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

[RedllowFenix]

I dont know about Windows 10, and I have only just seen this thread and thought someone would have commented on this but seems not.

On Nov 30th 2021 Parallels released version 17.1.1 which makes it very easy to download the production version of ARM Windows 11, not Insider, not Preview. Before that it had to be Insider Preview builds.

What effect does this have? I'm curious.

The new Dynamic Array functions are available in the Mac Version of Excel (Office 365), however the Mac Version does not have Power BI functionality at the moment.

I don't currently need to use Power BI, (I tended to use it as a data import facility), I tend to just use CSV files to import financial data into my models.

In a prior role I did need to use Power BI, and I used Parallels to run the Windows Version of Excel just to update the data, then switch back to the Mac Version.

If you are likely to use Power BI a lot then like @cardfan you will be better off with a PC.

Thank you very much! And how did they perform back then? I'm studying business intelligence (Python, PowerBI/Tableu, and SQL), but I'd prefer so hard to work on a Mac.

Have you ever used the Excel for Windows version in Parallels?

 

[Mike Boreham]

What effect does this have? I'm curious.

I have no idea what effect it has on the Office in Parallels thread topic, but it takes the OS update process out of the messy, somewhat flaky experience it was in the Insider process for the first year of Silicon Macs. It is now updated by normal Windows Update, and there have been no problems in the past year since this started.

 

[James_C]

What effect does this have? I'm curious.

Thank you very much! And how did they perform back then? I'm studying business intelligence (Python, PowerBI/Tableu, and SQL), but I'd prefer so hard to work on a Mac.

Have you ever used the Excel for Windows version in Parallels?

I have run Windows for Arm in Parallels and run Excel. With the performance of the M1 /M2 silicon Excel for Windows runs very well, however I did not use Power BI on a M1/2 Mac.

If you are planning to spend a lot of time with PowerBI then you may be better off with a PC, as you will need to use Windows anyway.