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I bought iWork for my new MacBook--was it stoopid :-)?

R

roisin and mac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 3, 2008
337
19
Hey everyone, first let me state my hope that this thread is in the right place--I am a newbie in both your lovely forums and to all things mac :), but I am sorry if I put it in the wrong place!

Here's my issue: I recently bought a MacBook (my first mac ever, never even used one before!). I have found it to be just as lovely as I was told, and while I have not yet had a chance to do particularly exciting things on it (not much more than using safari, the address book and iCal really), I have immediately loved the compactness of the whole thing, which allows me to do it all wth just my sweet lil' laptop, straight out of the box as promised--including listening to audio with the internal speakers, without cringing at the awful sound like I used to with my previous machine--even music is listenable even if it wouldn't be my first choice!

However, when I was shopping for it, I immediately assumed I would have to get some sort of Word Processor software extra. This is probably due to previous experience with Windows machines, which usually only come with something called WordPad, or Notepad (not sure of the name anymore as I hardly ever used it--it was too poor even for my rather limited needs!). Also, at the local Apple Store I was given a sheet of paper when I was asking about prices and such, which presented the various models of laptops, and their specifications, along with the software that came bundled with it. Well, it mentioned iLife and iCal and some other things, but no word processor, so I just assumed, rather stupidly I guess, that I'd have to get one separately, and iWork was the natural choice as I wanted to immerse myself in the whole mac experience :). Not to mention it wasn't as though I was dead keen on Office for Mac, and it was about 600 dollars more :eek: No contest :D

So I bought --and installed!-- iWork without ever having heard of textEditor in all the research i did online and all the questions I asked at the Apple Store--because it just never occured to me that a half way decent word processor could ever be bundled with a computer right from the factory :eek: ! I am so pissed off with myself, and feel like a right idiot! Not so much because of the money since in any case it was not that expensive a piece of software, a half-hearted Student version of Office my mother bought more than two years ago cost twice as much. Besides, even if I don't use either Pages or Numbers, I guess Keynote will probably come in handy at some point, even if not now. Mostly because i loaded something on my perfect immaculate little MacBook that it looks like I didn't need, since from what I have seen of text editor and from looking it up in Mac Help and googling it and stuff, it is supposed to be more than adequate for most people's needs, and I am certainly 'most people' when it comes to word processing right now! It drives me nuts because I wanted to keep it all perfect and super neat! Bwahahaaaa *end of tantrum*

You must be wondering now what I want, posting here and ranting :) Well, I guess I would like to get told it wasn't a totally dumb thing to do to go straight out and get iWork. Also: I think, if I can use Text Editor, I think it would be nice to uninstall iWork and put it back on when I actually need it--I loathe the idea of having this, that, and the other application all to do more or less the same thing, it was one of the things that bothered me with my other computer and loved about this; I am a neat freak I guess! I suppose I'm having buyer's remorse (I think that's the name, right?) about iWork--not because it's bad, I'm sure it's not, but because I don't like having loose stuff, I really love anything uncluttered and streamlined and neat. I'm sorry for being such a glommer, I guess I can't help myself :(

OK, please forgive the oh-so-lengthy ramblings of a new mac user who's still a little wet behind the ears :) If you want to write to convince me I didn't do a blooper getting iWork just for Pages really (oh the shame!), or maybe consoling me by talking about all the lovely things you can do on Pages that TE simply couldn't do, I'd be ever so grateful--I know y'all are such a nice bunch of people, and most patient wih ignorant noobs like me :)
 
No you weren't stupid. iWork for the price is a nice package.

I use iWork and MS Office. You can get a new version of Office 08 for Mac for $130 if at some time you you'd like variety.

There is also a free word processor called neo office which is very nice and you can't beat the price!
 
Well, all things considered you did get a couple other decent office programs as well as the texteditor.

Plus, the apple written apps always feature great integration with each other as well as the hardware, so now you shouldn't find yourself trapped in a situation that you very well may have if you only used textedit...
 
Textedit is a nice, simple text editor. Pages is more of full-fledged page layout/word processor. I love Pages.
 
For the money, iWorks is a tremendous deal. I say that even though I work in a PC-centric company and am assaulted on a daily basis with Word and PowerPoint documents.

I think that Pages is one of the best products out there that has successfully integrated word processing and desktop publishing, something you can't do with a (single) MS product.

I routinely use Keynote instead of PowerPoint, and everyone is always asking me "Where did you get those backgrounds/templates/transitions, etc. in PowerPoint?" When I tell them it was done in Keynote and exported to a PowerPoint format they want to know more....

I must confess that my default word processor is Word, but when I want to make a real k*ck-ass document I go to Pages.

