I have to get a new box to run Microsoft Excel

Post #441,054 by crazy 3/2/22 11:48:58 AM 3/2/22 11:48:58 AM Reply	I have to get a new box to run Microsoft Excel There is a spreadsheet I have to work on. I have to go to Costco and pick up a computer just to work on the spreadsheet. I have to make sure the software matches the creator of this spreadsheet or at least get to a later version. This is the ultimate viral upgrade. I've managed to stay away from the Microsoft environment for about 20 years now. I assume I could spin up a virtual environment but I'm not going to do that. Those days are over for me. Anything I should be looking for or against when I am about to just simply impulse buy a computer?
Post #441,055 by pwhysall 3/2/22 1:04:50 PM 3/2/22 1:09:55 PM Reply	8GB, SSD, AMD APU That would be the cheapest most effective solution. After that, just buy on reputation/reviews. ETA: if you’re doing anything with truly massive datasets then add more memory, obv. ETA2: before spending a single dime, check whether what you need to do can be achieved in the online (web) version of Excel. Edited by pwhysall March 2, 2022, 01:07:39 PM EST Edited by pwhysall March 2, 2022, 01:09:55 PM EST Expand All History
Post #441,056 by malraux 3/2/22 2:06:08 PM 3/2/22 2:06:08 PM Reply	Ditto on checking online Excel Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #441,057 by Another Scott 3/2/22 2:48:33 PM 3/2/22 2:48:33 PM Reply	Tiny form factor PCs might have heat issues. Things are evolving rapidly, but I wouldn't get any tiny desktop unless it's a MacMini. Similarly with an all-in-one. Otherwise, pick a budget and get the best you can for that price. The latest Intel series is the 12xxx chips. I would avoid the i3, myself. i5 would be fine, AMD Ryzen 5 series (the latest are the 5xxx chips), similarly would be fine. Try to get an SSD as the boot disk - it makes a huge difference in performance. Good luck! Cheers, Scott.
Post #441,058 by pwhysall 3/2/22 3:10:01 PM 3/2/22 3:13:48 PM Reply	Not a thing ETA: i3 will be fine for a little light Excel work, but you get more bang/buck with the AMD APUs Edited by pwhysall March 2, 2022, 03:13:48 PM EST Expand All History
Post #441,059 by a6l6e6x 3/2/22 10:10:03 PM 3/2/22 10:10:03 PM Reply	If you have a Mac - Microsoft Excel 2021 for Mac. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #441,060 by CRConrad 3/3/22 2:39:11 AM 3/3/22 2:39:11 AM Reply	Have you checked that it can't be edited in LibreOffice (or similar)? Or, hey, if it's a somewhat recent (i.e. .xlsx) file, you could always dig into it and see if some tool can work with the XML file(s) it contains. AIUI .xlsx files are actually zipped folders. -- Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking Everything Mail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
Post #441,063 by pwhysall 3/3/22 4:16:43 AM 3/3/22 4:16:43 AM Reply	Oh, it probably can be But it's almost certainly not worth the effort. It never is. If you can do your Excel shee in LibreOffice, you can almost certainly do it in the Excel web app. But I'm a big believer in not second-guessing the brief. Baz wants to run Excel. The question was about doing Excel stuff and he even literally said "I have to make sure the software matches the creator of this spreadsheet or at least get to a later version". There's risk associated with going off-piste with something like LibreOffice if, at some point in the future, the sheet breaks or produces the wrong result. If wor Bazza has done all the work in Excel, he can simply go 🤷‍♂️. If he's used LibreOffice, then the fickle finger of blame can be pointed at him. Also, LibreOffice is fucking awful to use. It's like being teleported back to 1995.
Post #441,071 by CRConrad 3/4/22 3:27:54 AM 3/4/22 3:27:54 AM Reply	Yeah, you're right about the blamage-potential, but wrong about... ...the "fucking awful to use". When it comes to computer GUIs, I'd love to be teleported back to 1995... Or, OK, say somewhere around 2000-2005. Just before the fucking "Ribbon", as far as Microsoft, specifically, is concerned. -- Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking Everything Mail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
Post #441,074 by pwhysall 3/4/22 4:18:12 AM 3/4/22 4:18:12 AM Reply	Spin up a VM, install Windows XP and Office XP, and see how you like it If you do, bully for you! Also, sucks to be you, because that world is gone.
Post #441,075 by CRConrad 3/4/22 6:15:43 AM 3/4/22 6:15:43 AM Reply	Don't have to, I'll just boot up my old Thinkpad T510. Windows 7 and Office... Uh, can't recall, whatever was current in ~2011, I suppose. (Unfortunately that already had the fucking Ribbon, IIRC.) Even W7 could be persuaded to present almost exactly the good old W95/NT4/W2K interface, so mine of course does. As for "sucks to be you, because that world is gone" -- I'm not so sure. AIUI at least KDE, and possibly a few other Linux DEs, can be set up to look reasonably sane. And worst case, Haiku, ReactOS, Serenity... Or, hey, I hear OS/2 and Amiga are still around in some form! :-) (Though UI-wise that would probably be ReactOS, Serenity, and OS/2 for me; maybe less so Haiku and Amiga.) -- Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking Everything Mail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
Post #441,079 by pwhysall 3/4/22 9:52:14 AM 3/4/22 9:52:14 AM Reply	Hang on… …are you saying that this is the Year Of Linux On The Desktop?
Post #441,083 by drook 3/4/22 11:13:03 AM 3/4/22 11:13:03 AM Reply	And if it is ... If the only reason to run Linux is because you can still make it look like Windows 95, I guess you can call that "winning". -- Drew
Post #441,086 by CRConrad 3/4/22 2:15:39 PM 3/4/22 2:15:39 PM Reply	Of course. Aren't they all? Just saying, if that's how far I'll have to go, then that's how far I'll go. -- Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking Everything Mail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
Post #441,084 by Andrew Grygus 3/4/22 11:35:23 AM 3/4/22 11:35:23 AM Reply	Fortunately, ArcaOS . . . . . still looks just like OS/2 by default.
Post #441,092 by crazy 3/5/22 12:20:32 AM 3/5/22 12:20:32 AM Reply	I dodged the bullet Spreadsheet works on the Chromebook even though it didn't work on the phone. I can work on it so I don't need a different box. No Microsoft anything in this house at this point.

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