M1 Mac: how is the experience with Microsoft Office and Parallels?

[Tech198]

If indeed running a Windows VM is a requirement, then the above advice is correct.

To answer the rest of your question: Office runs just fine on the M1. Most of it is ARM native, other than Teams, which will get a native update at some point. I have 16 GB so I can't comment on how it'll all run in 8 GB, but I suspect fine.

It always strikes me... Apple moved to Intel in 2006 because of a different thinking stance... and they users cheered about Bootcamp (givin x86 architecture)

Now, in 2021, Apple just doesn't care and puts a depute between Apple supply and lack of intel chips as a 1st ?

Things HAVE changed. The user base that run VM's has NOT.. If any, more would be there, not less.

 

[Yebubbleman]

It always strikes me... Apple moved to Intel in 2006 because of a different thinking stance... and they users cheered about Bootcamp (givin x86 architecture)

Now, in 2021, Apple just doesn't care and puts a depute between Apple supply and lack of intel chips as a 1st ?

Things HAVE changed. The user base that run VM's has NOT.. If any, more would be there, not less.

To be perfectly fair, Apple is going to be able to do some amazing things with truly end-to-end control over the entire stack (from the OS to the architecture to the SoC). It's just going to come at a cost of the utility that we had by having x86 as the architecture that we were on. But Apple doesn't care about our ability to run other operating systems or to play games that ultimately run better in Windows. We were never their primary concern.

 

[skaertus]

M1 native office Apps are good. Native means an app can take full advantage of the M1 efficiency and power.
You can also try the M1 Macs in the Apple Store.

Can you tell me how advanced your Office usage is?

Also check out this video:

My usage of Microsoft Office is basically this. I work with Microsoft Word a lot, and I edit some large complex documents using Zotero for citation management. I have worked on a 500-page document with over 1,000 footnotes, each with several fields. The file runs fine on Windows, but struggles on my 2016 Core i7 13-inch MacBook Pro. I use a lot of Microsoft Outlook as well, as I have to answer e-mails all day. Plus, Microsoft Teams has become a part of my life as I use it for meetings all day long. And I also use PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote, but my usage of such apps is nothing extreme. So, the whole package.

 

[skaertus]

What version of Office are you using? Are you on an old version or using Microsoft 365?

I have Microsoft 365, and my Office experience is not any different between Mac and Windows, other than mismatched fonts when working on the same document or ppt. And my Mac is not even a fancy one, it's an old 2012 mini i5 with just 8GB of RAM.

I am using Microsoft 365. My experience is totally different from Mac and Windows. Night and day. Office for Windows is great, and on Mac is a resource hog.

 

[skaertus]

Yep, if you embrace the future , you go mac

I use MS office all the time on my m1 MacBook Air 8gb RAM, and haven’t had any performance issues. They seem incredibly fast and efficient. This is true of Word, PowerPoint and Excel. That being said, I’ve also never had an issue running the MS Office apps on a Mac so this may come down to subject experience but for me the apps never seemed to eat up memory or anything like that.

I have the same experience. Performance wise, Office was a bit slow in my 2016 MBP and it is objectively faster in my M1 MBA. YMMV

My usage is very similar to the OP.
I alternate between a i5 1035G7 (16GB) LG laptop and a M1 MBA (8GB)for office/ productivity work
For the sake of an added comparison , i also have my ageing office laptop (an 6th gen i7) but i haven't used it in over a year because it is too slow in comparison.

Specifically on office:
- Outlook is considerably faster on the MBA - whether it be flipping between emails or (and especially) switching views
- Excel feels marginally faster on the LG
- Word and powerpoint seem to behave the same

As for other office usage apps:
- Zoom feels a little better/faster on MBA
- Teams feels a little better/faster on the LG

Overall though, i prefer the MBA for MS office as
a) most of my work involves outlook.
b) The MBA feels faster when driving extended 4K display when docked

At a broader level , once you include PDFs/ browsing , overall UX and especially battery life, my preference towards the MBA gets significantly stronger.