You didn't make a mistake - you got a nice suite of software that is very powerful and well integrated into the operating system for a good value.

MacDann
 
Aw guys, thanks for the quick and considerate responses!! I feel less of an idiot now ;)

NC MacGuy said:
No you weren't stupid. iWork for the price is a nice package.
...
There is also a free word processor called neo office which is very nice and you can't beat the price!
Click to expand...

Thanks for telling me about this, I'll keep it in mind for the future!

raxafarian said:
Just to further make you curse at yourself, take a look here :)

http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php
Click to expand...

Tee hee, watch out raxafarian, this is the stuff to cause tantrums :D

ericsthename said:
Well, all things considered you did get a couple other decent office programs as well as the texteditor.

Plus, the apple written apps always feature great integration with each other as well as the hardware, so now you shouldn't find yourself trapped in a situation that you very well may have if you only used textedit...
Click to expand...

So eric (or anyone who cares to answer really!), do you think i'd be better off using Pages or TE as my main word processor? I'm just worrying it 'cause I'm about to copy a bunch of (handwritten) notes I have amased that will probably be used to form the basis for a blog I'm thinking of starting, so I want to get it right the first time. These notes will just be basic bog standard text, but it will be nice to be able to copy and paste them easily when (if) I do the blog.

Cromulent said:
iWorks > NeoOffice if you ask me. I think you made the right choice.
Click to expand...

Cool! Thanks for the confidence boost :) i guess I just flipped because I'd spent about a year researching all the various aspects first relating to switching to Mac, then of which particular Mac to get--I'd gotten all control-freaky over it, and then to realize I'd actually totally missed something. gah!!
 
Calm down, you made a good purchase ;)

Don't worry that iWork is "clutter" or a needless program suite at all! It's great piece of software that's much more powerful than TextEdit. I like TextEdit a lot more than Window's Wordpad or Notepad, but it still pales in comparison to iWork as far as capability. If you really want a full-fledged word processor and don't mind spending the money, Pages is the way to go (I use NeoOffice because I'm cheap--see above--but I'd go with iWork over MS Office any day if I were to spend money on something). So try out Pages. And remember, Numbers and especially Keynote are great programs, too. I suggest you keep them around rather than just waiting until you need them. TextEdit is nice in its simplicity and can do a lot of things, but Pages will give you a lot more power over your documents than TextEdit can. So keep it around, I'd say, as it can be just as integral to your Mac experience as iLife, etc. Definitely not something needless, though. Just be glad you didn't throw your money at MS Office ;)

Edit: And don't worry about NeoOffice if you already had iWork. I love NeoOffice a lot, but that's mostly because I just don't feel like spending the money on iWork, but the more I hear about it, the more I think it'd be a great purchase for me, too. I'll probably get it, soon, because it really is a great deal for the money, even if NeoOffice is free, the quality of iWork (especially Keynote, I hear) makes it worth it.

Also, it doesn't really matter which you enter your notes and blog stuff into, since you can just save as .rtf (rich text format, pretty much universally compatible, but doesn't always save special formatting) and open it in the other. I'd suggest go ahead and use Pages since you have it, and it'd be good to get acquainted with it, and you might find some useful things to use for the future.
 
cohibadad said:
Textedit is a nice, simple text editor. Pages is more of full-fledged page layout/word processor. I love Pages.
Click to expand...

MacDann said:
For the money, iWorks is a tremendous deal. I say that even though I work in a PC-centric company and am assaulted on a daily basis with Word and PowerPoint documents.

I think that Pages is one of the best products out there that has successfully integrated word processing and desktop publishing, something you can't do with a (single) MS product.

I routinely use Keynote instead of PowerPoint, and everyone is always asking me "Where did you get those backgrounds/templates/transitions, etc. in PowerPoint?" When I tell them it was done in Keynote and exported to a PowerPoint format they want to know more....

I must confess that my default word processor is Word, but when I want to make a real k*ck-ass document I go to Pages.

You didn't make a mistake - you got a nice suite of software that is very powerful and well integrated into the operating system for a good value.

MacDann
Click to expand...

Hey cohibadad, MacDann--I think you posted while I was writing, so i didn't see your posts ;)

Thanks so much for telling me more about what sort of things Pages is capable of. So basically Pages is a bit like Word and Publisher rolled into one--that kind of thing?
 
I wish you could just buy Keynote separately.

For word processing I prefer the free "Bean", which has more features than TextEdit. Numbers seems half-baked and no real Excel substitute.

