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Picked up two things

Y

yoplay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 23, 2008
5
0
Hi everyone. I'm glad I found these forums and I've been reading for the past week. I recently bought a macbook (2.1ghz model) and iWorks 08 (on the way). So far, everything is good.

I had a couple of questions though. I am a student and going into the medical field as a paramedic, maybe a firefighter (I live in san diego, california). I've ordered iWorks for my word processing. I decided I'd go all mac with this computer. My PC is loaded with Word so I've decided something different. So here are my questions. Please bare with me, I'm a noob. :eek:

How is iWorks, and is it pretty comparable to Word?

Would I need to upgrade ram if I'm using my macbook to download music/ watching movies? I was guessing buy an external hard drive for storing my movies and mp3s to keep my MB clean.

Would I need anything else? It pretty much is complete as it is, and I am very happy with the decision I made when I picked it up.

One last one. Is Azureus a pretty good torrent downloader? Anything better?

Thanks alot. Hope to hear from you guys soon.
 
I'm not sure about iWorks; I use Office for Mac.

more RAM is always a good decision, regardless of what you're using your computer for. I was at FRY's today and saw 2GB sticks for 19.99 a piece, so it's very affordable and you should max out even if you just plan to use computer basics.

Azureus is great; it's what I use. Consistently high dl speeds. I don't like the psychadelic VUZE player they are packaging with it, so I set it to startup in advanced view.
 
I've been using Pages for a few months now from Microsoft Word 2004 and would have to say the transition has been relatively seamless. Basic word processing is about the same, with Pages being a little easier to work with overall in terms of how features are arranged for you and in layout. I have encountered a few formatting issues when opening Word documents that have necessitated the need for me to use NeoOffice, which I do recommend you to download as a "just in case" if you plan on collaborating with others who will be using Word documents.

As for downloading music and watching movies, as long as you don't have too many other programs open, the stock amount of ram should be sufficient for that purpose. Of course, adding more ram will make your system more capable of handling more tasks so it really is up to you and your upcoming experiences.

For downloading torrents, I have used Azureus in the past but prefer to use Transmission, as it is easier to use for me personally and less resource-intensive. I hope this helps!
 
iWorks is pretty comparable.. and you can save any files as Microsoft if need be. It doesn't have every feature that Office has, but I prefer everything apple. Keynote has a lot of really nice templates for presentations also.

As for a good downloading program I'd recommend Acquisition for mp3 files (it also does torrents).. If you want a really good torrent program go with Transmission it's the best for Mac Os X!

Hope this helps...
 
Hi ;)

iworks is good, ive got office & iworks, and i think pages is a sweet app, nice and clean,

adding RAM will always pay off.

Use Transmission instead of Vuze, much better :)
 
Hi,

I throw in another vote for Pages. Keynote is owning Powerpoint. Numbers is nice for basic stuff.

For collaboration and compatibility I also use the free NeoOffice.
Transmission is just great, does everything in a fast and lightweight fashion.

Extra RAM is nice to have, but you don't necessarily need it, only to watch movies.

/Rupert
 
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