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Office for Mac or Install Windows

scmarcos said:
If I am just using simple office file like word with simple tables and figures do I will have the same compatibility iussues?
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Most of the time simple files will be fine but the more "enhancements" you make to a document (tables, graphics, strange spacing (columns), etc) that aren't plain text, the more risk that the document will not be interpreted correctly.

IE: let's say you make a 2 column word document and one of the columns has a pre-formatted table with some color in it. If you open this file on another computer for it to look the way you intended it (page spacing, headers, footers, etc etc) the program has to be adept. Most programs will mis-convert these files (pages, text edit, older versions of office, and sometimes mac office 2011 as well). The ONLY way to ensure compatibility is to save files as 1997-2003 .doc,.xls, .ppt documents on a windows version of office.

Sorry but no matter how much people like mac office, this is the truth as Microsoft won't put nearly as many resources into their mac office products as they do for their windows ones. Plus, windows office is the standard around the world, so it makes sense for them to do so and continue the standard. Honestly though, running an xp vm with windows is very easy and quick. I've attached a copy of my screen to show you how seamless it is with unity running in vmware fusion.

desktopt.jpg
 
Would parallels get better performance than VMware fusion?

The only gripe I have about VM is that though office may be runnable in VM.. photoshop at acceptable performance is not, blah.
 
I run photoshop on Mac. The ONLY things I run on windows are office 2010 programs and internet explorer (for work I sometimes need it).
 
scmarcos said:
Is office 2010 on windows slow???
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NOT AT ALL!!!! The system requirements for running Windows XP + Office are minimal at best (we're talking about a 10 year old operating system here which even when running virtualized does not tax today's modern processors). I have 4gb of RAM and have never had a problem on my 2.5 year old laptop. Speed is actually the reason why I chose windows XP - it does everything I need to perfectly well (Office and Internet explorer). The newer MBPs I'm SURE will run Windows 7 in VM without a hitch or speed hangup, I'm almost positive about that. As long as you have 4GB RAM, you'll be fine.

If you want I can run a video of my desktop showing how long it takes to open the program but it is less than 2 seconds.
 
scmarcos said:
Is office 2010 on windows slow???
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If politics are involved, Microsoft would never make the Office 2011 for mac as good as the Office in Windows. Sure it may have a lot of functionality, but Microsoft would probably not want their flagship office suite to run on a mac better than on Windows.

Office 2010 is blazing fast and looks very nice in windows, easier to access stuff you need to access as well.
 
Bottom line is this:

Office 2010 for Windows - more functional, less attractive interface

Office 2011 for Mac - basic functionality (but has compatibility issues), more attractive interface (which is important given that we are mac users and like our computers to be visually attractive as well)

In terms of integration with the OS they are actually the same in my opinion given that when I double-click a word document it will automatically open word 2010 for windows.
 
So guys most of you is telling me that if I use mac ofice I will have for sure some compatibility iussues even if minor!
Am I right?
Does these iussues justify to buy a windows laptop instead of a mac for a heavy office user?
 
Id get mac and have WIndows bootcamped, and have both Office versions on both sides. With a PC... you won't even have an option to have the Mac side.
 
Whitelightning said:
Id get mac and have WIndows bootcamped, and have both Office versions on both sides. With a PC... you won't even have an option to have the Mac side.
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Do you think to have windows 7 bootcamped or in VW/parallels would be of help buying the i7 13'' instead of the i5???
 
Obviously i7 would be better, but for Office product... parallels would be fine for office products.

I personally am just bootcamping it because I know I will use other apps like after effects on the windows side.

So short answer is, either one is fine, all depends if you want to save money or not.
 
I will be new to mac myself, haha.

Parallels allows you to run windows applications within a Mac, but its worse performance depending on what your doing because your basically running Mac and Windows at the same time. (Office products wont be an issue since they are not as complex as say Photoshop or some product from Adobe suite)

So you'd essentially be able to run windows MS Office after booting into OSX.

--------------------

Bootcamp allows you to boot up your Macbook Pro INTO windows just like if it was like a PC.

So when you start up your computer... and you'd get to pick whether you want to boot into Windows or OSX. You pick windows, and it will be just as if you had a PC. Then you'd run office the same way you'd normally do with a PC.

--------------------

So for best performance, its always better to run Windows in bootcamp instead of parallels because your not using windows through OSX.

So bootcamp = Dual Booting
Parallels = VM
 
Thanks a lot! I guess the i7 would help with parallels!


Whitelightning said:
I will be new to mac myself, haha.

Parallels allows you to run windows applications within a Mac, but its worse performance depending on what your doing because your basically running Mac and Windows at the same time. (Office products wont be an issue since they are not as complex as say Photoshop or some product from Adobe suite)

So you'd essentially be able to run windows MS Office after booting into OSX.

--------------------

Bootcamp allows you to boot up your Macbook Pro INTO windows just like if it was like a PC.

So when you start up your computer... and you'd get to pick whether you want to boot into Windows or OSX. You pick windows, and it will be just as if you had a PC. Then you'd run office the same way you'd normally do with a PC.

--------------------

So for best performance, its always better to run Windows in bootcamp instead of parallels because your not using windows through OSX.

So bootcamp = Dual Booting
Parallels = VM
Click to expand...
 
I have Office 2008 and use word, excel, and powerpoint on a daily basis. I regularly share documents with windows users and give presentations on windows computers and have had very few compatibility issues. I don't use VBA so haven't had to worry about that. The only major issue that I came across going between the two is the equation editor, but as long as you know that, problems can be avoided (and not sure but I believe that is different in 2011?). For me, any minor issues do not warrant running bootcamp or a VM just for office.
 
ml05482 said:
I have Office 2008 and use word, excel, and powerpoint on a daily basis. I regularly share documents with windows users and give presentations on windows computers and have had very few compatibility issues. I don't use VBA so haven't had to worry about that. The only major issue that I came across going between the two is the equation editor, but as long as you know that, problems can be avoided (and not sure but I believe that is different in 2011?). For me, any minor issues do not warrant running bootcamp or a VM just for office.
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That's what I was thinking about! I would not like to work all time in parallels!
 
i have no problem with office for mac. If your looking for a license, let me know, ill sell you one pretty cheap.
 
scmarcos said:
So guys most of you is telling me that if I use mac ofice I will have for sure some compatibility iussues even if minor!
Am I right?
Does these iussues justify to buy a windows laptop instead of a mac for a heavy office user?
Click to expand...

Yes, Mac Office is inherently not as compatible with formatting than Office for Windows because Microsoft does not ensure compatibility testing as much. The only way to ensure compatibility is to use windows office and save files in the older formats (.doc not .docx)

scmarcos said:
Sorry if I am a newbbie what's difference between parallels and bootcamp?
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Please see here

scmarcos said:
That's what I was thinking about! I would not like to work all time in parallels!
Click to expand...

This is not a problem for the most part (see my desktop picture at the top of this page). Basically VMware fusion or Parallels runs in the background, kind of like finder or other programs. When you want to use word you just open it up on the dock like you would for any other program. If you run windows xp the performance hit from running a vm in the background is really not noticeable (I've been doing it for 2.5 years and have done lots of tests).
 
jlc1978 said:
I use the Mac version (2011) daily and have had no compatibility issues; including with some pretty extensive spreadsheets. I do not use VBA so I can't say if they it's 100% trouble free.
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I use office for mac everyday as well. It's awesome and have never run into compatibility issues
 
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