Advice on Macbook & Word Processing etc

Hello Macbook users

I'm seriously considering a macbook over the Dell XPS 1330 but I have a few doubts that I need to resolve.

I heavily use MS Office for work, so how does the Macbook handle word processing, spreadsheets, powerpoints etc ??

What apps do you mac user's use that is as powerful as MS Office 2003/7??

Or does the apple have somthing better?

Your commets are greatly appreciated

 

you can use ms office on the mac microsoft makes a specific version for it i found it at office depot so check there

 

you have several choices with the mac.

as with every operating system, you can use open office, which is open source, free, and has a very capable spreadsheet and word processing program.

open office for mac is done with java, which isn't exactly optimal but isn't that big a deal.

neo office is a port of open office made specifically for mac, and that is highly recommended.

thats free software.

if you want to pay for your software, you have basically two choices:

microsoft office, or apple iwork.

however, its hard to recommend either product.

currently, microsoft office 2004 is NOT a universal binary application. that means it is using rosetta and emulating a power pc to run. not optimal at all, but again, it may not be a big deal if you aren't "power-using" office with massive documents hundreds of pages long and huge complex spreadsheets.

still- office 2008 for mac is right around the corner. it will run natively on intel processors, and it will support the new microsoft office standard xml. it looks to have a lot of good mac friendly features also, so its worth waiting for if you want to go the microsoft office route. neo/open office in the meantime will hold you through.

the apple alternative is iwork 06. it has a really good word processor and an EXCELLENT power point tool called keynote. you will never go back to power point after working with the mac alternative.

however, there is no spreadsheet with iwork06. hopefully this will be rectified with iwork 07 (they might call it something else), which again, is right around the corner.

iwork runs natively on both powerpc and intel processors, for what its worth.

all of these applications integrate with .doc files to varying degrees of accuracy. if you specifically need collaboration with .doc files from microsoft office, you might be better off getting office 2008 when it comes out. if you just need a really powerful word processor / power point system (and do not need to collaborate with a pc) you should get iwork06. if you need a spreadsheet also, wait for iwork07.

good luck

 

Microsoft makes Microsoft Office for Mac, as the others stated. The current version is Office for Mac 2004, which is the Mac equivalent of Office 2003. The Office 2007 equivalent is called Office for Mac 2008, and will be released later this year (ignore the "2008" part). So I wouldn't go for Office 2004 if I were you, I'd wait until 2008 comes out.

Apple makes iWork, which has an excellent PowerPoint called Keynote, but Pages, the word processor, is more geared towards creative professionals than the office worker.

The free alternative is NeoOffice, the Mac version of OpenOffice. There is an OpenOffice for Mac, but it runs under X11 and consumes more resources than NeoOffice does.

So basically I'd say if you get a Mac now, use NeoOffice until Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 arrives, and buy that.

 

Hey all thanks for the really quick replies. it's helped me better understand the current situation.

So far to me it seems far from ideal with a lot of ‘’wait and see’’. I'll be receiving ALOT of MS Office files from colleagues and be writing/editing large documents and spreadsheets.

Well thanks for your input guys. I’ll just have to decide what’s best for me personally. Mac or PC

 

quick question about neo-office/open office, are they both compatible with MS office documents? (mostly MS Word document)

 

NeoOffice and OpenOffice are highly compatible with MS Office but they are not 100%. You can set these up to automatically open Office documents and automatically save in Office format (as opposed to their native format).

My experience has generally been very good with Word files, successfully opening them 95% if the time. Occasionally I'll find a Word document NeoOffice won't open (not sure which Office versions or features causes it but it does not happen often even with large, complex documents). Excel and Power point are also good but not quite up there with Word compatibility.

I've also tried iWork 06 which also has excellent Word and Powerpoint compatibility but it has no Spreadsheet at the moment. Its not a bad product given the price.

Hope this helps

 

yeah thats awesome

thanks!

 

if you have a large .doc collaborative need you will want to be using the same program as your colleagues. that means microsoft office.

microsoft office 2004 is fine. its just not going to be as fast as a native application. "office applications" aren't generally major system hogs anyway... i would get office 2004 if your need is imminent. i would just say "get office" and "dont get it until you need it".

worst comes to worst, you can upgrade to 2k8 when it comes out, or deal with 2004 for a while longer.

unless you are getting a pc- in which case you can get office 2007 now.

 

i already have office 2007 so there is always the possibility of using bootcamp. Like i said its far from ideal, i rather be using 1 os. I might just put off buying a macbook till mac office 08 comes out and see what its like. Plus side of me waiting is leopard be out and macbook's may upgrade to santa rosa

 

You could get Parallels or VMWare and run both OSs at the same time. Then you can use the Windows version of Office and Mac stuff -- together. In peace. And harmony.