Edit: One thing worth noting - My workplace is in the process of retiring that abomination called Skype for business in favor of teams. As bad as SFB is on windows, it is 5X worse on the mac. If we were to continue using SFB, i would have used the win laptop for work all the time

I run the M1 Office 365 version on my M1 Air. It works fine. Seems speedy. Office 365 has been ported to the M1. If you are running some Intel version of Office for Mac your performance may be different.

To the OP — go to an Apple store and test one out for yourself. Only you can decide if it runs Office well enough.
I’m a moderate Word and PowerPoint user, and for me the M1 is more than acceptable. But Office is Microsoft’s core business… it’ll always run “best” on Windows.

I have the Office/Outlook 2019 (not the subscription one) running natively on my MBP M1 16GB and it flies.

I have the 8gb ram MacBook Air

Microsoft Office runs great. I have no complaints at all, its smooth, snappy, and everything works. I actually prefer Office on Mac to office on windows. The animations are smoother, and the app looks a bit better.

I also use Microsoft Teams and have the Onedrive client always running in the background syncing stuff, and its all fine.

For PDF reading I recommend PdfPen but of course you can use whatever you want. it and Adobe Acrobat (Pro) run great too.

For web browsing I use Safari, and websites load faster than anything ive used before including my custom build desktop gaming PC. Firefox, Chrome and Edge run great too.

For what you are doing the 8gb ram model should be totally fine. I also use Photoshop and multitask a lot on it and I have no issues

I use Office365 on my MBA M1 16/512GB and the apps are running very fast.
When starting an app for the first time after reboot, it takes about 4 sec. until the start screen appears.
When quitting the app (not just closing the window) and restarting it again, it needs less than half a sec. to start.
Opening files is very fast and also the handling of large word or powerpoint documents is very fast.

Thanks for all this feedback.

I have finally tested an M1 iMac today at a store and I was pretty impressed. The iMac is beautiful as expected (although I was so impressed by the photos that it failed to surprise me once again). The screen is beautiful and it is so much thinner than my desktop PC. It is also very responsive.

I then tested the apps. It was a limited test, of course, as I was running the iMac on a store here in Brazil, and the salespersons kept harassing me.

I took my time testing Microsoft Office apps as I have a special interest in them. I tested both Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. I noticed that both of them took longer to launch than the Windows version running on my 8th generation Intel laptop. As for performance, they both ran fine, but I was not able to open any complex files. I opened some four PowerPoint presentations to check memory usage, and it took some 600-800 MB of RAM. Then I came back home, and tried to simulate the same experience on my 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro with 16 GB RAM. PowerPoint consumed 791 MB RAM by opening just two presentations. I have not noticed any other great difference in memory usage.

However, now I am sort of confused. I think the iMac looks absolutely gorgeous and I might consider buying one. But it has to be a computer to last for a few years. Here in Brazil, the cheapest iMac costs $3,500, a lot more than the $1,299 it costs in the U.S. So, I would be very, very disappointed to buy it just to find out that the performance is somehow subpar or that I would need to buy another one shortly.

I am particularly concerned about memory. I have a 16 GB MacBook Pro and memory never seems to be enough. Microsoft Office for Mac is a a memory hog, and Microsoft Word managed to consume more than 1 GB, while Word for Windows uses far less resources. However, I was puzzled by what I saw when opening files with PowerPoint on an M1 iMac, as it seemed to use far less memory than running on my Intel MacBook Pro.

I searched for this on the Internet, and all I found about Microsoft Office for Mac is that an M1-optimized version was released. No benchmarks, nothing. I also find some reports mentioning that M1 memory management is generally better than the one on Intel Macs.

I would like to specifically know how much better memory management is when running Microsoft Office on M1 Macs compared to Intel Macs. Is 8 GB feasible for the specific task of running Microsoft Office, or is 16 GB desirable? Is 8 GB on an M1 Mac better than 16 GB on an Intel Mac for the specific task of running Microsoft Office apps?