:rolleyes:
 
kuwisdelu said:
Calm down, you made a good purchase ;)

Don't worry that iWork is "clutter" or a needless program suite at all! It's great piece of software that's much more powerful than TextEdit. I like TextEdit a lot more than Window's Wordpad or Notepad, but it still pales in comparison to iWork as far as capability. If you really want a full-fledged word processor and don't mind spending the money, Pages is the way to go (I use NeoOffice because I'm cheap--see above--but I'd go with iWork over MS Office any day). So try out Pages. And remember, Numbers and especially Keynote are great programs, too. I suggest you keep them around rather than just waiting until you need them. TextEdit is nice in its simplicity and can do a lot of things, but Pages will give you a lot more power over your documents than TextEdit can. So keep it around, I'd say, as it can be just as integral to your Mac experience as iLife, etc. Definitely not something needless, though. Just be glad you didn't throw your money at MS Office ;)
Click to expand...

Oh wow, the great responses just keep on comin' :)

Yeah I'm sure glad I didn't go for MS Office. I guess it's lucky because if my'puter had crashed about a year ago when I was still a student, I'd have been tempted as it is a lot cheaper than the non-student price--but still more than twice as much as iWork :eek:

And thanks for the extra info on Pages and iwork in general--taking all your responses collectively allows me to form a more accurate picture of what the program suite is about!
 
roisin and mac said:
Hey cohibadad, MacDann--I think you posted while I was writing, so i didn't see your posts ;)

Thanks so much for telling me more about what sort of things Pages is capable of. So basically Pages is a bit like Word and Publisher rolled into one--that kind of thing?
Click to expand...

In my opinion, it is. You can certainly do some publishing sorts of things in Word, but you're pretty limited. It's my opinion that Pages does a great job of both. Consider, too, that most people use about 10%-20% of the features of Word. There are a lot of things that are under the hood that will never be touched or applied. That's why I like Pages - it's a sort of stripped-down but feature-rich word processor/publishing app (if that makes sense.)

Again, save yourself from all the self flagellation and angst. You made a good purchase. And if you really feel that you have to get MS Office, go the educational route and it's only about $130.

I have both on my machines, only because I have to appease the employer from time to time by not using "one of those Apple programs."

MacDann
 
Just to drop in my 2 pence, id say congrats, i've tried TextEdit, never liked its interface or that it knew how to render tables but never allowed me to make them.

I tried NeoOffice and OpenOffice, both equally as ugly as each other, then again it is java based, and from experience i find most java based apps don't aesthetically integrate well with MacOSX.

Ive been running the demo version of iWork for the past few days and i just love it, cant beat the price by comparison of alternatives with due consideration to functionality and integration.
 
MacDann said:
In my opinion, it is. You can certainly do some publishing sorts of things in Word, but you're pretty limited. It's my opinion that Pages does a great job of both. Consider, too, that most people use about 10%-20% of the features of Word. There are a lot of things that are under the hood that will never be touched or applied. That's why I like Pages - it's a sort of stripped-down but feature-rich word processor/publishing app (if that makes sense.)

Again, save yourself from all the self flagellation and angst. You made a good purchase. And if you really feel that you have to get MS Office, go the educational route and it's only about $130.

I have both on my machines, only because I have to appease the employer from time to time by not using "one of those Apple programs."

MacDann
Click to expand...

"Appease" huh? Why, don't they like them? Thanks for saying this though : '...save yourself from all the self flagellation and angst. You made a good purchase. ' eXACtly what I wanted to hear, hee hee

cyberjunky said:
Just to drop in my 2 pence, id say congrats, i've tried TextEdit, never liked its interface or that it knew how to render tables but never allowed me to make them.

I tried NeoOffice and OpenOffice, both equally as ugly as each other, then again it is java based, and from experience i find most java based apps don't aesthetically integrate well with MacOSX.

Ive been running the demo version of iWork for the past few days and i just love it, cant beat the price by comparison of alternatives with due consideration to functionality and integration.
Click to expand...

Aw, thanks for saying 'congrats'!! And NeoOffice and Open Office being 'ugly' heh, that made me giggle
 
Actually I'll be picking up iWork this coming week as I really like it alot while using the trial version. So I think it was a good pickup,. as with others here,.. NeoOffice & OpenOffice are both good alternatives as well to have or use.
 
roisin and mac said:
So eric (or anyone who cares to answer really!), do you think i'd be better off using Pages or TE as my main word processor? I'm just worrying it 'cause I'm about to copy a bunch of (handwritten) notes I have amased that will probably be used to form the basis for a blog I'm thinking of starting, so I want to get it right the first time. These notes will just be basic bog standard text, but it will be nice to be able to copy and paste them easily when (if) I do the blog.
Click to expand...

Well, basically both would work seeing as blog text isn't going to require any obscure formats, but pages will export and convert text in multiple formats that I'm certain textedit won't deal with. That being said, the default format is going to be .pages as word's default is .doc so remember that you're going to have to select whichever format (.txt etc.) you want when you export your finished blog...

