Review Macbook 2015 & Office for Mac Preview 2016?

[sunshine92]

Hi, to all who have gotten your macbook 2015 and have office preview 2016 installed,

1. could you please kindly review which 1.1/1.2/1.3 macbook 2015, 128/256gb are you using and how is the mac office 2016 experience?
2. Is it laggy for big files eg excels <150kb, powerpoint < 30mb?
Or if it is not laggy, just a random file that you are testing with, what is the size for excel and powerpoint?
3. if you have other mac laptops / desktops currently and have office 2016 preview installed, how would you compare the experience with the macbook? Is there no difference? (as I read from some forums on word processing?)

Thank you!!

I'm hoping to buy a macbook 2015 for mainly office 2016 use. 95% of my usage is excel, powerpoint, word, reply emails, surfing the web daily. 5% I might edit photos and short videos. I wouldn't say the macbook will be for very heavy usage for word processing - my excels are only like <10 sheets and linked, and only 130kb, mostly financials.

I currently use 13 inch (mid 2011) MBA 1.7ghz core i5, intel 3000 384mb, 4gb ram, 128gb drive and i have office 365 on boot camp windows 7.

Powerpoint and excel hang sometimes so I'm quite worried that the macbook 2015 will be laggy. I wont bootcamp the Macbook but use office 2016 for mac.

I'm looking to get the 1.3 ghz 256gb for its portability, is it an overkill or with my use, I could get a 1.1 or 1.2 ghz and still manage?

Thanks

 

[Atimix]

Unless you're running serious coding, illustration, or photo editing software don't waste your money on anything past the base model.

 

[rahulr]

HI OP,

I'm in the exact situation as you. I currently have a RMBP13 with the office for mac preview. I work with very large excel files 5-13mb that hang from time to time. I also work with complicated PowerPoint presentations.

I just receive my space gray 1.2/512 and will be putting it through the paces tomorrow and over the next few days.

I'll report back here the office performance as well as general observations.

I'm not at all apprehensive and haven't been deterred by the interesting reviews as well as the forum posts here. As a 2008 MBA devotee, I know what im getting into. In fact I ran into a problem today trying to transfer my time machine to the new RMB, and not being able to charge and use the sub C connection simultaneously,

But again, I'll post items here as I find them but will primarily focus on office 2016 performance,

 

[saifrc]

Unless you're running serious coding, illustration, or photo editing software don't waste your money on anything past the base model.

Generally speaking, I'd agree. Since I intend to use mine to dump/cull photos while traveling, I opted for the 1.2/512 model, for the extra local storage. From the impressions I've read here, I think most people will be fine with the 1.1/256, and that Office won't be the application suite that makes you wish you had the 1.3GHz processor. (I'm speaking hypothetically, because I'm still waiting for mine to ship...)

As an Office 365 subscriber, I'm really loving how Microsoft is embracing all the different online storage options. In fact, the convenience of Office 365 and Office for iPad is what motivated me to actually start using OneDrive alongside Dropbox. I haven't tried the Office 2016 preview, but I'm glad to know I can download it when it's officially released. Who knew, back in the '90s, that Microsoft was going to make owning a Apple products so worthwhile?

 

[Elise]

Sorry to piggyback on this thread but does any use Citrix client on the rMB and does it run ok.

 

[sunshine92]

@Atimix I was thinking of the 1.3ghz because I'm having issues with the mid 2011 MBA which I've read performs similarly as the 2015 macbook 1.1ghz. thanks for your input, I'll keep that in mind!

@rahulr Enjoy your new macbook! I'll really really appreciate the review, thanks in advance!!

@saifrc when is yours shipping? I was considering the 512gb too but exactly like what you said as well! with the online storage, I was thinking I could stay with 256gb. And yes the office preview is just in time! I'm just happy that microsoft finally decides to do something for mac office (2011 is just not good enough..) so I do not have to bootcamp my laptops anymore. I might just get office 2016 standalone when it is released though, I read that office 365 updates itself quite often (maybe that is why it is laggy on my mid2011 MBA now) and I wouldn't want to bog down my Macbook.

 

[saifrc]

@saifrc when is yours shipping? I was considering the 512gb too but exactly like what you said as well! with the online storage, I was thinking I could stay with 256gb. And yes the office preview is just in time! I'm just happy that microsoft finally decides to do something for mac office (2011 is just not good enough..) so I do not have to bootcamp my laptops anymore. I might just get office 2016 standalone when it is released though, I read that office 365 updates itself quite often (maybe that is why it is laggy on my mid2011 MBA now) and I wouldn't want to bog down my Macbook.

