New to Mac but need Office 2013 please help me

[Chicki]

I have to have Office 2013 for school. There is no way around it, I can't use 2011, it has to be 2013

I've only had mac for a week, its my first ever apple product, I know nothing right now lol I can't stand the thought of going back to windows.. I just can't. I know there are ways to run windows on mac, but its confusing and I'm not sure what to use. I don't need anything from windows other than Office 2013. Is there any way to only run office, and not all of windows?

Can anyone point me in the direction of step by step directions, and which is best to use, parallels? bootcamp? I'm so confused!

Is there really that big a difference between 2011 and 2013? One of my teachers is the one that told me it has to be 2013, we're heavily using word, powerpoint, and excel at the moment, will be using access later on.

Sorry this was so long, thanks for any help and sorry if this is something that gets asked all the time

 

[yjchua95]

I have to have Office 2013 for school. There is no way around it, I can't use 2011, it has to be 2013

I've only had mac for a week, its my first ever apple product, I know nothing right now lol I can't stand the thought of going back to windows.. I just can't. I know there are ways to run windows on mac, but its confusing and I'm not sure what to use. I don't need anything from windows other than Office 2013. Is there any way to only run office, and not all of windows?

Can anyone point me in the direction of step by step directions, and which is best to use, parallels? bootcamp? I'm so confused!

Is there really that big a difference between 2011 and 2013? One of my teachers is the one that told me it has to be 2013, we're heavily using word, powerpoint, and excel at the moment, will be using access later on.

Sorry this was so long, thanks for any help and sorry if this is something that gets asked all the time

A solution is to use CrossOver, but it's clunky.

I'd suggest you grab yourself a copy of VirtualBox (you can pick paid options like VMware or Parallels if you're willing to pay), and a copy of Windows plus Office.

Running a Windows VM is easy. Just open up VBox/Parallels/VMware, press Start on the Windows VM and bam, you're operating Windows side by side with OS X.

Note that for optimal performance, you should assign at least 2 cores and 2GB of RAM to Windows.

It'd also help if your Mac has an SSD.

Office Access is only available for Windows. So either way, you'll have to go back to the Windows hell.

Edit: Here's a video I made to demonstrate VMware: https://mega.co.nz/#!IBRl1KSQ!ZiwbPWeMr2FhpND9SK82dFm3WuCo9FmG-yH9F_YHurI

Download to your computer to watch the demo. Use Chrome or Firefox to download it.

In the video, you may notice that my VM boots up pretty quickly. That's because I'm running it on an SSD. I assigned 2 physical cores (out of 12 available) and 8GB of RAM (out of 64GB available).

This was running off one of my trashcan Mac Pros, but I also get the same level of performance on my iMac with half of the resources.

 

[ssmed]

... will be using Access later on ...

There is no Mac version of MS Access. If you need Access you are going to have to have a virtual PC on your Mac (Parallels, VMWare Fusion etc) or make your Mac a PC for a while using bootcamp.

You can probably get away with Excel, Word and Powerpoint (2011) without too much grief

 

[mac8867]

Is there really that big a difference between 2011 and 2013?

No.. there is almost no difference

One of my teachers is the one that told me it has to be 2013, we're heavily using word, powerpoint, and excel at the moment, will be using access later on.

If you are studying a technical degree course, shame on your teacher - tell him/her to wake up.

If you are studying a business/science focused degree course, shame on your teacher - tell him/her to wake up

If you are studying an arts focused degree, just use Office 2011 and ignore your teacher.

ANY TEACHER that wants you to learn MS Access needs to retire... immediately.

 

[Altemose]

I have to have Office 2013 for school. There is no way around it, I can't use 2011, it has to be 2013

I've only had mac for a week, its my first ever apple product, I know nothing right now lol I can't stand the thought of going back to windows.. I just can't. I know there are ways to run windows on mac, but its confusing and I'm not sure what to use. I don't need anything from windows other than Office 2013. Is there any way to only run office, and not all of windows?

Can anyone point me in the direction of step by step directions, and which is best to use, parallels? bootcamp? I'm so confused!

Is there really that big a difference between 2011 and 2013? One of my teachers is the one that told me it has to be 2013, we're heavily using word, powerpoint, and excel at the moment, will be using access later on.