I ask this because more RAM might be an impediment for me. In the U.S., an additional 8 GB costs $200, which is OK. I did some research and I found the base iMac sold for $2,500 here in Brazil for sale at a store (down from the full $3,500 Apple charges). I also found the 512 GB version for $3,350. However, both these versions are sold with 8 GB RAM, with no alternative to upgrade. I can only buy a 16 GB version at Apple's website, and it sells for the full price. A base iMac (256 GB, no TouchID) upgraded with 16 GB RAM would cost $4,000, and the 512 version with 16 GB RAM would cost $5,000. So, it can get very expensive to upgrade it with more RAM: the cheapest 16 GB 24-inch iMac sells for $4,000. I would like to know whether 8 GB would be satisfactory, as the price difference is very significant (some $1,500).

 

[xraydoc]

Thanks for all this feedback.

I have finally tested an M1 iMac today at a store and I was pretty impressed. The iMac is beautiful as expected (although I was so impressed by the photos that it failed to surprise me once again). The screen is beautiful and it is so much thinner than my desktop PC. It is also very responsive.

I then tested the apps. It was a limited test, of course, as I was running the iMac on a store here in Brazil, and the salespersons kept harassing me.

I took my time testing Microsoft Office apps as I have a special interest in them. I tested both Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. I noticed that both of them took longer to launch than the Windows version running on my 8th generation Intel laptop. As for performance, they both ran fine, but I was not able to open any complex files. I opened some four PowerPoint presentations to check memory usage, and it took some 600-800 MB of RAM. Then I came back home, and tried to simulate the same experience on my 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro with 16 GB RAM. PowerPoint consumed 791 MB RAM by opening just two presentations. I have not noticed any other great difference in memory usage.

However, now I am sort of confused. I think the iMac looks absolutely gorgeous and I might consider buying one. But it has to be a computer to last for a few years. Here in Brazil, the cheapest iMac costs $3,500, a lot more than the $1,299 it costs in the U.S. So, I would be very, very disappointed to buy it just to find out that the performance is somehow subpar or that I would need to buy another one shortly.

I am particularly concerned about memory. I have a 16 GB MacBook Pro and memory never seems to be enough. Microsoft Office for Mac is a a memory hog, and Microsoft Word managed to consume more than 1 GB, while Word for Windows uses far less resources. However, I was puzzled by what I saw when opening files with PowerPoint on an M1 iMac, as it seemed to use far less memory than running on my Intel MacBook Pro.

I searched for this on the Internet, and all I found about Microsoft Office for Mac is that an M1-optimized version was released. No benchmarks, nothing. I also find some reports mentioning that M1 memory management is generally better than the one on Intel Macs.

I would like to specifically know how much better memory management is when running Microsoft Office on M1 Macs compared to Intel Macs. Is 8 GB feasible for the specific task of running Microsoft Office, or is 16 GB desirable? Is 8 GB on an M1 Mac better than 16 GB on an Intel Mac for the specific task of running Microsoft Office apps?

I ask this because more RAM might be an impediment for me. In the U.S., an additional 8 GB costs $200, which is OK. I did some research and I found the base iMac sold for $2,500 here in Brazil for sale at a store (down from the full $3,500 Apple charges). I also found the 512 GB version for $3,350. However, both these versions are sold with 8 GB RAM, with no alternative to upgrade. I can only buy a 16 GB version at Apple's website, and it sells for the full price. A base iMac (256 GB, no TouchID) upgraded with 16 GB RAM would cost $4,000, and the 512 version with 16 GB RAM would cost $5,000. So, it can get very expensive to upgrade it with more RAM: the cheapest 16 GB 24-inch iMac sells for $4,000. I would like to know whether 8 GB would be satisfactory, as the price difference is very significant (some $1,500).

Not sure how to benchmark Office, but I’d recommend 16GB of RAM nonetheless.

