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Microsoft Office -- wait or buy now for MacBook Pro?

C

cleung

macrumors regular
Original poster
I just ordered a MacBook Pro 1.83 Ghz and am eagerly awaiting its arrival. I will need Microsoft Office at some point, although maybe not right away. Should I order this 2004 version? Does anyone know if there will be an update for the Intel Macs soon? Thanks.
 
cleung said:
I just ordered a MacBook Pro 1.83 Ghz and am eagerly awaiting its arrival. I will need Microsoft Office at some point, although maybe not right away. Should I order this 2004 version? Does anyone know if there will be an update for the Intel Macs soon? Thanks.
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🙄 If you don't need Microsoft Office 2004--which is clearly the case--then don't buy it. How hard is that? If you did need it, then you should go ahead and buy it now. Microsoft promises a free Intel-compatible update in a couple of months.
 
Isnt a new version due soon? The cycle is about right and with office 12 around the couner it would be a good time
 
i do need Microsoft Office but I can get by without it on my MacBook Pro for a month or two If we're talking about a year before MS would introduce a new version, then I can't wait that long. Just wondering if anyone has heard of a time frame. I even called MS last week and let's just say their customer service wasn't helpful at all.
 
Personally I'm holding out for a Rev C MacBook Pro and by then I'll abandon M$ Office and use iWork. I suspect Pages will be pretty good by then.
 
If Microsoft Office isn't an absolute essential immediate purchase, why not try the free NeoOffice on your MacBook as soon as it comes? It has good Office compatibility and certainly on my system it runs at more or less the same speed (although this is compared to Office v.x as I haven't really kept up), so in the best scenario you may never need to purchase Office and in the meantime it gives a good idea of speed. It's a > 100mb download though.
 
I don't think Office 2004 will be updated soon. Microsoft is working on Office 12 for Windows (among other things apparently) and there is no way a Mac version will come out beforehand or even very soon afterwards. Having said that, it's probably best to buy new apps once you have the machine or once you know it has been shipped.
 
Damien said:
Isnt a new version due soon? The cycle is about right and with office 12 around the couner it would be a good time
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Nope. They'll release Office 12 after they release Office 2006 for Windows.
 
Where did they say they were releasing an Intel version in a couple of months?

Last I read they said that their cycle was every few years, but that the Intel transition had negatively impacted this. They also stated that they would produce Office for another 5 years and were discontinuing WMP/Mac as of [today/date of statement].

AppleMatt
 
AppleMatt said:
Where did they say they were releasing an Intel version in a couple of months?
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I could be wrong but I got the impression that they were releasing something on their download site to update PPC versions of Office to Intel but I would've thought it'd be more complicated than a simple update could ever hope to commandeer.
 
mad jew said:
I could be wrong but I got the impression that they were releasing something on their download site to update PPC versions of Office to Intel but I would've thought it'd be more complicated than a simple update could ever hope to commandeer.
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Having just reread this MacNN report, it is clear that Microsoft intends to release an update to MS Office 2004 in March. However, the update will deal with file-compatibility issues. Microsoft intends to fold in Intel code with the next full version of Office, not the March update.
 
I would just buy it now, as you can get it for 1/2 off with your purchase. the only updates you'll see anytime soon, is perhaps a Universal Binary version, and that should be a free upgrade.
 
Buy it now. If they're going to make Office 2004 universal at some point, they'll release it as a free or really cheap update. If they're waiting until Office 12 to add Intel support, you've got a while to go. Besides, from what I've heard, Office works just fine in Rosetta; speed is not a problem.
 
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