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Mac office vs. parallels w/xp and office

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Original poster
Nov 18, 2008
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so i've had pages on the mac for a little bit and it does its job well. the problem is compatibility with windows computers SUCKS.. i can send my resume to a friend and it looks like it exploded (yes i sent the document in "word format").. the more complicated documents with heavy formatting (such as resumes) come out horrible on PC. in some cases, other PCs couldn't open the document and it would throw them in a loop (don't ask).

so the question is if i'm applying for jobs (they usually require word docs for resumes yes i've tried pdf but not everyone takes pdf :() would it be better for me to buy parallels w/ windows xp and microsoft office or should i just go for the microsoft office for mac? (price does not matter)

thanks!
 
XP in a VM is good until you actually have to use it. All it's going to do is eat up clock cycles and make your computer heat up. Just get Offica for Mac, IME it's done everything fine, I use it on three different computers. I dunno why pages is being weird for you, might be some setting when you save the document, like ISO stuff.
 
Office for mac is you best bet.

Running Xp, Vista, WIN 7 on parallels really bogs down and slows down your computer. Not to mentions takes a good chunk of memory space. I tired and tired to use Parallels but it never worked for me. I always had to either reset the parallels every single boot up time or reinstall the OS. It got annoying after the 5th time. So I had to switch over to my PC for my PC needs when need be. So as I have said before Office for Mac, unless you have easy access to a PC.
 
only1agam said:
the problem is compatibility with windows computers SUCKS.. i can send my resume to a friend and it looks like it exploded (yes i sent the document in "word format").. the more complicated documents with heavy formatting (such as resumes) come out horrible on PC. in some cases, other PCs couldn't open the document and it would throw them in a loop (don't ask).
Click to expand...

To be fair, heavily-formatted documents don't always come out right between Windows versions either. The best solution would be to minimize the dependence of your resume on exotic formatting, regardless of platform.
 
I really hate mac office.. it runs bizarrely slow. I wonder if it would actually run better on parallels lol. Probably not, but god I hate that program. I wish they could have just made it the same as the windows version instead of completely different and slow.
It's possibly your best bet, though. Or try openoffice, though I have no experience with what it's compatability is like as far as preserving formatting.
 
The only reason to justify Office on Windows is for using excel macros.

What kind of company are you applying that isn't capable to read a .pdf file?
Come on? Do you really want to work there?

Give Open Office a try, and compare.

If you want to double check how your 'recipients' will read your word document, you can use VirtualBox (free) + Windows install + free MS Word document reader.
 
First, I always send my resume out as a pdf. It is the only way to guarantee that it looks the way you want it to.
On my MBP, I have both versions of office with the PC version running on Parallels and XP. My girlfriend needed PC Excel version for a class. I sometimes receive MS publisher PC files to work on.
They seem to both work well. Never had a problem with Parallels, but it does heat up a bit and use resources.
Buy the student-teacher version of office for about $100-$135 (shop around) if you can't send pdf's. I would think the Mac version would make the most sense.
 
McGiord said:
The only reason to justify Office on Windows is for using excel macros.

What kind of company are you applying that isn't capable to read a .pdf file?
Come on? Do you really want to work there?

Give Open Office a try, and compare.

If you want to double check how your 'recipients' will read your word document, you can use VirtualBox (free) + Windows install + free MS Word document reader.
Click to expand...

thanks for the honest feedback folks.. gosh i will say my biggest complaint about mac is the compatibility with windows office.. i fricken love the mac but this is a pita.. if anything, i might give open office a shot. I feel like the safest route is going to be parallels with word. My resume isn't that complicated, but when going back and forth with a PC (emailing back and forth) and seeing that all of it fits on one page on mac and on 2 pages in word SUCKS especially when you only have like 1 sentence hanging over..

i wish i could just send pdf to everyone. that would make everyones life easy and almost a dream:rolleyes:

going back and forth on sending a pdf sometimes and then a word doc really is a pain. that's why i've been thinking running windows xp just for the word and excel type stuff would be perfect.. i wish i could not apply for some companies, but i have no choice :(

like i said before my resume isn't extremely format intensive, but somehow its just a pain to open it on a pc and have things that for some reason can't be edited in word format..

on the word for mac, is the formatting accurate on PC or can it still be off. I want what i send to a pc to be EXACTLY what i see on my mac and as accurate as possible. I don't need to 2nd guess what i'm sending. if parallels makes my computer run slower i can deal with it (if i'm using word). I would think 4gb of ram and a 2.4ghz cpu should be able to tackle it. At the end of the day, even with 4gb of ram, i've never really seen my mac get slow.. i've never used 3.5 gbs of memory that's why i think it should be more than capable of running parallels and word. What do you guys think?
 
only1agam said:
so i've had pages on the mac for a little bit and it does its job well. the problem is compatibility with windows computers SUCKS.. i can send my resume to a friend and it looks like it exploded (yes i sent the document in "word format").. the more complicated documents with heavy formatting (such as resumes) come out horrible on PC. ...
Click to expand...

Why not send the documents in PDF format?

OK the other option is to buy Microsoft Word for the Mac.

Parallels works well if oyu have 4GB RAM, even on my 2.16Gh dual core iMac. It runs at nearly native speed.

Put PDF keeps the formatting exactly.
 