My shipping estimate is May 6-May 13. I ordered the gold model, which appears to have sold out faster than the other colors. I watched the ship date slip as I checked stores for availability, as I added the dongles to my cart, and as I applied for the no-interest BarclayCard I did pay for expedited shipping, which appears to have subtracted two days from the shipping estimate that many others received, May 8-May 15. I would have canceled my order and purchased from Best Buy, except that I didn't want to waste the credit account that I applied for, and soon thereafter, Best Buy also sold out of the gold 1.2/512 model.

I have eight trips lined up in the next three months, for both business and pleasure. I'm really eager to put this machine through its paces, and Office is going to be one of the most important tests.

 

[rahulr]

Hi again,

It's very late, so I'll make this first update very quick. For starters, this machine is gorgeous. I won't belabor what everyone has already said other than, it's simply the most gorgeous looking machine Apple has made. Almost like every piece was concocted and put in its place with a grander design in mind.

With that said, I just loaded up two very big files. I am a long time Dropbox user and share he OPs points about MSFT. The new office is awesome. Fast, reliable, and none of my colleagues know I am using a Mac version. So, back to my files. The first is a complicated excel (.xlsm) workbook with 46 sheets, macros and circular references (by design). It took 39 seconds to open on my wife's 2015 RMBP 13, and 44 seconds on my new MB. Oh and Dropbox was doing its first sync in the background. I'll time it again at idle tomorrow.

Using the file was exactly the same on both machines. No discernable lag. Pretty impressed with this.

Second file was a word doc with track changes on. Opening times were identical at 12 seconds. Using the file was a little slower on the MB. But the slowdown was only when I was in a heavy track changes area. I'm extremely picky about this as I spend most of my day editing docs and reading them in word. So far I can say that the lag in word isn't much of a prblem.

I'll run ppt, tomorrow and see what I find out. The indexing and initial load should be done tomorrow so I'll provide some more side by sides.

Please ask any questions you may have. I use skitch, ynab, 1password, and a few ther minor programs, so any issues beyond these programs may not be in my wheelhouse.

 

[saifrc]

The first is a complicated excel (.xlsm) workbook with 46 sheets, macros and circular references (by design). It took 39 seconds to open on my wife's 2015 RMBP 13, and 44 seconds on my new MB. Oh and Dropbox was doing its first sync in the background. I'll time it again at idle tomorrow.

Using the file was exactly the same on both machines. No discernable lag. Pretty impressed with this.

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences!

Do you have any information to report on how long it took macros to execute on both machines? I use some workbooks that reach 100+MB, with macros that can take 3 hours to execute. (Why is this done in Excel/VBA? It wasn't my decision.) I'd love to hear about VBA execution between the two machines, if you can share!

 

[GiantCow]

If I'm understanding the MS site correctly, Office 2016 Preview has to be re-installed every 60 days?

 

[rahulr]

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences!

Do you have any information to report on how long it took macros to execute on both machines? I use some workbooks that reach 100+MB, with macros that can take 3 hours to execute. (Why is this done in Excel/VBA? It wasn't my decision.) I'd love to hear about VBA execution between the two machines, if you can share!

Hi, forgive me but I'm not as excel-savvy as you are and don't really know how to do the things you've said. My financial folks setup the spreadsheets and I enable the macros when I open the docs.

Either way, here are my file opening times:

file speed comparisons
187 mb word file
8.8 secs on MB
6.8 secs on rMBP

excel file
39.07 secs on MB
28.28 secs on rMBP

ppt file
8.03 secs
5.93 secs

----------

If I'm understanding the MS site correctly, Office 2016 Preview has to be re-installed every 60 days?

It's silly how they list it but it's not really true. You install MS Auto Update and that refreshes your programs automatically every so often. The most recent update released on April 15, is totally stable and seems like it's ready public use.

I'm very happy with it so far.

 

[PittAir]

Sorry to piggyback on this thread but does any use Citrix client on the rMB and does it run ok.

I do. Receiver works absolutely fine.

 

[Elise]

I do. Receiver works absolutely fine.

Thanks very much

 

[jazz1]

I'm liking this more than Office 2011. When this is out of beta, can it be purchased outright, not rented with a monthly fee like where a lot of software is going?

 

[Steve121178]

I'm liking this more than Office 2011. When this is out of beta, can it be purchased outright, not rented with a monthly fee like where a lot of software is going?

Yes, but it will only be allowed to be installed on 1 computer.

Office 365 allows you to install it on 5 machines, 5 iPad's/tablets & 1TB OneDrive storage (raising to unlimited for all users soon).

 

[mattopotamus]

Yes, but it will only be allowed to be installed on 1 computer.

Office 365 allows you to install it on 5 machines, 5 iPad's/tablets & 1TB OneDrive storage (raising to unlimited for all users soon).

depending on your tier.

I pay $6.99 for 1 mac and one tablet, but I can activate it and deactivate it with a click of a button, so I have it on a few machines.