Sorry this was so long, thanks for any help and sorry if this is something that gets asked all the time

You are going to need a copy of Office 2013, VirtualBox or Parallels, and a copy of Windows. If only using Microsoft Office, you will be fine with using a VM (Virtual Machine). You will need to have at least 8 GB of RAM for it to run properly however as you are running Windows on top of OS X.

 

[yjchua95]

You are going to need a copy of Office 2013, VirtualBox or Parallels, and a copy of Windows. If only using Microsoft Office, you will be fine with using a VM (Virtual Machine). You will need to have at least 8 GB of RAM for it to run properly however as you are running Windows on top of OS X.

That was basically what my post said, but thanks for summing it up

In my post, I threw in a video to demo to the OP on how Windows runs alongside OS X though.

 

[Chicki]

A solution is to use CrossOver, but it's clunky.

I'd suggest you grab yourself a copy of VirtualBox (you can pick paid options like VMware or Parallels if you're willing to pay), and a copy of Windows plus Office.

Running a Windows VM is easy. Just open up VBox/Parallels/VMware, press Start on the Windows VM and bam, you're operating Windows side by side with OS X.

Note that for optimal performance, you should assign at least 2 cores and 2GB of RAM to Windows.

It'd also help if your Mac has an SSD.

Office Access is only available for Windows. So either way, you'll have to go back to the Windows hell.

Edit: Here's a video I made to demonstrate VMware: https://mega.co.nz/#!IBRl1KSQ!ZiwbPWeMr2FhpND9SK82dFm3WuCo9FmG-yH9F_YHurI

Download to your computer to watch the demo. Use Chrome or Firefox to download it.

In the video, you may notice that my VM boots up pretty quickly. That's because I'm running it on an SSD. I assigned 2 physical cores (out of 12 available) and 8GB of RAM (out of 64GB available).

This was running off one of my trashcan Mac Pros, but I also get the same level of performance on my iMac with half of the resources.

Thank you SO much. I just bought an iMac but I'm returning it today for a rMBP. I got it on sale so I went for it, but I really need portability so I'll be ordering a rMBP today. I'm so relieved, the thought of going back to Windows was killing me lol

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No.. there is almost no difference


If you are studying a technical degree course, shame on your teacher - tell him/her to wake up.

If you are studying a business/science focused degree course, shame on your teacher - tell him/her to wake up

If you are studying an arts focused degree, just use Office 2011 and ignore your teacher.

ANY TEACHER that wants you to learn MS Access needs to retire... immediately.

I'm in a business program. I have no idea what access even is lol it was one thing I've never touched. I know it's not on Mac, but I have an old Toshiba I can use that has it if I really need it so im not worried about it. The main things I need are PowerPoint, Word, and excel. If I can get away with that on office 2011, beautiful. But knowing I can run Windows if I need to has made my day

I was going to spend 1300 on a Dell XPS, you guys just don't know how relieved I am right now.

Thank you all!!

 

[yjchua95]

Thank you SO much. I just bought an iMac but I'm returning it today for a rMBP. I got it on sale so I went for it, but I really need portability so I'll be ordering a rMBP today. I'm so relieved, the thought of going back to Windows was killing me lol

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I'm in a business program. I have no idea what access even is lol it was one thing I've never touched. I know it's not on Mac, but I have an old Toshiba I can use that has it if I really need it so im not worried about it. The main things I need are PowerPoint, Word, and excel. If I can get away with that on office 2011, beautiful. But knowing I can run Windows if I need to has made my day

I was going to spend 1300 on a Dell XPS, you guys just don't know how relieved I am right now.

Thank you all!!

Did the video I attached help clarify your doubts?

 

[Chicki]

Did the video I attached help clarify your doubts?

My phone wouldn't allow me to play the video I have to wait till I'm done class

 

[Chicki]

ok, got home and watched the video, amazing. So you can literally just go back and forth between OSX and windows so smoothly? That is awesome, its like best of both worlds

Video was super helpful, thank you so much. I'll post back when I get my rMBP and let you all know how its doing... or if i need help haha

 

[Chicki]

Can you guys also give me your opinions on imac vs rMBP?

The obvious one is portability, but today is the last day I have to return my imac and I just can't decide what to do.

