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Jeanora

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 25, 2019
3
4
I feel like I'm going to fall for the new m1, has anyone tested pivot tables and stressed excel to its limits (large excel files ,more than 100 000 rows and plenty of columns, functions across sheets...) on a macbook m1? what were your impressions? how much RAM is better to choose for this use (8 or 16gb?). Thanks in advance
 

JohnnyGo

macrumors 6502a
Sep 9, 2009
957
620
To add to your question: has the Office beta being stable ? Any feedback on Word or PowerPoint performance under M1 ?
 

acidfast7_redux

Suspended
Nov 10, 2020
567
521
uk
I'd argue that anyone (include the UK government*) using MS Excel for 100K rows is completely using the wrong piece of software for their needs.

*This error by the UK gov likely resulted in 1500 extra COVID-19 deaths.
 

acidfast7_redux

Suspended
Nov 10, 2020
567
521
uk
To add to your question: has the Office beta being stable ? Any feedback on Word or PowerPoint performance under M1 ?
I use the 16.34 versions of office with absolutely no issues.

No reason to use beta-software unless you can tolerate loss of their contents.
 

Jeanora

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 25, 2019
3
4
I'd argue that anyone (include the UK government*) using MS Excel for 100K rows is completely using the wrong piece of software for their needs.

*This error by the UK gov likely resulted in 1500 extra COVID-19 deaths.
Thanks for your reply, sometimes I like excel pivot tables for its ability to quickly explore large datasets (a kind of first look), don't worry, nothing that could have a critical impact on health or business issues which need more reliable tools...). My point is that I just want to know if the M1 already bring an improvement in speed compared to excel in the intel-mac (even for a non yet optimized software)
 

Spindel

macrumors 6502a
Oct 5, 2020
521
655
It works well for me. Given Excel is mostly single threaded it chugs along well even under rosetta.
 

acidfast7_redux

Suspended
Nov 10, 2020
567
521
uk
Thanks for your reply, sometimes I like excel pivot tables for its ability to quickly explore large datasets (a kind of first look), don't worry, nothing that could have a critical impact on health or business issues which need more reliable tools...). My point is that I just want to know if the M1 already bring an improvement in speed compared to excel in the intel-mac (even for a non yet optimized software)
I sometimes open 1000-page Word docs (large grant submissions) and large Excel files with raw data and it is significantly faster (the M1MBA) than any other machine machine I have in the lab, i.e. any kind of workstation. It's instantaneous.
 
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James_C

macrumors 68030
Sep 13, 2002
2,847
1,897
Bristol, UK
I have done some testing with the Beta version of Excel that is native for Apple Silicon. It is stable, have not seen a problem yet. I did some comparative testing with my Intel Late 2016 iMac, that has 4 x 4GHz cores. The calculation speed is not significantly faster with the M1. I have a monster spreadsheet that I used for some financial modelling. It has over 4 Million complex formula on just one tab. Inserting new calculation blocks causes a delay while Excel updates the spreadsheet and formula. I created a VBA Macro that loops the process a number of times. On the iMac it took 3 Mins and 4 seconds to complete, on the M1 MacBook Air it took 2 mins and 49 seconds.
 

JohnnyGo

macrumors 6502a
Sep 9, 2009
957
620
You can always count Microsoft to translate their code and never optimize outside Windows
 

johnkree

macrumors 6502
Jun 23, 2015
296
294
Austria
I sometimes open 1000-page Word docs (large grant submissions) and large Excel files with raw data and it is significantly faster (the M1MBA) than any other machine machine I have in the lab, i.e. any kind of workstation. It's instantaneous.
Even my gaming PC needs 10+ seconds to open a 200 page Word file...
 

James_C

macrumors 68030
Sep 13, 2002
2,847
1,897
Bristol, UK
It works well for me. Given Excel is mostly single threaded it chugs along well even under rosetta.

It took Microsoft a while but Excel on Mac is now multi threaded

Screenshot 2020-11-29 at 19.15.21.png
 

Jeanora

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 25, 2019
3
4
This review might help a little...
Thanks , i saw the video but I wanted to complete by more specific usage, acidfast7 and james
_c gave me some interesting additional information. Now I try to choose between 8Gb or 16bg (yes I like to open many things : big pdf files, lot of open browser tabs, programs...)
 
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revs

macrumors 6502
Jun 2, 2008
454
399
UK
Thanks , i saw the video but I wanted to complete by more specific usage, acidfast7 and james
_c gave me some interesting additional information. Now I try to choose between 8Gb or 16bg (yes I like to open many things : big pdf files, lot of open browser tabs, programs...)

If in doubt, and you can afford it, go for 16GB. You cant upgrade in future, and better to have more than you need (unless you know you dont need it/wont keep the machine that long/cant afford it)
 
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understudyhero

macrumors member
Sep 19, 2012
33
8
I don't have any large files to try , point me to one and I will slice and dice it all day long to see how it works.
(I am mostly a hardcore excel on windows on a dramatically crappy set up guy - I will bring my work machines to the ground. I don't use it on Mac because I don't do it at home, and I don't like the subtle differences. But I have it and I can try it given a file)

I am the guy who when I was five, my dad told me "lotus 123 is the only program you need, see you can type in it who needs a word processor" - and 40 years later I am like "who needs a database, I am straight up doing this wrong just because I can :) "

That said - do you get it from the MS site or the App Store for the M1 compatible?
(I think I use the Mac store versions now on my other Macs?)

I have a base model M1 Mac mini.
I can also compare to my i7 64gb Mac mini.
 
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