Excel Processing

[DougiePhresh]

I know I am posting on a biased forum, but please try and be objective -

For work, I can choose between an HP ZBook with a 2.60GHz 13th Gen Intel Core i9 processor with 64GB of RAM

or

an M3 MacBook Pro with 18GB of RAM.

Most of what I do is analyzing huge data sets in Microsoft Excel (often times I have to split data into two entirely different files because the 1,048,576 row limit is not enough) and several times a week I will find myself waiting 3-5 minutes for a sheet to calculate a formula.

Which of these machines ie better for that task? I currently have the ZBook, but I could request the MacBook if it will be better. I use an M1 MacBook Pro as my personal computer and I know, for everything I do in my personal life, it is way better - but I am afraid since Microsoft Excel is not a native Apple application, that it will not take enough advantage of the M3's power and efficiency - so staying with the ZBook would be the best move.

Anyone have experience with this or thoughts?

 

[donawalt]

Hi @DougiePhresh, I can't compare the two specifically enough, and I don't know anything about the analysis you do to the datasets to understand the performance bottlenecks that limit performance on any computer. Since you use a ZBook now, I suspect you could approximate how much faster the new configuration would be. The Mac is a different beast however.

I will say Microsoft Excel is a native Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, etc.) app on macOS however! Microsoft released a native version optimized for Apple Silicon in late 2020, and it has been running natively on M-series Macs since then. So there is no Rosetta 2 translation.

Off-hand I would say for spreadsheets that big, you want as much memory as you can get. It would be interesting if you could run this analysis on a Mac and check the memory pressure in Activity monitor to see if it could use more memory. Or maybe you know what the processing bottlenecks might be?

If there is a test I/we could do on our computers to give you some idea of how it would run? I for 1 would be happy to - I have an M4 MacBook Pro with 128GB memory. Is there a test whose result would be meaningful to you, or some sanitized data to generate to try some test, etc.? For something as large and specific as your test there is no replacement for a benchmark.

 

[raythompsontn]

I can choose between an HP ZBook with a 2.60GHz 13th Gen Intel Core i9 processor with 64GB of RAM

or

an M3 MacBook Pro with 18GB of RAM

Go for the HP ZBook. There is more memory, by almost 3.5 times, over the M3. Excel likes memory. That I9 processor is fast and Excel, originally written for the X86 architecture will run better than the Mac version, which is a port.

 

[donawalt]

Go for the HP ZBook. There is more memory, by almost 3.5 times, over the M3. Excel likes memory.

Can't he get more memory for the MacBook Pro ? That's wy I suggested a benchmark - the ideal approach if possible.

Excel, originally written for the X86 architecture will run better than the Mac version, which is a port.

It's not a port at all.

MacOS Framework Integration: Microsoft’s Office apps for Mac, including Excel, have been developed utilizing native frameworks to ensure a cohesive user experience.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mic...65-is-improving-the-experience-for-mac-users/

Fully Native ARM64 Build: The versions of Excel released in December 2020 are Universal MacOS binaries, meaning they include native code for both Intel and Apple Silicon architectures.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-silicon-c55b603e-14a6-4b69-bdc0-2bb4c9a36834

Platform-Specific UI Frameworks: While the core functionality of Excel is consistent across platforms, the MacOS version is designed to align with MacOS’s design principles and user interface frameworks.

4 ways Microsoft 365 is improving the experience for Mac users | Microsoft 365 Blog

Microsoft 365 native app support for Apple Silicon Macs.

www.microsoft.com

 

[Nermal]

If you use VBA in Excel then you want the Windows version. The Mac version only has a subset of the functionality.

 

[raythompsontn]

Can't he get more memory for the MacBook Pro ? That's wy I suggested a benchmark - the ideal approach if possible.

Yes, for a lot more money. And only at the time of purchase.