I love the big screen, the 1tb storage, how it looks, and i'm even impressed with the mouse lol

but I also really like working on the couch or in bed, i'm just more productive that way, I miss having a laptop.

I like the price of the 13" rMBP, but I greatly prefer the screen of the 15"... which is more expensive and everyone says I don't need that level of specs for my needs. The small size of the 13" inch is good if I want to take it to school, but I don't see a need to do that, I wish the 15" came in a version with lower specs so I could have it all

I will be using my machine for lots of office/school/work related things, plus general stuff like surfing/emails/netflix/youtube/music and photos. I don't game or do any graphic design or anything.

Futureproofing is something i'm concerned with, I'd like to have it at least 4 years.

Do you guys think I should keep the iMac or get the rMBP?

 

[yjchua95]

Can you guys also give me your opinions on imac vs rMBP?

The obvious one is portability, but today is the last day I have to return my imac and I just can't decide what to do.

I love the big screen, the 1tb storage, how it looks, and i'm even impressed with the mouse lol

but I also really like working on the couch or in bed, i'm just more productive that way, I miss having a laptop.

I like the price of the 13" rMBP, but I greatly prefer the screen of the 15"... which is more expensive and everyone says I don't need that level of specs for my needs. The small size of the 13" inch is good if I want to take it to school, but I don't see a need to do that, I wish the 15" came in a version with lower specs so I could have it all

I will be using my machine for lots of office/school/work related things, plus general stuff like surfing/emails/netflix/youtube/music and photos. I don't game or do any graphic design or anything.

Futureproofing is something i'm concerned with, I'd like to have it at least 4 years.

Do you guys think I should keep the iMac or get the rMBP?

What's your current iMac's exact specs?

Processor, RAM, HDD/Fusion/SSD, and GPU?

VMs run like a joke on a 13" rMBP. I've a late-2013 13" rMBP with 2.8GHz i7/16GB RAM/512GB SSD and it's a complete joke because the Iris 5100 isn't up to the job. Running the VMS separately on an external display is smooth, however.

In Boot Camp it's smooth though, but less convenient.

A 15" would actually be more suitable because you can assign two cores for optimal performance in VMware and not really affect OS X at all.

If you need portability and don't mind having to reboot between Boot Camp and OS X, buy a mid-spec 13". If you need to switch between Windows and OS X on the fly, get a baseline 15".

The smoothness you saw in my video would definitely not be possible on a 13" that's driving its own internal display. External display alone it'll be fine. It would also be about 4x slower to boot up and get the VM into a useable state without an SSD either.

 

[Chicki]

My iMac is this one:

http://store.apple.com/ca/buy-mac/imac?product=ME086LL/A&step=config

Hmmm now I'm worried about going for the 13" rMBP, I was considering this one:

http://store.apple.com/ca/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MGX82LL/A&step=config

But maybe I have an excuse to buy the 15' now lol

 

[Micky Do]

Why not use the latest version of Office for Mac?

It runs on OS X.

 

[yjchua95]

Why not use the latest version of Office for Mac?

It runs on OS X.

OP needs to use Access. Which is only found in the Windows version.

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My iMac is this one:

http://store.apple.com/ca/buy-mac/imac?product=ME086LL/A&step=config

Hmmm now I'm worried about going for the 13" rMBP, I was considering this one:

http://store.apple.com/ca/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MGX82LL/A&step=config

But maybe I have an excuse to buy the 15' now lol

Neither is going to cut it.

Get a base 15". A quad core i7 will really help if you're running it as a VM.

The iMac is unsuitable because:
1. It's not an i7.
2. No SSD.

The rMBP is unsuitable because:
1. GPU is too weak to drive the VM in the internal display.
2. Only way to get it running smoothly is to use Boot Camp. If you don't mind constantly rebooting back and forth, go for it.

 

[Altemose]

Neither is going to cut it.

Get a base 15". A quad core i7 will really help if you're running it as a VM.

The iMac is unsuitable because:
1. It's not an i7.
2. No SSD.

The rMBP is unsuitable because:
1. GPU is too weak to drive the VM in the internal display.
2. Only way to get it running smoothly is to use Boot Camp. If you don't mind constantly rebooting back and forth, go for it.