McGiord said:
What kind of company are you applying that isn't capable to read a .pdf file?
Come on? Do you really want to work there?.
Click to expand...

Even at the good companies the HR people are dumber than rocks when it comes to computers. But also many of them use software that scan the resume for "buzz words". Remember the HR people are so dumb that can't read and understand the resume, so their boss buys then this automation. But the boss is only slightly less dumb and does not know to buy the scanner/sorter that can read PDF. Hence the requirement to send word format.
 
If the formatting issues is only with one line, then try the following:
- Open or incrase the margins a little
- Check and adjust the paper size to a smaller size, A4 instead of letter?
- Make an adjustment by eliminating one sentence
- Adjust the line spacing between parragraphs to make it smaller
- Instead of Bold Highlights use underline
- Are you using a fancy font?
 
McGiord said:
If the formatting issues is only with one line, then try the following:
- Open or incrase the margins a little
- Check and adjust the paper size to a smaller size, A4 instead of letter?
- Make an adjustment by eliminating one sentence
- Adjust the line spacing between parragraphs to make it smaller
- Instead of Bold Highlights use underline
- Are you using a fancy font?
Click to expand...

it hangs over maybe about 2 sentences
the margins have been reduce
the sentences can be reduced no more literally
line spacing is minimized
no bold highlights except in the left column
no fancy font at all..

i've used all forms of minimization lol..

any other feedback folks? i think i'm leaning towards the parallels with word :( i just want the word docs to be perfect no matter what.. i fear office for mac won't do it.
 
I ended up just buying Office for Mac.. I downloaded the trial for 30 days and used it to make sure I wanted to spend the money. I did. I bought and installed it today.

I didn't care for OpenOffice at all and I have pages and numbers too, but again, just didn't quite do it for me after so many years of using Word and Excel.
 
Even Office:Mac 2008 isn't 100% compatible with Windows Office 2007.
I've done a work for the college that look's differente in Word:Mac and Word for Windows.
If I open the document in Word:Mac, it has 29 pages.
If I open the document in Word for Windows, it has 28 pages.
The formatting is the same, because it's the same file that reads differently in both versions of Word.

I don't know why that happened, but it sucks.

Next time that I do an important work for college I'll compare if it reads the same format in Word for Windows.
 
iWork AND OpenOffice

Hello, I am new to this forum as a member but has passed by sometimes (just as a guest).

I'm also a new Macbook user, first time ever :) So when I bought my Macbook, I also bought iWork '09 (with rebate) and have installed it and everything else. So I'm still getting myself familiar with Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. Although recently, I have been hearing from friends and research online that OpenOffice is a great program to use. I was wondering, would it be safe for my mac to be using both iWork '09 AND OpenOffice?

* The main reason I'm interested in downloading OpenOffice is because of the program they have for Math.

I hope someone could help me before I download the program.
Thank You! :]
 
I actually use Office for Mac, and it's pretty decent. I mean for most basic stuff it will do what you need. Compatibility with Word for windows is good for like 19/20 documents. Excel isn't that good if you need advanced functions like histograms and the like, but for basic stuff it does the job quite well.

To be quite honest, I really don't like pages and numbers. I think the MS Office Suite is superior. Keynote however is a magnificent piece of software, much better than powerpoint.

If you can spare the money, get the office for mac. Or, you could wait like 6-12-18 months for the revised version of Office.

My 2 cents.
 
boot camp and parallels

I have gone with boot camp and windows office and then under SL I can access office for windows through parallels (accessing the boot camp version)

I found that office 2008 mac word and excel weren't quite up to scratch, I would be on windows at work and email something home to my mac to carry on working and either it wouldn't be quite right or I would edit then send back to work and find some of the colours weren't the same etc

Now with bootcamp and paralells I'm effectively using the same version of office across the board, I can boot into windows on a client site to keep their IT people happy and I can access office from SL when I am at home.
I have an i7 MBP 4gig ram and it runs fine under SL, I'm using it in *can't remember the name* mode where Windows 7 loads in paralells but you don't get the desktop, you just get the start menu so your windows apps co-exist with your mac ones neat and tidy.
:)
 
Arganos0 said:
I actually use Office for Mac, and it's pretty decent. I mean for most basic stuff it will do what you need. Compatibility with Word for windows is good for like 19/20 documents. Excel isn't that good if you need advanced functions like histograms and the like, but for basic stuff it does the job quite well.

To be quite honest, I really don't like pages and numbers. I think the MS Office Suite is superior. Keynote however is a magnificent piece of software, much better than powerpoint.

If you can spare the money, get the office for mac. Or, you could wait like 6-12-18 months for the revised version of Office.

My 2 cents.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I was actually thinking of purchasing Office, but I'm not sure if I could afford it. Plus I won't be the one who would purchase it. It would be my mom and after what had happened with me and my Windows experience, I have a feeling she won't agree with me buying the Office suite. But I do like it. I have used it my whole life then my old laptop caught a virus (HP with Anti-Virus) so she wasn't happy at all. Yeah, I find Keynote pretty amazing :) Thank You
 
I have both types of MS Office running on my mac. I actually like using it on parallels in coherence mode a little bit more though. I do agree with others that office mac can sometimes run slowly. Maybe that will change with Office 2011?
 
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