Running MS Office in Windows

[gsusser]

I'm planning on buying a new 27" iMac in the near future. I never used Windows on a Mac before but want to do so now solely for MS Office. I haven't done any research yet and am hoping to get a definitive answer here as to my best option for using Windows. Thanks.

 

[MacDawg]

There are a number of viable options, most all of which require you have a copy of Windows

You can BootCamp for free and use your copy of Windows (requires you to reboot into Windows)
You can use VirtualBox for free and use your copy of Windows (virtual running in OSX)
You can use VMware Fusion or Parallels (costs) and use your copy of Windows (use with BootCamp or virtual running in OSX)

There are other solutions but these are the main ones

Personally I recommend VMware Fusion
Works great for me and I run Ubuntu, Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 with it without any issues (sometimes all at the same time)
Great for testing

 

[S.B.G]

You don't necessarily need to put Windows on the Mac to get and use Office. If you get a subscription to Office 365, Personal, or Home, you can have Office for between 1 to 5 computers.

If you're anything like me, a mostly basic user of Office, the Mac version will work just fine. I've read other users, who use some of the more advanced features (don't ask me what) say that sometimes there are differences between the Mac and Windows versions of the suite.

Plus, you can't get Access or Publisher on the Mac. If you need those, then you'll need Windows.

For putting Windows on the Mac, you have two options: Boot Camp and virtualization. I prefer virtualization and use VMware to host Windows on my Mac. Then you can install Office for Windows on it and be ready to go, plus you can use OS X at the same time.

Boot Camp means you install Windows on a partition and have to restart the computer to get to either Windows or OS X. Typically, many people who do the Boot Camp installation, do so, so that they can play games or do other hardware intensive tasks in Windows where they need native access to the hardware for performance reasons.

 

[gsusser]

Thanks for the responses. It sounds like VMware is the best option. I tried Parallels when I bought my first Mac about 8 years ago and had all sorts of problems, though I was a newbie and I think Parallels was still pretty new.

I am an advanced excel user - I hope to be going for my MS certification in excel soon - and presently use both the Mac and Windows versions - the windows version at work. I've been using both versions since MS released Excel for Mac and, while with the 2013 release the Mac version has improved significantly, it still doesn't hold a candle to Windows in my book.

 

[MacDawg]

Thanks for the responses. It sounds like VMware is the best option. I tried Parallels when I bought my first Mac about 8 years ago and had all sorts of problems, though I was a newbie and I think Parallels was still pretty new.

I am an advanced excel user - I hope to be going for my MS certification in excel soon - and presently use both the Mac and Windows versions - the windows version at work. I've been using both versions since MS released Excel for Mac and, while with the 2013 release the Mac version has improved significantly, it still doesn't hold a candle to Windows in my book.

When it comes to Office, advanced functions in Excel is one area that really does justify the added expense and work of running Windows on your Mac IMO

 

[Altemose]

I am an advanced excel user - I hope to be going for my MS certification in excel soon - and presently use both the Mac and Windows versions - the windows version at work. I've been using both versions since MS released Excel for Mac and, while with the 2013 release the Mac version has improved significantly, it still doesn't hold a candle to Windows in my book.

Since you are using just one program under Windows, most any of the virtualization programs will work just fine in your case. A nice feature that I know Parallels has is that you can install Windows in Boot Camp and then use Parallels with the Boot Camp partition. It offers the best of both worlds as you can boot into Windows when you need "bare metal" performance and still take advantage of the benefits of virtualization.

 

[maflynn]

Since you are using just one program under Windows, most any of the virtualization programs will work just fine in your case

That's what I do, why boot into Windows just to run MS Office. The advantage of virtualization is that you are still in OS X.

Personally, I prefer Vmware's Fusion. I find that product to be bit more stable, and its customer support tends to be better. Plus I generally can run an older versions of Fusion on newer versions of OS X. Parallels seems to force you to upgrade every time you upgrade OS X.

 

[chscag]

I'm planning on buying a new 27" iMac in the near future. I never used Windows on a Mac before but want to do so now solely for MS Office. I haven't done any research yet and am hoping to get a definitive answer here as to my best option for using Windows. Thanks.

You've already received some good suggestions, but I'll add one more: CrossOver will run Office 2010 and 2013 on your Mac. (I don't know if it will run Office 2016) The nice thing about using CrossOver is that you do not need a copy of Windows and you remain in OS X all the time while Office is running. CrossOver is not free, however, but might be a viable option for you. They do have a trial version you can download to try out.

 

[maflynn]

You've already received some good suggestions, but I'll add one more: CrossOver will run Office 2010 and 2013 on your Mac.

I don't think that's a viable alternative.


Maybe for the very old version of Office 2010, but given that suite is now 6 years old, I'm not sure its the best tool for the job.