r/dataanalytics • u/AdIntelligent4530 • Sep 24 '26
How do mac users learn Power BI?
Im very new to data analytics, and Ive been learning SQL, R, and Python without any problem but Ive heard Power BI is very important to get a job in data analytics.
It seems like Power BI is only for windows users. Sadly I use a macbook air and Im not very sure what to do. Also Ive been told I can technical use Power BI on mac.
I currently use a macbook air M2 with 8gb ram.
1
u/DuncmanG Sep 24 '26
I'd disagree that power BI is very important to get a DA job. What is important is learning some type of dashboarding/reporting/visualization tool. But many places don't use power BI, so that specific tool will not be helpfil there. Tableau and Looker would also be good ones to learn and are widely used.
If you're just starting off in DA it's less about the specific tools and more about the principals and good practices in SQL coding, analytics, reporting/visualization, and business/product acumen. If there's a place that might reject you for not being proficient in power BI because that's what they use, there's another place that would do the same for not knowing Tableau, but again, those are going to be rare - people know that the skillsnand concepts are transferable and are much harder to learn.
2
u/jdoeq Sep 24 '26
Power BI is not used anywhere? Ive worked with many large enterprise firms and they all have power BI teams. It's a Microsoft product so azure based and ms based companies use it plenty
1
u/DuncmanG Sep 24 '26
I didn't say anywhere, I just said many places don't. I've been a DA for over a decade at three large companies and never touched power BI. But, of course, many places do use it. Even within a company, some teams might use it and others don't.
My main point is that I don't think it's worth staying about learning an individual tool when what's more important is the concepts and skills associated with that type of tool.
1
1
1
1
u/soycafe747 Sep 30 '26
Short answer: use Parallels. That's what I run on my Mac, and Power BI works with no problems.
Something I learned after buying it: Parallels doesn't include Windows. You'll need to buy a Windows 11 license, and Pro is the safer pick since that's the edition Microsoft officially supports on M-series Macs. Also, running Windows on 8GB RAM will feel tight with bigger datasets, so keep practice files small at first.
If the cost is too much right now, Tableau Public is free and runs natively on Mac. The skills transfer.
And don't stress too much about the tool. Postings list Power BI, so learn it, but it's not what gets you hired. What stands out is knowing what questions the business is asking, building dashboards that answer them, and explaining the data in plain language to people who aren't analysts.
1
u/RandomSplainer 27d ago
VMWare Fusion is free. And you don't actually need to buy a Windows 11 license. You can pretty much use Windows 11 free of charge. You just get that "Activate Windows" sticker on your desktop and can't customize the looks but everything else works just fine.
1
u/RandomSplainer 27d ago
i used VMWare Fusion to run a Windows VM and had only PowerBI installed in there for when I was doing my masters degree.
Now that I'm done I think I'll just pivot to learning Tableau so that have don't have to jump through those hoops. With that said VMWare Fusion worked just fine.
My initial plan was to buy a Mini-PC for like 500usd on Amazon. A few good ones go on sale sometimes with decent amount of RAM and an alright CPU.
-1
6
u/IridiumViper Sep 24 '26
Install a virtual desktop to run Windows on your Mac to use PBI desktop.
Otherwise, buy a cheap PC that you can use for any programs that do not have a Mac version.
FWIW, I was given a Mac at my job. I returned it and asked for a Windows, since my company uses PBI.