Office 2011 is the best suite by far. Of course it all depends on your needs, but if you need the most features and the best compatibility with the Windows world, then I suggest you get Office 2011.
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Office 2011 Mac vs iWorks?
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Not sure that I would agree that Office 2011 is the best suite by far, but I do agree that for compatibility with the Win-doze world it is best to get Office 2011.
I have both Office 2011 and iWorks on my Mac and I find myself liking and using Pages and Numbers more than I am Word and Excel. When I do have something I will need t share with work, then I will use Word or Excel.
As for presentations, nothing in my opinion beats Keynote. When I have to do a presentation at work I will bring in my MacBook Pro and use that rather than one of the Wind-doze computers available with PowerPoint.
That might be true about Keynote, but unfortunately I am surrounded by Windows and I have to use Powerpoint for everything.
I just finished writing two 50+ page documents in word 2011 for Mac. It works good, but it is, Word. Meaning some of the most basic things are the most annoying things. I was just trying to throw an image on top of a numbered list (image of how to do the different steps). It just kept moving things around, the wrapping wasn't great and then it would just move the image to a whole different numbered list. Ugh.. I ended up giving up and not putting it in at all. Should be as simple as drag and drop; then setting the wrapping around it (I set none, and it would mess up even worse).
I have been using Pages for a few years now and come to really love it once I figured out it's nuances. But it is by far easier to use then Word in terms of getting the layout to do what you want it to do. Word has some good features, but Pages is just better. Unfortunately for work, I have to share with Windows people and thus the use of Word.
I have been using Pages for a few years now and come to really love it once I figured out it's nuances. But it is by far easier to use then Word in terms of getting the layout to do what you want it to do. Word has some good features, but Pages is just better. Unfortunately for work, I have to share with Windows people and thus the use of Word.
Personally I use Google Docs and LibreOffice. I have iWork '08 but never use it any more. I had far too many problems when doing coursework using it so I just switched over and haven't gone back.
Can't complain with LibreOffice being free and being extremely well specified feature wise.
Can't complain with LibreOffice being free and being extremely well specified feature wise.
I pretty much live in Powerpoint and Excel at work - not much Word. The Mac versions are not quite the same - close - but enough different to still bug me (2011). I have the iWork suite, but don't really use it. Nothing against it, and I'm sure if I spent time with it I'd find things I like very much about Keynote and Pages - but no desire to come home at night and learn them for my own enlightenment. Office is a must if you interact with the outside business world that uses it.
I actually considered digging into Keynote today - doing a small presentation tomorrow night that isn't work related! I thought it would be much cooler to use my iPad2 or 13" MBP, and a beautiful Keynote template. However 2 things stopped me. (1) I can do Powerpoint in my sleep, and can focus on the content instead of the software - it will take up less time on my Sunday. (2) I need to buy video dongles for my iPad or MBP to use a projector - and they are both different. $30/each! I would just love to use my iPad2 for this - but not enough to spend time learning a few details of Keynote, buying the iPad version, getting the right dongle, and then hoping it all works correct for me tomorrow night.
Opened my work laptop and am using Windows & Powerpoint
Maybe someday I'll be able to use a Mac product for my main machine, and be able to spend more time becoming an expert at its programs...
I actually considered digging into Keynote today - doing a small presentation tomorrow night that isn't work related! I thought it would be much cooler to use my iPad2 or 13" MBP, and a beautiful Keynote template. However 2 things stopped me. (1) I can do Powerpoint in my sleep, and can focus on the content instead of the software - it will take up less time on my Sunday. (2) I need to buy video dongles for my iPad or MBP to use a projector - and they are both different. $30/each! I would just love to use my iPad2 for this - but not enough to spend time learning a few details of Keynote, buying the iPad version, getting the right dongle, and then hoping it all works correct for me tomorrow night.
Opened my work laptop and am using Windows & Powerpoint
Maybe someday I'll be able to use a Mac product for my main machine, and be able to spend more time becoming an expert at its programs...
It depends what you use it for OP.
I personally prefer iWork. My document needs aren't extreme and iWork IMO has a much better interface and is far easier to use. The functions I want to use are actually in logical places. Also Keynote is far superior to Power Point. I used to have co-workers ask to borrow my Mac just for Keynote
If you do a ton of office stuff, heavily formatted spread sheets in Excel or heavily formatted word docs than Office is probably for you.
I personally prefer iWork. My document needs aren't extreme and iWork IMO has a much better interface and is far easier to use. The functions I want to use are actually in logical places. Also Keynote is far superior to Power Point. I used to have co-workers ask to borrow my Mac just for Keynote
If you do a ton of office stuff, heavily formatted spread sheets in Excel or heavily formatted word docs than Office is probably for you.
iWork is really really easy to use. When it's just me working on a document, I always do it in pages, I make my charts in numbers, and I make my presentations in keynote. When I need to send it to others to read, I export it to a PDF when they don't need to do any editing or if they're going to edit, then I send it in a office format and that solves the problem. I rarely use Office 2011 but the few times I have, it's come in real handy, so they both work really well and complement each other.
it depends.
like iwork i'ts great for old mac users. and word is better for newbies that are gettin now on the mac world. office is more complicated then iwork, but iwork has more resources and options. but it's very old program(releasd in 09") and office 2011. so you decide dude. try downloading both and see which one you like.
like iwork i'ts great for old mac users. and word is better for newbies that are gettin now on the mac world. office is more complicated then iwork, but iwork has more resources and options. but it's very old program(releasd in 09") and office 2011. so you decide dude. try downloading both and see which one you like.
Microsoft Office vs. iWork
New to the Mac and I am wondering which is better, Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 or iWork 11???
I'm coming from Windows so I am used to Office 2010 but I'm always up for learning something new. Thanks in advance!
New to the Mac and I am wondering which is better, Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 or iWork 11???
I'm coming from Windows so I am used to Office 2010 but I'm always up for learning something new. Thanks in advance!
I mainly use iWorks as it is much faster and easier to use than Office. However, there is generally formatting concerns that I run into. With that in mind, i would say it depends on your usage. If do a lot of publication work where the formatting has to be perfect so that upon submission, no lack of attention is shows. In cases like these, I use Word. Otherwise, I use Pages at all times (especially if I am going to export them as PDF's). My suggestion is to use both and to incline towards iWorks for tasks that are not formatting specific.
You may ask, what types of things mess up? Columns created in Pages somehow become 1 column in Word. Headings created in Pages (hardly ever) sometimes become Normal in Word. Image and Table locations usually get off-setted in Word. All this applies to Keynote as well. Numbers, on the other hand, I have never had an issue with when exporting to Excel.
Hows the experience with Outlook on the Office Suite?? I use Outlook for my Exchange account and I doubt Mail is able to setup an Exchange account.
If using it for school I'd say Office 2011. You will have less integration issues.
You could also use Open Office - but that has some compatibility issues.
You could also use Open Office - but that has some compatibility issues.
I don't think 'iWork' and 'Office' should be compared - we use the applications contained within those bundles. So:
- Word 2011 is much better for serious academic work than Pages 09
- Keynote 09 is just about better than PowerPoint 11
- Excel 11 trounces Numbers 09
- Outlook 2011 has no competitor in iWork but, FWIW, I prefer using Mail 5.1 for connecting to my work Exchange account and personal Gmail/Me accounts.
My daughter uses Word for papers and stuff, but Keynote for presentations really for no other reason that hers looks different from the rest of her classmates.
Numbers can't touch Excel for complex spreadsheets.