Microsoft Office for the Mac is a pile of steaming poo compared to the PC version, unless she's happy working with the web app versions through a browser.
I find even the web apps are pretty limited, particularly Excel. I'm a long time mac user and would recommend them to most people. But not if you are Microsoft Office user that needs a lot of the Office functionality.
You
could create a VM or VNC into a Windows machine, but you may find your fan spinning all the time with a VM, or your speed limited by your internet connection if you use a VNC.
To speed up your current machine, run through the following:-
- first check what applications are loading on startup and remove as many as you can.
- Check your power settings, check you are not using a low power setting (this may only be applicable to laptops)
- Update the OS to the latest version
- Check what visual effect you may have enabled in the OS, such as transparency, shadows, animations etc. Disable as many as possible.
- Years ago you used to have registry check programs. Not sure if these are needed in modern OS's, but this may be an avenue worth checking.
- Check if you have multiple virus programs installed. These can really slow down machines. Windows Defender ,ay be all you need
- On that topic, run Windows Defender or whatever AV you have to check for malware.
- Defrag your hard disk.
- If your wife routinely sleeps or hibernates the computer, try a restart.
I'd consider a ram and SSD upgrade. You could do both for less than a £100 and they are quite easy to fit (make sure you are earthed!) Though if you have an itch a new machine, take a look at
hotukdeals and be patient, good deals come up quite often