that we migrated to LibreOffice, work requirements dictated an office suite across our PC, Mac, and Linux platforms.

 

[FHayek]

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

FH

 

[Kasalic]

For our company, it depends on how heavy an Outlook user you are. In particular we have issues with some people who view multiple calendars, in Outlook 2011 the experience is way off what you get in 2010. These people use Office 2010 in a VM.

Personally, when using an Exchange account, I much prefer using iCal, Reminders and Mac Mail, and get pretty much the same functionality, albeit using separate apps.

 

[FHayek]

For our company, it depends on how heavy an Outlook user you are. In particular we have issues with some people who view multiple calendars, in Outlook 2011 the experience is way off what you get in 2010. These people use Office 2010 in a VM.

Personally, when using an Exchange account, I much prefer using iCal, Reminders and Mac Mail, and get pretty much the same functionality, albeit using separate apps.

I use categories for my calendar and contacts and don't think the Apple products offer enough customization to suit my needs. I've tried and tried, but have given up on Mail etc.

I will probably go the VM route using Win 7 and Office 2010.

Thanks again-

FH

 

[LeeM]

ive got office 2011 on my pro with ssd, everythings very fast and things open almost instantly. it was a lto slower when i just had a standard hdd in

 

[daveishere]

I'm not expert on this but i'd definitely go with Office for Mac '11 and run in natively in OS X.

I run VMWare Fusion 2 on my '06 MacBook (White Plastic Casing), and as a result won't be letting Anything with Windows on it anywhere near my new Air.

 

[RightMACatU]

Office 2010 requires allot of overhead installation (& maintenance): VMWare Fusion + Win 7 + Office. This setup will cost you about 23GB & several $100s.

If you're not planning on using the VM for other purposes then go with Mac 2011.

 

[FHayek]

I run VMWare Fusion 2 on my '06 MacBook (White Plastic Casing), and as a result won't be letting Anything with Windows on it anywhere near my new Air.

Your '06 running an outdated version of Fusion might not offer the best apples to apples (no pun intended) comparison. How about some specifics?

FH

 

[daveishere]

Your '06 running an outdated version of Fusion might not offer the best apples to apples (no pun intended) comparison. How about some specifics?

FH

Nah I mean't to say that i used to, upgraded to an Air now.

My grude has nothing to do with VMWare Fusion, but rather how poorly made Windows is/was. I bought a Mac partly because of how good OS X is, I don't want to ruin my investment by putting that M$ crap on it again. Mountain Lion will do me just fine.

 

[mslide]

Excel and Word files open slowly.

Put an SSD in the MBP. I use Office for Mac 2011 on my late-2006 Macbook, with an SSD. Word/excel files open very quickly even on my old computer. Usually within a few seconds. Prior to the SSD, it seemed like word/excel took forever to load. Putting more RAM in might help as well, depending on how you're using your computer.

I can't speak for Outlook as I don't use it.

 

[OnceYouGoMac]

LibreOffice will do pretty much what you need. Did I mention that LibreOffice is FOSS?

I have LibreOffice on my Air. It's quite a good office suite and even reads DOCX files. I never use that file format as I don't particularly like it but there's always some dweeb who insists on sending me files in it I'm proud to say I've got no M$ products on my shiny new Air

 

[polee]

Wirelessly posted

I've been experimenting with a MBP running 10.5.8 with 2GB RAM and Office for Mac 2011. Excel and Word files open slowly and Outlook for Mac seems like a weak version of its Windows' counterpart.

Office for Mac is really not a weak version. You may have other factors causing the performance issue.

If I buy a souped up MBA, will I have a better experience running Office 2011 for Mac (if I can get used to Outlook 2010) or running MS Office via Parallels?

You'll probably get better performance using Office for Mac in native Mac OS X.

My Office for Mac 2011 runs smoothly/well on 2gb ram and also Snow Leopard. Puzzled why it is slow on your system. Did you install the latest office updates?

 

[FHayek]

Yes, all the updates are installed. Admittedly, part of my issue is I can't stand the Outlook version created for OS X.

I did try LibreOffice, I wish it had a PIM.

Perhaps I should buy a stock 2012 MBA, run office on it for 14 days and return it if I'm unhappy, then buy a gasses up machine and rum 2010 via a VM.

Thanks again for the interest.

 

[wolfpuppies3]

Memory may be an issue for you as well

2 GB is about enough to run Lion and not a lot more. This puts you into an almost constant use of virtual memory which is really slow and uses a bunch of your disk space.

My two cents

 

[BornAgainMac]

If I had to do it over again, I would have gotten Office 2010 to run in my VM and not purchase Office 2011 to run native on my Mac. The last version of Office I really liked on the Mac was Office 2001 on OS 9.