Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iWork, MS Office for Mac or Windows Office?

W

WannaApple?

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 9, 2008
629
70
Just bought a new macbook...debating with the following choices as I need to go out and buy the software soon. Please tell me which is better:

1) iWork '08 $79.99
2) MS Office for Mac $129.99
3) Install Windows and then install existing copy of MS Office 2007? Free

My main concerns are being able to open a file that someone sends me via email without having to import it (just want to click it and have it open like in Windows), price, and I dont want to have to reboot the computer to start Windows for Office only when I need it (if this is required). Can someone give me their opinions and which is the best and easiest to use? Will be buying some software tomorrow while I'm out for Black Friday shopping. Thanks!
 
I've tried all of these options, and personally, I really like iWork '08. I do occasionally receive a .doc file but you can get around it easily.
 
iWork will let you open Word docs with a click, but you have to export Pages files to .doc. To make them Word compatible. Download the iWork demo and see if you like it.
 
WannaApple? said:
Just bought a new macbook...debating with the following choices as I need to go out and buy the software soon. Please tell me which is better:

1) iWork '08 $79.99
2) MS Office for Mac $129.99
3) Install Windows and then install existing copy of MS Office 2007? Free

My main concerns are being able to open a file that someone sends me via email without having to import it (just want to click it and have it open like in Windows), price, and I dont want to have to reboot the computer to start Windows for Office only when I need it (if this is required). Can someone give me their opinions and which is the best and easiest to use? Will be buying some software tomorrow while I'm out for Black Friday shopping. Thanks!
Click to expand...
get parallels and you'll be all set.
 
You have these FREE other options also:
With Leopard use Quicklook select the file you receive and press the space bar you will get a preview of the file, some don't look good, but it's free.
Use google docs, there you have a a decent online office suite that allows you to store, share, collaborate, edit, send, office files.
docs.google.com
OpenOffice recently got a good mac version and it works fine
www.openoffice.org

Parallels desktop will be your 2nd best option if you already have windows and office licenses.
 
i liked openoffice on windows but went with iwork when I moved to Mac as there was no native Mac version then (now available) but I like iwork now and would stay with it.
 
Thanks for your quick replies everyone :) Just one follow up question:

I am kind of leaning towards the Windows addition as I have some other expensive software like Corel that I would also like to load, however upon looking up these programs like VMFusion and Parallels, it states that they require 2GB on their own. I bought the small macbook with only 2GB of memory. So, in order to run Windows and OSX would I also have to upgrade the memory? That is definitely not in the budget right now, so if that is the case, I might just have to go for iWork for now.
 
I'm kind of in the same boat as the OP, except I haven't purchased a Mac yet. This thread is one of the reasons I haven't pulled the trigger.

I receive a lot of emails that are Power Point presentations, Word docs, and Excel spreadsheets. Normally, they are just for viewing, no editing needed. What is the simplest solution for just opening and viewing files of this type?
 
DUDE!

Grab Openoffice 3..it FREE...it has the ability to open / save in MSoffice format. I'm new to MAC..i do a lot of excel and word. I do it all in OO3 and nobody has a problem receiving these files or opening them...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back