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UKBeast

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 21, 2010
626
53
Turkey
I am using excel in my office windows laptop ,at home i have mba 2018.

I want to use my order list files, price lists and other spreadsheets in my mba, i am doing extensive pro spreadsheets but compability is important.

is excel buggy and slow on mac os

should choose numbers over excel
 
If you are doing extensive pro spreadsheets then the only way to go is Excel, numbers is just too basic, its ok for occasional use but I wouldn't use for pro spreadsheets.
I have excel 2019 in my MBA and I don't find it buggy. Probably is more polish in windows but it's OK
 
Yup, I'd agree with that.

Much as I'd like to be able to recommend Numbers - if you're doing doing the heavy stuff and compatibility is the problem then I'm afraid it's Excel all the way.

If anyone who knows me personally is reading this then, yes, you did read that right. I did just recommend Excel.
 
So often when I do spreadsheets, I have to google the formulas. Remember, there is ZERO information about Numbers on google. That alone is a good reason to use Excel. Good luck using Index or Vlookups in Numbers. Actually, Numbers doesn’t even support stuff like Pivot table.

TLDR: Numbers is faster and more Mac-like, but sucks for anything complicated.
 
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I use Excel 2011 in my MBPr 15”.
As an advanced Excel user, I’m an accountant, Excel is the only one to use. Numbers is awful.
thumpsup.gif

I'm in Institutional Research and I prefer Excel 2011 on my macOS systems over the newer versions... but when I don't need the power (or compatibility) of Excel, I do enjoy using Numbers.
 
Excel is a fully-loaded crew cabin long bed lifted Ford F150 Diesel truck that can do pretty much anything.
Numbers is a Matchbox Ford Fiesta that is nice to look at but otherwise mostly useless.

If you are serious about compatibility and do extensive pro spreadsheets Excel is really the only way to go. LibreOffice Cald is a close second but even that doesn't get anywhere near Excel's genius and capabilities, especially now that Microsoft has started introducing AI features, and it is nowhere near compatible and uses its own formula syntax and semantics.
 
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Excel is great on MacOS. 99% of what is supported on Windows is supported on Mac. You just need to be sure the versions are similar, since MS's versioning hasn't always been consistent between Win & Mac. I just move the files between platforms seamlessly.

You will need to deal with eccentricities of each platform, particularly in formatting, but that's pretty minor stuff.

I really wanted to like Numbers, but I feel like banging my head against the desk almost every time I use it.

I've been using Google Sheets a bit lately, and it's kinda in-between Numbers and Excel.
 
So often when I do spreadsheets, I have to google the formulas. Remember, there is ZERO information about Numbers on google. That alone is a good reason to use Excel. Good luck using Index or Vlookups in Numbers. Actually, Numbers doesn’t even support stuff like Pivot table.

TLDR: Numbers is faster and more Mac-like, but sucks for anything complicated.

This is exactly my issue with Numbers. I think Pages is better than Word and I think Keynote is about 1 million times better than PowerPoint so I really want to be able to use Numbers but I can’t find anything on Google. It’s all for either Excel or Sheets. It sucks.
 
As an accountant that has been using Spreadsheets for over 30 years, and having used both Numbers and Excel. I can say that Numbers is great for simple tables and for producing spreadsheet based reports due to its flexible multiple tables with text and charts on the same page approach, but for a powerful Pro level spreadsheet, Excel is streets ahead of Numbers. Mac Excel used to be behind the Windows version mainly due to lack of multi threaded support, but this has been added in the latest version of Mac Excel (Office 365).
 
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Compared to a real spreadsheet application, such as Microsoft Excel or to some extent LibreOffice Calc, it remains an incompatible-with-the-outside-world toy for toddlers: colorful, nice to look at, and fun to play with for maybe five minutes.

It will remain in this state for good. Apple isn't interested in professionals, and Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are developed primarily with simplicity and ease of use in mind.
 
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It depends on what "pro" means to you. Pivot tables -- go with Excel. Discounted cash flows -- Numbers works fine for me. What people often complain about is that they want Numbers to be the same as Excel because they are used to it. If you are willing to tackle a short learning curve, Numbers can do a lot of stuff. However, if compatibility is a concern, I do think you need to stay on Excel. I find that a lot of formatting gets lost between the two programs, which can be a major issue.
 
Compared to a real spreadsheet application, such as Microsoft Excel or to some extent LibreOffice Calc, it remains an incompatible-with-the-outside-world toy for toddlers: colorful, nice to look at, and fun to play with for maybe five minutes.

It will remain in this state for good. Apple isn't interested in professionals, and Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are developed primarily with simplicity and ease of use in mind.
Which is just why I like Numbers. (Apple Works was also nice.)
 
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Anyone want to give an update based on Numbers v11.2?

There is, in the meantime, a Numbers manual available here.

Like others said, here and in other threads, much depends on your needs regarding functionalities and compatibility.
As for me, I was able to run my modest Architecture practice with Numbers. Think Bills of Materials, Project Budget Studies, but also financing and Taxes declarations.

The recent addition of Pivot Tables was very welcome for me. I use it to log and keep track of my training and workout sessions.
 
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