Advice to College Stuendts when buying a computer

[CorvusCamenarum]

Know the dominant platform your school uses. Most schools use the Windows platform, and MS Office is a good choice in that environment. Yes, iWork and AppleWorks both can translate, but sometimes they just don't work. You're better safe than sorry. Another problem is iWork doesn't have a spreadsheet application...yet. AppleWorks does, however it isn't fully compatible with MS Excel. If your school is mainly a Macintosh environment, such as the Berklee College of Music that requires you to buy a mac, then things don't matter so much. In that case, it doesn't really matter. However I recommend Office simply because Excel is in there and is more compatible with PCs. On the other hand, if money is an issue, such as you living in Canada, Office isn't too good on the budget, and in that case, I recommend iWork because AppleWorks is, and has, pretty much been phased out. Bottom line: if you can afford it, get Office.

While I agree with the general theme here, I'd modify the statement to read "know the dominant platform your *department* uses." While my university is predominantly Windows-oriented, there are a few islands of sense in it all. My own department (English) has a much larger concentration of Mac people that I would have thought possible. I've also heard Mac is a big to-do over in the journalism department, as well as a subset of the engineering school.