Power Bi On Apple mac

[Joe_Sharman]

Hi there,

Im a new analyst at my company and have started to look at data visualisation tools for my company. Most of the employees at the company use Apple laptops. I know this means we can not download Power Bi desktop. However, how well does the web version work? Can you link the online version to MySQL databases? Can you also share interactive reports with non-Power Bi users outside the company? I am trying to test this out on the free trial of Power Bi pro on web, although I can't see the option to link a MySQL database. 

Thanks

[sergej_og]

Hi @Joe_Sharman ,
in our company we also partly use mac. since a few weeks me as well.
I use a remote VM to develop datamodels in PBI Desktop.
You will most likely need a VM because of the gateway. So you can use the same approach for you PBI Desktop thoghts. Provide you with a VM for this case (access through Microsoft Remote Desktop possible - for Mac)

Regards,
Sergej

[TomMartens · Accepted solution]

Hey @Joe_Sharman ,

Basically, all your questions can be answered with yes, but you need Power BI Desktop for report authoring.

At this point in time, the data modeling capabilities coming with Power BI Service are not on par with Power BI Desktop the same is valid for report design Desktop. Next to that, you need to create the dataset using Power BI Desktop, with Power BI Desktop you can select MySQL as data source, that feed the dataset.

I'm converted to a MBP M2 2 months ago, I love the machine for many reasons. I use Power BI Desktop in combination with Parallels Pro, becaues I want to assign more than 8GB of RAM to the virtual Windows Machine.

Hopefully, this helps to make your decision.

Regards,
Tom

[Joe_Sharman]

Hi Tom, 

Thanks for your response!

So in practise I can do my data modelling using a virtual machanie to create and edit reports, which I can sahre with my colleagues who can interact with the reports on their apple machines using the online version of Power Bi. I ask as I don't want everyone at my company to downlaod a virtual machnie so if I was the only one that had to do this my issue could be resolved :). 
Seperatley, how can I share reports with users outside my company? I would like the users to be able to interact with reports i.e. change dates etc but I don't want them to edit them. 

Thanks again

[TomMartens]

Hey @Joe_Sharman ,

it's important to differentiate two maybe three roles

• Data modeling
  This role creates the model, even if the web development is gaining ground, at the current moment the web development is lacking behind the capabilities of Power BI Desktop (requires Windows).
• Report Authoring
  Also, you can create reports based on a data model inside the Power BI Service, but this experience is also not on par with the Power BI Desktop experience.
• Report Consuming
  This role is using a report and interacts with data using slicers, cross-highlighting using visuals. Report Consuming should (I tend to say must) happen using a Power BI App.
  Access to an app can be cranted to external users the same way as it can granted to internal users. Access content via an app, keeps the artifacts inside the app safe. Meaning reports and dashboards can not be altered by the user.

Hopefully, this a little more.

Regards,

Tom

[Joe_Sharman]

@TomMartens