Need advice on a new higher end computer...Mac or PC (for Excel)

[marc j]

Hello,

I am considering getting a MAC Book Pro or a higher end windows laptop.
(My budget is aprox 3k for a new laptop and software)

Are there any downsides to running Excel and Microsoft products on Mac?

Thank you in advance.

Regards,
Marc

Note:
There will be a funeral for my "state of the art 386 PC" (including floppy disks) in the weeks following the purchase.
If you have any 386 stories to share, please add them in the comments. I will be sure to mention a few comments during the eulogy.

 

[RoryA]

There are quite a few differences between Mac Office and Windows: VBA is not entirely compatible across platforms, and generally performs worse on Macs. There is also no Power BI suite for Mac currently. Keyboard shortcuts are different. You can't currently customise the Ribbon. However you can of course run a VM and put Windows on that so you get the best of both worlds.

 

[marc j]

Thank you Rory.

Regards,
Marc

 

[Rick Rothstein]

However you can of course run a VM and put Windows on that so you get the best of both worlds.

I have never owned a Mac, so I don't know the answer to this, but I would think the answer is "no"... would VBA code that call out to the Windows API functions work in the VM?

 

[RoryA]

Yes it would. To all intents and purposes your code is running on a Windows machine.

 

[marc j]

Thank you everyone. I purchased a Lenovo G50 laptop with i7 processor. Not as high end as I wanted but it is perfect. Thanks!