 

[ADGrant]

I ask this because more RAM might be an impediment for me. In the U.S., an additional 8 GB costs $200, which is OK. I did some research and I found the base iMac sold for $2,500 here in Brazil for sale at a store (down from the full $3,500 Apple charges). I also found the 512 GB version for $3,350. However, both these versions are sold with 8 GB RAM, with no alternative to upgrade. I can only buy a 16 GB version at Apple's website, and it sells for the full price. A base iMac (256 GB, no TouchID) upgraded with 16 GB RAM would cost $4,000, and the 512 version with 16 GB RAM would cost $5,000. So, it can get very expensive to upgrade it with more RAM: the cheapest 16 GB 24-inch iMac sells for $4,000. I would like to know whether 8 GB would be satisfactory, as the price difference is very significant (some $1,500).

Given what you have said about the size of the documents you edit and the amount of memory the Mac version of Word uses editing those documents, I think buying the 8GB iMac would be a bad idea.

 

[ADGrant]

I need more information, please. Is your MBA an M1? Presuming it IS, is your great running MS Office an Office for Mac version running directly under the M1, Microsoft 365, or is it the Office for Windows version running under Parallels > Windows 10, or something else? I ask this because I have found that Office for Mac (2019) [stand-alone version] running under a 2016 Intel MBA is annoyingly deficient of many functions compared to the "same" Office for Windows (Intel) version.
I am about to buy an MBP 16" (when they are released) and having trouble with so many posts from people not fully explaining what exact products they have configured. I'm looking for an MS Office (stand alone) version that will run directly under M1 (M2, M1X, whatever) which, ideally, will have ALL the functions of the MS Office Windows version(s), rather than a stripped-down version that MS Office for Mac has been.

I think that you should stick with the Windows version of Word then using either Bootcamp or Parallels. The Mac version of Word has the same functionality on M1 Macs that it does on your 2016 MBA (but with much better performance of course). You don't have to switch to an M1 Mac to get much better though, any current Intel Mac is going to be much faster than your 2016 MBA. You could buy a used 16" Intel MBP, they have dropped in price significantly since the M1 Macs were launched. The higher spec versions have stronger GPUs than the M1 Macs and better performance for some multicore applications.

You could of course run a pre-release version of Windows natively on ARM using Parallels and then run the Windows ARM version of Word.

 

[skaertus]

I think that you should stick with the Windows version of Word then using either Bootcamp or Parallels. The Mac version of Word has the same functionality on M1 Macs that it does on your 2016 MBA (but with much better performance of course). You don't have to switch to an M1 Mac to get much better though, any current Intel Mac is going to be much faster than your 2016 MBA. You could buy a used 16" Intel MBP, they have dropped in price significantly since the M1 Macs were launched. The higher spec versions have stronger GPUs than the M1 Macs and better performance for some multicore applications.

You could of course run a pre-release version of Windows natively on ARM using Parallels and then run the Windows ARM version of Word.

I was thinking of buying an M1 Mac to benefit from the new processor. I would stick to Windows if I were to go with Intel. A 16-inch MacBook Pro costs $6,000 here in Brazil (the low-end version) at Apple, but I can find it for $4,300 elsewhere. Very expensive and pretty much not an option at these prices, and it is not easy to get products from the U.S. during this pandemic.

 

[jerryk]

Thanks for all this feedback.

I have finally tested an M1 iMac today at a store and I was pretty impressed. The iMac is beautiful as expected (although I was so impressed by the photos that it failed to surprise me once again). The screen is beautiful and it is so much thinner than my desktop PC. It is also very responsive.

I then tested the apps. It was a limited test, of course, as I was running the iMac on a store here in Brazil, and the salespersons kept harassing me.

I took my time testing Microsoft Office apps as I have a special interest in them. I tested both Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. I noticed that both of them took longer to launch than the Windows version running on my 8th generation Intel laptop. As for performance, they both ran fine, but I was not able to open any complex files. I opened some four PowerPoint presentations to check memory usage, and it took some 600-800 MB of RAM. Then I came back home, and tried to simulate the same experience on my 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro with 16 GB RAM. PowerPoint consumed 791 MB RAM by opening just two presentations. I have not noticed any other great difference in memory usage.