I am downloading the 2016 preview, so I can contribute to the thread in a few days after usage

 

[sunshine92]

@saifrc I've been reading that apple is shipping the 1.3s as we speak already. please review on office 2016 when you get yours too!

@rahulr wow thanks for the review the same night!! seems that it's working great with office on your rMB though i found another conflicting review on office 2016 and i'll probably decide when i see more reviews.

@mattopotamus thanks in advance! i think your review will be helpful to the other people like myself looking for using the macbook for word processing.

Adding on another review i found in the other thread on office 2016: Does anyone else feel like the MacBook is kind of slow and not very snappy?

review by kenbrinkman

I'm not sure if my koolaid isn't as strong as some of yours, but my rMB 1.2 GHz is pretty slow. I expected it coming from a 2013 i7 rMBP. I thought it would be fine for my general school-related tasks (web browsing, MS word, photos, etc) but it's actually kind of disappointing. PDFs in preview are verrry slow. Scrolling, zooming, everything. Borderline unusable. I actually downloaded MS Office preview 2016 thinking it would be fast and efficient, boy was I wrong. The text input lagged, scrolling lagged, UI lagged...it was horrible. I downgraded to MS office 2011 which is a little better. Scrolling still clearly taxes this machine. The new photos app just refuses to work with my 80GB photos library. I launch the app, a blank window opens, and there it sits until I force quit it.

Let's hope for some serious software updates to iron out some of these kinks before my 14 days is up. Otherwise, I might need to return it and go for a new 13" rMBP. Yeah, the form factor, screen, trackpad, and battery life are great. But I can get all of those (minus the ridiculous low weight) in a 13" rMBP.

I'm not sure the Core M is up to daily tasks to be honest. I'm not sure if Apple rushed this design, or if they're really placing this much emphasis on form over function. The performance is not what anyone who used a recent MacBook (air or pro) would expect. We've all seen the benchmarks. The rMB is the same as a 2011 Air, or an iPad Air. And it feels like it. There's no going around that. We'll see what happens I guess, but for now, consider me unimpressed.

(running mac os) 10.10.3 (14D136). All software up to date. Only using Safari (no Chrome), and I don't even have Flash installed.

 

[matt2053]

@saifrc I've been reading that apple is shipping the 1.3s as we speak already. please review on office 2016 when you get yours too!

@rahulr wow thanks for the review the same night!! seems that it's working great with office on your rMB though i found another conflicting review on office 2016 and i'll probably decide when i see more reviews.

@mattopotamus thanks in advance! i think your review will be helpful to the other people like myself looking for using the macbook for word processing.

Adding on another review i found in the other thread on office 2016: Does anyone else feel like the MacBook is kind of slow and not very snappy?

review by kenbrinkman

I'm not sure if my koolaid isn't as strong as some of yours, but my rMB 1.2 GHz is pretty slow. I expected it coming from a 2013 i7 rMBP. I thought it would be fine for my general school-related tasks (web browsing, MS word, photos, etc) but it's actually kind of disappointing. PDFs in preview are verrry slow. Scrolling, zooming, everything. Borderline unusable. I actually downloaded MS Office preview 2016 thinking it would be fast and efficient, boy was I wrong. The text input lagged, scrolling lagged, UI lagged...it was horrible. I downgraded to MS office 2011 which is a little better. Scrolling still clearly taxes this machine. The new photos app just refuses to work with my 80GB photos library. I launch the app, a blank window opens, and there it sits until I force quit it.

Let's hope for some serious software updates to iron out some of these kinks before my 14 days is up. Otherwise, I might need to return it and go for a new 13" rMBP. Yeah, the form factor, screen, trackpad, and battery life are great. But I can get all of those (minus the ridiculous low weight) in a 13" rMBP.

I'm not sure the Core M is up to daily tasks to be honest. I'm not sure if Apple rushed this design, or if they're really placing this much emphasis on form over function. The performance is not what anyone who used a recent MacBook (air or pro) would expect. We've all seen the benchmarks. The rMB is the same as a 2011 Air, or an iPad Air. And it feels like it. There's no going around that. We'll see what happens I guess, but for now, consider me unimpressed.

(running mac os) 10.10.3 (14D136). All software up to date. Only using Safari (no Chrome), and I don't even have Flash installed.

I simply don't even believe reviews like that. Preview is borderline unusable? Give me a break. There *must* be something else going on.

I have the base 1.1 model and I do everything mentioned above, and I do it all day as this is my one and only workstation for work. And I typically do it with Windows running in Parallels in the background and about 4 hours a day hosting GoToMeetings. Word, large excel files, mail.... no problems.

 

[sunshine92]

Hey, thought I should update.. indeed the excel file continued to beachball on my macbook but it wasn't as disruptive and laggy as i thought it would be. i have the 1.3ghz 256gb macbook 2015.

i also found that geekbench 3 and black magic tests results improved from june to july, tested 1 month apart. I received my macbook in End May, even though at testing in mid june, macbook has already fully indexed. have attached my july geekbench 3 and blackmagic results.

