(Founder, ExcelUser) Sep 11, 2013 Although I haven't used Excel on a Mac for years, I think you should be fine with Mac Excel. First, I sell some fairly advanced Excel dashboard templates, and also an ebook about how to create Excel dashboards. I've sold a lot of them, in nearly every country in the world. But I've.never. had a request for a refund from a Mac user because my products didn't work on a Mac. Because of this experience, I feel safe in saying that virtually anything I can do in Excel worksheets on a PC others can do in Excel worksheets on a Mac. (However, there.might.
be some minor inconsistencies with VBA between PCs and the Mac because of differences in the two operating systems. Dunno.) Second, I have a friend who's a very opinionated Excel MVP. He purchased a Mac about six months ago so he could better support a client. If he had found inconsistencies between PC and Mac Excel, he would have whined about them in our private Excel MVP forum. But he's not written a word along those lines. Hope that helps.
(CFO, Solstice Mobile) Sep 11, 2013 I made the switch from PC to Mac about a year ago and although there are some nuances to running Excel on the Mac verse a PC, you will get used to it once you learn the shortcuts as you probably use on the PC. Keep in mind if you are using any current features in the latest version of Excel for Windows that they might not be available on the Mac since they seem to be a version or two behind but I haven't hit a snag yet. The overall reason why I like the Mac now is that it's just a more intuitive system and things seem to just work!
(Consultant, Independent Advisory Services) Sep 11, 2013 I've been using Excel on Mac for years. The main lack I find is the absence of the statistical analysis tools (analysis toolpack, as I recall). These can be had through third-party add-ins or separate tools. They were good, usable, and quick but not great in regular Excel. Otherwise, I have not found anything lacking that made me feel like I had a lesser version of Excel.
I made the switch to Mac purely for productivity reasons. I needed to spend less time working on computer problems and more time using the tools for actual work. The productivity gain was SO much more than I expected. (Treasurer and Board Member, Partners in Performance Excellence (PiPEX)) Nov 1, 2013 I've been using Excel on a Mac for several years (actually since 1984 when it was called MS Chart) and find it very capable as a replacement for Excel on a Windows computer. That said, another way to go would be to run Windows via Boot Camp (or Fusion or Parallels) and use MS Office there if you have other apps that require Windows. I have been using Boot Camp with Windows 7 Pro on a MacBookPro 2008 variety and, up onto the Intel Sandy Bridge/Haswell processors, it has been my fastest PC using Office.
Or maybe you want to play computer games that aren’t available for OS X. Whatever your reason for running Windows, there are a number of ways your Mac can do it for you. Both Windows and the Mac try to simplify the finding and running of applications with a straightforward user interface; the Start menu in Windows and the Dock on the Mac. While the Start menu and the Dock are conceptually similar, there are some important differences.
(Director, Strategize Financial Modelling Inc) Nov 1, 2013 I was faced with this challenge over the summer. I am a MS Excel user, whilst my client's executives & personnel were all on Excel for Mac. Given the nature of the financial model mandate for the client, I was forced to customize the spreadsheet via VBA macros, in order to patch up certain MS Excel features that currently don't exist on Excel for Mac. I documented my experiences via a blog 'Financial modelling techniques between Microsoft Excel and Excel for Mac' on my website. The features to watch out for were namely: ● ActiveX macros won’t work on a Mac ● Data Analysis Toolpak is not officially supported currently ● Inserting Adobe Objects in Excel for Mac does not exist currently, and ● Referencing the User Name property in VBA script won't work either. (President, Infiniti Films, Inc.) Jun 30, 2014 I was originally a Mac user (Mac IIfx with a blazingly fast 33 mhz processor). Switched to Windows in the early 1990's because the Mac and Windows command structures weren't the same which meant that, for instance, print macros created in Mac Excel wouldn't work when I sent the tile to a Windows based client.
However, I was spending far too much time in compeer hell working on Windows IT issues, so when the Intel based Mac's came out, I switched to a Macbook Pro and ran Windows through Parallels. It works perfectly. When I need to use Excel or Quicken, I switch to Windows. Everything I do that is internet related I do on the Mac side (reducing if not eliminating the virus issues that were such a time suck-even with the best anti-virus software installed).
Over the last few days I’ve been finding myself using a keyboard designed for Windows users on my Mac. The reason behind such a change was that my MacBook Pro’s keyboard was causing wrist pain. The shallow key travel of the MacBook’s keyboard is partly to blame. I just so happened to have an available thanks to my, so I decided to use it with my Mac. Immediately, I could sense relief in my wrists, but because this was a keyboard designed for Windows and not for Mac, the switch presented a whole new problem. Instead of the friendly ⌃, ⌥, and ⌘ keys, I was presented with Control, Windows, and Alt keys.
All of the modifier keys on a Windows keyboard map 1:1 with the keys on a Mac from a functionality standpoint. For example, the Control (⌃) key does the same thing on a Mac that it does on Windows, the Option (⌥) key on Mac does the same thing as the Alt key on Windows, and the Command (⌘) key on Mac does the same thing as the Windows key. It’s the order not the function The problem isn’t the function of the keys, because as we discussed, from a pure functionality standpoint, the modifier keys (Control, Option, Command) all map 1:1. The problem stems from their arrangement on the keyboard. Modifier key arrangement differences between Mac and Windows: Macintosh: ⌃ ⌥ ⌘ Windows: ⌃ ⌘ ⌥ Such a little thing, the swapping of the Command and Option keys, can cause trouble for someone who’s been typing on a Mac for years.
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Fortunately, there is a dead-simple fix for this issue. Video walkthrough How to remap modifier keys in OS X Step 1: Open System Preferences → Keyboard → Modifier Keys. Step 2: Select your third-party Windows keyboard via the Select keyboard drop down box.
Step 3: For the Option (⌥) Key setting, select ⌘ Command. Step 4: For the Command (⌘) Key setting, select (⌥) Option.
Step 5: Click OK and close System Preferences. The bottom line is that there are plenty of great keyboards out there that are designed to be used on Windows machines. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to use a great keyboard just because it was originally designed for Windows. Take advantage of the provision to remap modifier keys inside of OS X’s System Preferences.
In the end, it’ll save time, frustration, and keep you from having to retrain what may be years of muscle memory. Keyboard recommendations The is decent for how much it costs, but I’m a fan of mechanical keyboards with Cherry MX Brown switches. These switches produce a tactile “clicky” effect without being too loud. My favorite Cherry MX Brown keyboard is from Das Keyboard.
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Thankfully, for both Windows and Mac users. For more on keyboards, be sure to have a look at. What type of keyboard do you use with your Mac?