Word processing software

Pages is Apple's proprietary word-processing software. It shares much of Microsoft Word's functionality, and can read and write Word documents seamlessly. Unlike Word, it's also only $20.

lukeniknak said:

I just got my first Mac and I need some word processing software, preferably something that I can save in Microsoft Office format so I can print it at college.

Whats the best thing to buy?

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I prefer MS Office for Mac, for maximum compatibility with Windows users. If you don't want MS Office for some reason, there are many alternatives, such as iWork, NeoOffice, LibreOffice, OpenOffice, Google Docs, etc. Searching the forum will reveal dozens of threads discussing these various alternatives and the pros and cons of each, such as this small sampling:

Check with your employer. I was able to download Office for Mac via the Home Use Program for £8.95.

lukeniknak said:

Whats the best thing to buy?

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I recommend MS Office, that provides the most function and features, along with compatibility with office docs. Short of that there'sLibreoffice which is open source and very powerful

I prefer Pages, Numbers, Keynote to Mac Office Suite ( it really is a PITA ).

If you create mainly simple text documents without too much formatting, then Pages may be fine. It is a very capable word processor and a lot cheaper than Word. Although it does have an export to Word option, you may get some small conversion issues. If you only need to print, Pages has the capability of exporting to PDF. If you use that method you will preserve your formatting and you should have no problem printing on another computer.

my mac came with iwork so i got microsoft office. i definitely use word tons more than pages

Its worth getting Office. There will be less chance of problems when taking it to college since thats probably what they use.

It would suck to get there and find that reports format didn't save properly.