As a side note, I'm able to benefit from a work-at-home license of office, so I have that, iwork and textedit on my computer. The new office is a good product, finally that it's gone universal binary but it still doesn't match the snappiness and sleek interface that iwork has. The only advantage it offers me is a better language service, so I can edit french documents without having to switch the whole OS into french (Pages will edit and correct in whichever language is set as default in OS X, but has no setting that I can find to switch between individual documents).
 
It is a fine purchase. Perhaps it can help you figure out how to spell "stupid". ;)

But really, many people swear by the iWork suite and if I weren't so reliant on MS Office I would certainly be using it.
 
You will look (and feel) amazing the first time you use Keynote to present something.

First your cohort will go up, try to connect to the projector, spend a few minutes playing with resolutions, refresh rates, tighten cables, hit FN-F8 to get his Dell to see the projector as an external LCD, the screen will flicker countless times and you will all laugh at his Pamela Anderson desktop wallpaper, before he finally gets it going and presents using the same "Network" theme that everyone else uses, with dithered, choppy, cheesy looking slide transitions.

Then it will be your turn. You will pull out your MacBook. Someone will say that they're not sure the presentation system will work because you've got a Mac. You will smile sweetly at them and connect your MacBook to the projector. It will detect the display on the first time round, it will work, you will jump right into your presentation, and everyone will be wowed.

Apple products are in the business of making YOU look good.
 
boast said:
rofl, neooffice is ugly?

I would of rather used that money to support the open source community. LONG LIVE!
Click to expand...

I'm all for supporting open source, but yes, neoOffice is F-U-G-L-Y. Reminds me of an Apple IIc word processor program or the ADAM computer Beta Version of NeoOffice running. I mean great features, and nice support for MS Office types but they really need someone on the project that has GUI experience.

It's like my last job where old foggies wanted web sites but wanted the font in old Times Roman at 16pt cuz they can't see 12pt Arial and no Images or anything.

Price per Punch, iWork is great. I love the features right out the box, the organization of Numbers, the easier integration with each other and it's tight integration with iLife (no more clip art library only but perfect interaction with my iPhoto) etc. I still use some Office products, mainly Entourage, but beyond that I do everything in iWork.

My wife who has been used to Office products can easily fly through iWork products now and she loves it.

notjustjay said:
You will look (and feel) amazing the first time you use Keynote to present something.

First your cohort will go up, try to connect to the projector, spend a few minutes playing with resolutions, refresh rates, tighten cables, hit FN-F8 to get his Dell to see the projector as an external LCD, the screen will flicker countless times and you will all laugh at his Pamela Anderson desktop wallpaper, before he finally gets it going and presents using the same "Network" theme that everyone else uses, with dithered, choppy, cheesy looking slide transitions.

Then it will be your turn. You will pull out your MacBook. Someone will say that they're not sure the presentation system will work because you've got a Mac. You will smile sweetly at them and connect your MacBook to the projector. It will detect the display on the first time round, it will work, you will jump right into your presentation, and everyone will be wowed.

Apple products are in the business of making YOU look good.
Click to expand...

This exact same thing happened in our own area. Our Mac guy brought his MBP and they were like, "do you need anything extra", "nope, let's get started" and was in it right away, then it was time for the other guy, hooked up Dell, hit the Fn+keys, then changed resolution, etc etc etc. Me and the Mac guy just smiled.
 
I used Word, OpenOffice, Latex and Pages. And they all have some advantages. The best thing I can say about Word is that it is very popular and most people will send/expect its format. Oh, and it works most of the time.
NeoOffice is the OpenOffice equivalent for Mac. I did not really test it. But OpenOffice is a very good working horse. It works quite well with large documents and it's usage is very similar to Word. I preferred to use it most of the time when I "only" have windows. I really really like the formula editor in OO. It really rocks.
Latex is supposed to be ultimate tool for writing paper and thesis's because of it's bibliography support and it does not really crash, but gives you headaches when something does not work out as you expect it. And that will happen for sure.
And then I started using pages. I write my weekly reports for my studies in Pages. And I love it. They just look awesome. Especially when you combine them with charts from numbers... I would take Pages for everything that has to look very cool.

Sidenote for numbers. Don't use it if you analyse like 40.000 data records. It is a pain. OpenOffice did a create job even for those amounts.

Keynote is just awesome as well. Everyone will admire you for your gorgeous looking slides.

So, to make you feel more comfortable, your decision was just right. Even if TextEdit does it job, you will fall in love with one or the other iWork App. No one needs MS Office imho :)
 
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