On a Parallels VM with a dedicated 16GB of RAM and four-dedicated cores, Excel and Word load up faster.

Even on an M1 Mac, Excel and Word bounce 5 or 6 times before launching. Lastly, the speed each of Word or Excel launch is also quicker inside the VM. If you’re a power user, I imagine the speed differences are instantly - and frustratingly - recognizable.

If you only tinker with Excel and Word from time to time, the speed difference may not make much difference. Jumping from cell to cell across hundreds of columns or rows is instant in VM Excel, while native macOS Excel feels a smidge slower. I also enjoy a noticeable speed difference in simply navigating around VM Excel. The larger the Excel workbook, the more noticeable the difference in speed. But for instance, the speed at which you can copy a cell’s data - either formula, format, or all of the above - and paste the required formula/format on top of another cell is substantially faster in VM Excel. I’ve done most of my testing for speed differences on a 2019 Intel iMac - anyone using any new M1 machine may feel differently than my experience.

Accountants live and die in Microsoft Excel, and six months of national-exam studying gave ample opportunity to test the intricate differences between the macOS and Parallels VM environments.įirst, there is a noticeable difference in speed when working inside VM Office apps. In general, I spend just about every day working inside Microsoft Word and Excel. I’ve come away with three reasons why anyone using Microsoft Office on the Mac should do so in Parallels from now on. Since my Parallels install, I have deleted the native Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook apps on my Mac and rely only on Office apps housed in the VM.Īnd running everything in Parallels’ Coherence Mode makes those VM apps almost feel as though they were native Mac apps, anyhow. All keyboard shortcuts work right out of the box, as does copying and pasting formulas in new Excel cells. Office apps like Excel and Word run faster in the Windows VM than the native Excel and Word do on macOS. The experience was nothing short of astounding. Nevertheless, earlier this year, I dove into Parallels on the Mac and instantly loaded Microsoft Office in the Windows VM. It could have been the idea of splitting my Mac’s onboard hardware - like having to dedicate so much RAM to the Windows VM - or the idea of spending more money on software I didn’t really want to use. I’m not sure why I held back for so long. I put up with the native app shortcomings and accepted native Mac apps were always going to be afterthoughts to Office apps for Windows.Īnd for ages, I resisted the urge to load up Parallels on the Mac and play in the Frankenstein Windows on a Mac playground. For ages, I insisted on using native Microsoft Office apps on the Mac.

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