However, now I am sort of confused. I think the iMac looks absolutely gorgeous and I might consider buying one. But it has to be a computer to last for a few years. Here in Brazil, the cheapest iMac costs $3,500, a lot more than the $1,299 it costs in the U.S. So, I would be very, very disappointed to buy it just to find out that the performance is somehow subpar or that I would need to buy another one shortly.

I am particularly concerned about memory. I have a 16 GB MacBook Pro and memory never seems to be enough. Microsoft Office for Mac is a a memory hog, and Microsoft Word managed to consume more than 1 GB, while Word for Windows uses far less resources. However, I was puzzled by what I saw when opening files with PowerPoint on an M1 iMac, as it seemed to use far less memory than running on my Intel MacBook Pro.

I searched for this on the Internet, and all I found about Microsoft Office for Mac is that an M1-optimized version was released. No benchmarks, nothing. I also find some reports mentioning that M1 memory management is generally better than the one on Intel Macs.

I would like to specifically know how much better memory management is when running Microsoft Office on M1 Macs compared to Intel Macs. Is 8 GB feasible for the specific task of running Microsoft Office, or is 16 GB desirable? Is 8 GB on an M1 Mac better than 16 GB on an Intel Mac for the specific task of running Microsoft Office apps?

I ask this because more RAM might be an impediment for me. In the U.S., an additional 8 GB costs $200, which is OK. I did some research and I found the base iMac sold for $2,500 here in Brazil for sale at a store (down from the full $3,500 Apple charges). I also found the 512 GB version for $3,350. However, both these versions are sold with 8 GB RAM, with no alternative to upgrade. I can only buy a 16 GB version at Apple's website, and it sells for the full price. A base iMac (256 GB, no TouchID) upgraded with 16 GB RAM would cost $4,000, and the 512 version with 16 GB RAM would cost $5,000. So, it can get very expensive to upgrade it with more RAM: the cheapest 16 GB 24-inch iMac sells for $4,000. I would like to know whether 8 GB would be satisfactory, as the price difference is very significant (some $1,500).

How are you measuring memory consumption?

If a system has free memory it will let a process (Word, Powerpoint, etc.) hold on to the memory that it has not used in a while. So the memory consumption of the process may appear large, but only a small fraction is being actively used at the time. This is part of how modern operating systems work.

You should look at "Memory Pressure" when you are using your system is running your typical workload. If that is still green and low you likely don't need additional memory.

FWIW, I run Powerpoint and Word all the time on my 8GB Mac Air and never have performance issues. My Memory Pressure stays in the green. My slides tend to be full of animations, transitions, video, etc. My word docs also contain a lot of formatting from my custom templates.

 

[skaertus]

How are you measuring memory consumption?

If a system has free memory it will let a process (Word, Powerpoint, etc.) hold on to the memory that it has not used in a while. So the memory consumption of the process may appear large, but only a small fraction is being actively used at the time. This is part of how modern operating systems work.

You should look at "Memory Pressure" when you are using your system is running your typical workload. If that is still green and low you likely don't need additional memory.

FWIW, I run Powerpoint and Word all the time on my 8GB Mac Air and never have performance issues. My Memory Pressure stays in the green. My slides tend to be full of animations, transitions, video, etc. My word docs also contain a lot of formatting from my custom templates.

I am measuring it with Activity Monitor. I was testing the M1 Mac on a store, I cannot install anything else on it.

 

[Lihp8270]

I am measuring it with Activity Monitor. I was testing the M1 Mac on a store, I cannot install anything else on it.

The OS will use as much memory as is available to it for caching etc to improve performance.

Using all the mEmory is the goal really. Leaving it unused is a waste.

However the OS will automatically clear out non-critical data and reallocate the ram as required.