 

[skinuca]

I simply don't even believe reviews like that. Preview is borderline unusable? Give me a break. There *must* be something else going on.

I have the base 1.1 model and I do everything mentioned above, and I do it all day as this is my one and only workstation for work. And I typically do it with Windows running in Parallels in the background and about 4 hours a day hosting GoToMeetings. Word, large excel files, mail.... no problems.

This is good to read. You still feel that way about it? I'll be heading to the story today to replace 2009 MBA and it is either the MacBook or the MBP. Usage similar to yours, MS office, Keynote, mail and web and a little Netflix.

 

[skinuca]

Hey, thought I should update.. indeed the excel file continued to beachball on my macbook but it wasn't as disruptive and laggy as i thought it would be. i have the 1.3ghz 256gb macbook 2015.

i also found that geekbench 3 and black magic tests results improved from june to july, tested 1 month apart. I received my macbook in End May, even though at testing in mid june, macbook has already fully indexed. have attached my july geekbench 3 and blackmagic results.

So, it seems you remain happy with the MacBook?

 

[sasha.danielle]

Hi, to all who have gotten your macbook 2015 and have office preview 2016 installed,

1. could you please kindly review which 1.1/1.2/1.3 macbook 2015, 128/256gb are you using and how is the mac office 2016 experience?
2. Is it laggy for big files eg excels <150kb, powerpoint < 30mb?
Or if it is not laggy, just a random file that you are testing with, what is the size for excel and powerpoint?
3. if you have other mac laptops / desktops currently and have office 2016 preview installed, how would you compare the experience with the macbook? Is there no difference? (as I read from some forums on word processing?)

Thank you!!

I'm hoping to buy a macbook 2015 for mainly office 2016 use. 95% of my usage is excel, powerpoint, word, reply emails, surfing the web daily. 5% I might edit photos and short videos. I wouldn't say the macbook will be for very heavy usage for word processing - my excels are only like <10 sheets and linked, and only 130kb, mostly financials.

I currently use 13 inch (mid 2011) MBA 1.7ghz core i5, intel 3000 384mb, 4gb ram, 128gb drive and i have office 365 on boot camp windows 7.

Powerpoint and excel hang sometimes so I'm quite worried that the macbook 2015 will be laggy. I wont bootcamp the Macbook but use office 2016 for mac.

I'm looking to get the 1.3 ghz 256gb for its portability, is it an overkill or with my use, I could get a 1.1 or 1.2 ghz and still manage?

Thanks

I had trouble with Office 2016 on my 1.1. It was unusably jumpy. I haven't tried it since upgrading to El Capitan Beta though, so it might be better. El Capitan has greatly improved my lag problems.

Elsewhere, you mention you're thinking of getting a 1.3. I thought of this also, but it suddenly occurred to me that if I save that extra cash, I can probably upgrade to Skylake without it costing me any money at all. The resell on a 8 month old machine is going to be fine. I bought mine with a 10% discount, and I think that should pretty much cover any depreciation. Tack onto that the money I save by not getting the 1.3/512 now, and I can probably get the top end model next spring (and Skylake will be miles ahead than this year's model), while still having a brand new machine this year.

 

[sunshine92]

So, it seems you remain happy with the MacBook?

Hi skinuca, yes I remain happy but I do not use it for watching videos nor playing games. Mostly word processing. My documents arent huge, usually less than 5 pages but I have many. Excel doesnt work great as I blame it on formulas I have but nothing complex really, mostly financial projections only!. It beachballs on opening up some apps too like office. But usually after opening the app, it doesnt beachball anymore during usage.
videos though are really bad? I cant watch a hour long proper video on chrome even when plugged in and good wifi. Kept having dropped frames and would rather watch on my phablet or tablet on same wifi, works great. Given up but still, great as a work word processing machine due to long battery life and protability for myself. So I would say it is a good buy overall as it fulfill my primary need for word processing and I couldnt wait for skylake as I needed a 11 inch MBA replacement. hope this helps!

 

[sunshine92]

Anyway, just to add on, preview works fine for me (I use preview often! And for annotation) and so does office 2016. No big issues but not zippy fast compared to windows on parallel. So I would think it is the os issue. I have 212gb free space, (if it helps) left when running the programs and I have the most updated osx.

 

[NYanakiev]

I have been using office 2016 heavily on the mid range 1,2ghz Macbook. I am yet to see any performance issues or lag. Scrolling through excel and word (big! files) seems to be perfectly fine as well.

On top of that, playing 1080p videos with the great pair of speakers is a blast considering the size and thinness of the laptop. I even installed a game or two from the App store and they all run surprisingly good!

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't be happier! (I returned the new Macbook Pro 13" and got the Macbook instead)