You do know that OP is trying to use Office and not Photoshop, right? People have used virtual machines for years on computers with Core 2 Duos and 8 GB of RAM. I would like to think that an i5 and at least 8 GB of RAM is fine.

 

[yjchua95]

You do know that OP is trying to use Office and not Photoshop, right? People have used virtual machines for years on computers with Core 2 Duos and 8 GB of RAM. I would like to think that an i5 and at least 8 GB of RAM is fine.

But then, if the OP tries to run it on the rMBP itself, it's horrible.

I've tried it myself with VMware Fusion 7 on my 13" rMBP with 2.8GHz i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and Iris 5100. It just suffers a lot of frame drops and affects usability. Iris isn't up to the job when running VMware.

Iris Pro suffices, however.

Also, assigning 2 cores in a hypervisor actually means that you're only assigning one physical core. A bit pathetic, don't you think?

 

[Altemose]

But then, if the OP tries to run it on the rMBP itself, it's horrible.

I've tried it myself with VMware Fusion 7 on my 13" rMBP with 2.8GHz i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and Iris 5100. It just suffers a lot of frame drops and affects usability. Iris isn't up to the job when running VMware.

Iris Pro suffices, however.

Also, assigning 2 cores in a hypervisor actually means that you're only assigning one physical core. A bit pathetic, don't you think?

I know that the Core i5 is only going to give one core to the VM but that should be fine for Office. I have had better luck with Parallels rather than VMWare Fusion on the rMBP.

 

[yjchua95]

I know that the Core i5 is only going to give one core to the VM but that should be fine for Office. I have had better luck with Parallels rather than VMWare Fusion on the rMBP.

VMware Fusion doesn't really play nice with retina displays, not even on my 5K iMac.

If I wasn't working for VMware Inc, I would have installed Parallels

 

[Altemose]

VMware Fusion doesn't really play nice with retina displays, not even on my 5K iMac.

If I wasn't working for VMware Inc, I would have installed Parallels

I kind of figured you had a reason to use Fusion instead of Parallels. OP should use Parallels regardless of what Mac they buy in my opinion.

 

[yjchua95]

I kind of figured you had a reason to use Fusion instead of Parallels. OP should use Parallels regardless of what Mac they buy in my opinion.

Parallels is far better for the general consumer.

The ones who install Fusion are the ones who need heavy VM encryption, security and raw computational power.

Myself, I actually work on vSphere and Horizon. Fusion is installed on all my Macs except the two trash can Mac Pros, which run ESXi.

 

[2984839]

Just about every time I have been told "You must use version XYZ of Office" I completely ignored it and used something else with no problems. Most of the time, the teacher will say that because Office 2013 is what they use and they want to ensure compatibility and cut down on student complaints/excuses.

As always, there are exceptions and sometimes it does make a genuine difference, so your mileage may vary.

 

[Chicki]

Ok well I returned the iMac (sadly)

Thank you everyone for all your thoughts. I haven't had time to do much more research but I'm thinking Parallels is the way to go. I (clearly) am not the techiest person so I just want this to be as smooth as possible, and I don't mind paying for that.

The guys at best buy were trying to sell me on an Asus Zenbook... It looks nice but I'm really paranoid about getting a machine that's going to run like crap in a year, and I despise Windows 8.

They also told me to hold if I can for a 5th generation processor coming out. Will it really make a difference? When does apple usually release new MacBooks?

I'm probably going to go with the 15", I prefer the size and if it will run smoother I'm sold, a little extra budgeting and I can manage it

 

[doynton]

You do know that OP is trying to use Office and not Photoshop, right? People have used virtual machines for years on computers with Core 2 Duos and 8 GB of RAM. I would like to think that an i5 and at least 8 GB of RAM is fine.

It is absolutely fine on my 2012 13" i5 rMBP. I start Windows 8.1 in about 2 seconds in VirtualBox. I have 1 virtual CPU assigned and 3GB (out of 8) RAM assigned. For Office etc it is perfect.

I normally have another VM running Arch Linux running at all times (with only 1GB assigned) and even assigning half my RAM OSX still runs smoothly enough for me.

 

[Altemose]

I normally have another VM running Arch Linux running at all times (with only 1GB assigned) and even assigning half my RAM OSX still runs smoothly enough for me.

Sometimes I give Windows 12 out of 16 GB of RAM without issue.