You want to look at the memory pressure not the amount used.

 

[dandeco]

I have not used Parallels on my M1 MacBook Air, but I HAVE run Microsoft Office on it, and it runs very nicely, about as well as it does on my 2012 i7 Mac Mini. (I've got an Office 365 subscription that lets me run the apps on up to five devices, and so I generally only run it on my most recent/frequently used computers.)

 

[thecremeegg]

Just to chime in, I just got an M1 Macbook Air, base spec with 8 GB ram and Office is a bit of a pig on it tbh.
It lags when typing and generally slows down and lags during use. It's a worse experience than on my old i5 Windows laptop that I had before in every way. I also think the Mac version of Outlook is in general worse than the Windows one (not a surprise) so bear that in mind!

 

[jerryk]

I am measuring it with Activity Monitor. I was testing the M1 Mac on a store, I cannot install anything else on it.

Memory pressure is part of the Activity Monitor. It is the graph at the bottom of the memory tab. See this article, https://support.apple.com/guide/activity-monitor/check-if-your-mac-needs-more-ram-actmntr34865/mac

 

[mj_]

Also check out this video:

Did I seriously just watch a video by some YouTuber juding Office 365 by how quickly the applications launch immediately after they have been closed?

I would like to specifically know how much better memory management is when running Microsoft Office on M1 Macs compared to Intel Macs. Is 8 GB feasible for the specific task of running Microsoft Office, or is 16 GB desirable? Is 8 GB on an M1 Mac better than 16 GB on an Intel Mac for the specific task of running Microsoft Office apps?

I can't comment on how much better or worse memory management is but I can give you a quick recap of nine months of daily Office 365 use on an 8 GB M1 MacBook Air. Long story short: it works just fine. The only issue I have had for many years now is that Outlook is a memory hog and can easily use upwards of 1.5 GB of RAM if left running for several days. With that said this isn't M1-specific as it happens on my 2017 Intel iMac as well. The solution: close Outlook regularly, maybe once or twice a week. Other than that I have not yet encountered any issues with this 8 GB M1 Air, and it runs Office 365 faster than my 2017 iMac with 16 GB and is generally speaking very smooth and responsive.

Keep in mind, however, that Office 365 for Windows plays in a whole different league. In terms of raw performance and features Office for Mac is nowhere near Office for Windows, never has been and most likely never will be, even if the former were running on a brand-new top-specced M1 iMac with octa-core CPU, octa-core GPU, and 16 GB of RAM and the latter on a 10-year old junky and dying dual-core laptop with 4 GB of RAM. There's just no comparison.

 

[PeterLC]

Keep in mind, however, that Office 365 for Windows plays in a whole different league. In terms of raw performance and features Office for Mac is nowhere near Office for Windows, ...

Yes indeed. Wouldn't it be nice if posters here would take the time to fully and always describe which versions of software they are discussing so that we readers can learn and compare apples to apples (pun not intended). Stand-alone MS Office is a far cry from MS Office for Mac or Office/Microsoft 365.

 

[ADGrant]

Yes indeed. Wouldn't it be nice if posters here would take the time to fully and always describe which versions of software they are discussing so that we readers can learn and compare apples to apples (pun not intended). Stand-alone MS Office is a far cry from MS Office for Mac or Office/Microsoft 365.

Standalone office is just a licensing option. The standalone version of Office on Windows is the same as the Office 365 version of Office on Windows. The standalone Mac version is the same as Office 365 on the Mac.

Obviously I am not talking about the web apps that Office 365 gives you access to, I am referring to the real Office applications.

 

[ADGrant]

I was thinking of buying an M1 Mac to benefit from the new processor. I would stick to Windows if I were to go with Intel. A 16-inch MacBook Pro costs $6,000 here in Brazil (the low-end version) at Apple, but I can find it for $4,300 elsewhere. Very expensive and pretty much not an option at these prices, and it is not easy to get products from the U.S. during this pandemic.

The M1 processor isn't of much benefit if you want to run MS Word on Windows. Yes there is an ARM version that runs on Windows but no supported version of Windows on ARM is available for the Mac.

 

[dgdosen]

As I understand it, there are betas of Windows 10 and 11 for Arm, which could be used with Parallels on an M1. On top of that, there's a beta version of Office that includes Access that runs on Windows ARM.

Has anyone run MS Access on Windows Arm on Parallels on an M1?

 

[ADGrant]

As I understand it, there are betas of Windows 10 and 11 for Arm, which could be used with Parallels on an M1. On top of that, there's a beta version of Office that includes Access that runs on Windows ARM.

Has anyone run MS Access on Windows Arm on Parallels on an M1?

Relying on beta or pre-release software to get your work done is never a good idea.

 

[darngooddesign]

Stop right now and buy a Windows PC. Windows won’t run on an M1 Mac, so you will be disappointed if you buy one.

Or conversely they can run it under BootCamp on their existing 2016 MBP.

 

[Ethosik]

Honestly, I ran into such a horrible issue with Office it made my opinion of macOS worse. When I opened Outlook for the first time, the dock, menu bar and desktop icons would flash in and out like a strobe light whenever I moved my mouse. The contents of the "Sign In" or "Activate Office" dialog went blank and showed contents as a strobe light too. This happened every time I launched Outlook, so I could not activate Office or sign in to my 365 account. However, Word let me and once I was signed in I did not experience the issue.

 

[darngooddesign]

I ask this because more RAM might be an impediment for me. In the U.S., an additional 8 GB costs $200, which is OK. I did some research and I found the base iMac sold for $2,500 here in Brazil for sale at a store (down from the full $3,500 Apple charges). I also found the 512 GB version for $3,350. However, both these versions are sold with 8 GB RAM, with no alternative to upgrade. I can only buy a 16 GB version at Apple's website, and it sells for the full price. A base iMac (256 GB, no TouchID) upgraded with 16 GB RAM would cost $4,000, and the 512 version with 16 GB RAM would cost $5,000. So, it can get very expensive to upgrade it with more RAM: the cheapest 16 GB 24-inch iMac sells for $4,000. I would like to know whether 8 GB would be satisfactory, as the price difference is very significant (some $1,500).

the computers are optimized to use the ssd as a scratch disk if you don't have enough memory without much of a performance penalty. my suggestion is to get the 16gb/512gb because the 256gb drive is around 30% slower than the larger drives. this setup should last a very long time.

 

[Blue Quark]

I've run Office 365 a bit on my M1 MBA, and I don't see any performance issues with it.

That said, I far prefer Libre Office to MS Office. Well, let me qualify that statement.

I've used the various different programs which now make up MS Office since before Microsoft first created the bundle, and "back in the day" I always felt they were really nice and snappy and well-built programs. Then, as Microsoft decided to bundle and later to quasi-integrate them, I still felt they were solid and great, all the way up through Office 2003.

I didn't much care for the Office 2007 redesign, but once I got used to it, it was still pretty solid and decent.

However, I've found that later iterations pretty much suck no matter which platform you're running them on. They have over-thought the user interface, trying to make things more rounded out and "smooth" but in my view it's really taken away from the overall responsiveness of each of the programs. I can't, for example, stand typing in Word 365, and I also really don't care for navigating around and dealing with the cells within Excel 365.

On the other hand, LO Writer and LO Calc very much evoke the user experience feeling of earlier generations of MS Office, and I use in particular Calc in connection with my job nearly every day. I've created a number of what I think of as "tools" using LO Calc. I've published many of these tools for others to use, and they all work perfectly as either Calc or Excel files. And just as with MS Office, I've used LO on Windows, macOS, as well as my daily driver OS of choice Linux Mint, so I can tell you for a fact that there's no performance difference I can detect between any of those platforms.

If I were you, I'd switch over (unless there's some specific thing tying you to MS Office) and call it a day.