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Pages '08 for business student?

T

turnstylez18

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 25, 2007
193
0
Toronto, Canada
k i know there's tons of threads posting about iwork 08.
i just really dont know if buying iwork would be a waste...

71cdn is still a lot for me...and i dont want to end up getting office 08 and wasting iwork...

basically im in my last year of university...i am a business student and used word and powerpoint a lot...i will be using pages for typing out essays and papers up to 20 pages long..

my concern is that in group projects..we keep sharing word docs to each other...although they're not strongly formatted...the fonts are generally times new roman and double spaced...
once in a while there will be a pic...

will i have a problem transfering doc files to pages and vise versa...


also...i dont create powerpoints to much...so keynote isnt a big concern...
but i view powerpoints a lot from my professors...will keynote have a problem viewing powerpoints...

thanks..hopefully iwork will be fine...
 
I haven't tried out the 08 version, but the general consensus is that iWork 08 is absolutely spectacular for page layout and creating stuff like newsletters and flyers; but if you're just writing documents, there's not really much difference. And if you're constantly exchanging stuff with Windows users, Office 2008 is probably the better choice.
 
I would stick with microsoft office.

Pages is way too power hungry if you ask me and everyone else in the world uses ms office.

Since you are a business student you will probably be using MS office when you graduate anyways.
 
I'd get iWork because it will likely be more helpful to you after you graduate, when you are writing stuff up on your own. It makes much nicer looking documents in my opinion. And I've found that it has never really had any trouble working with Office files.
 
ErikCLDR said:
I would stick with microsoft office.

Pages is way too power hungry if you ask me and everyone else in the world uses ms office.

Since you are a business student you will probably be using MS office when you graduate anyways.
Click to expand...

Just curious as to why you think Pages is power hungry.
 
I don't think it's worth the hassle of dealing with a document that doesn't import or export properly. University is an Office-based world. It doesn't pay to fight it. Use iWork when you're creating personal documents and presentations, but when you're constantly exchanging files, stick to the standard.
 
so what do i do until office 08 comes out? i dont really wanna use neo/openoffice...

but at the same time i dont know if buying iwork then getting office is worth it...

should i just get both?
 
There is a 30 day iWork trial you could download to try out the .doc export.

In 18 months I have had NO problems exchanging documents with Word (Win & Mac) if strong formatting - in both Word and Pages - is kept to a minimum.

If you don't have time to test compatibility with the iWork trial, and still want peace of mind, then get Office.
 
I would do the trial of iwork then when expired the trial of office and hope for the best. I'd use office though because from experience, even doc exchange with office from mac to pc has proven to be a hassle when heavy formatting was done on my end. I usually end up sending a PDF.
 
well in most of my instances of university...i would just write up my part and send it to someone in my group who would put it together...

im guess that if they copied and paste it there would be no problems? am i right? theyre the ones formating it...

usually i just print my individual papers myself..so pages is good enough to write long essays right...

and what about viewing techers' powerpoints on keynote..is that ok? i just need to view them even if the format is a little off i dont mind
 
turnstylez18 said:
well in most of my instances of university...i would just write up my part and send it to someone in my group who would put it together...

im guess that if they copied and paste it there would be no problems? am i right? theyre the ones formating it...

usually i just print my individual papers myself..so pages is good enough to write long essays right...

and what about viewing techers' powerpoints on keynote..is that ok? i just need to view them even if the format is a little off i dont mind
Click to expand...

Copy & paste - Yes (presumably text only - charts & graphics might need a bit of work)
Essays - Yes (assuming you don't need BOTH footnotes and endnotes in the same doc)
Viewing PPT - Yes (I haven't had a problem - in 18 months - opening PPT documents from business and academic sources, but PPS won't work to my knowledge)
 
k im getting pages...i never do extensive things on word docs...i hardly ever use charts etc...

worst comes to worst ill get office as well...

thanks
 
What's great about Pages (I do a ton of long papers too - and I spent time comparing Word '04 and Pages '08 today) is that it will natively open any Office '07 doc - so if you have group members with even the latest version of Office - total compatibility. Pages actually handled my Word docs better than Word '04 did (making me glad I didn't buy Office 2004 yesterday and got iWork). How well Numbers works compared to Excel, I can't tell you right now (I'll find out next week), but for Word - Pages is better than Word right now - at least for compatibility and markings with PC word docs. It's what I plan on using until Office 2008 comes out.
 
gr8tfly said:
Just curious as to why you think Pages is power hungry.
Click to expand...

I've just always felt its a slow app that slows my computer. I know other mac users that feel the same way about it. It makes nice looking documents, word just seems to be more efficient.

On a side not I hate the stupid font inspector window w/e you call it thing. It takes up too much space. Having toolbars in MS office are a lot easier to use.

MS Office is the standard in business word processing, presentation making, and spreadsheeting. I don't see why you would go with an application that very few people use, even if it may be compatible.

Now that I've complained about some of the things about Pages, MS Office for Mac is a little flakey itself. Its UI is kinda ugly first off. Additionally you can type a word spelled correctly and it will mark it as spelled wrong. When you click on the word to see what's wrong with it, the marking disappears.
 
im not doubting office at all...but i need an office suite for this fall semester until 08 comes out...

ill see how it does for me during that time...when 08 comes out..ill have to decide then...
 
ErikCLDR said:
I've just always felt its a slow app that slows my computer. I know other mac users that feel the same way about it. It makes nice looking documents, word just seems to be more efficient.

On a side not I hate the stupid font inspector window w/e you call it thing. It takes up too much space. Having toolbars in MS office are a lot easier to use.

MS Office is the standard in business word processing, presentation making, and spreadsheeting. I don't see why you would go with an application that very few people use, even if it may be compatible.

Now that I've complained about some of the things about Pages, MS Office for Mac is a little flakey itself. Its UI is kinda ugly first off. Additionally you can type a word spelled correctly and it will mark it as spelled wrong. When you click on the word to see what's wrong with it, the marking disappears.
Click to expand...

I can't really address the speed question, as it looks like you're running on PPC, and most of my experience with Pages is on Intel.

Pages '08 has a toolbar.

Agreed that Office is a standard tool, but iWork is about 25% the cost of Office and, for a lot of people, will provide 100% of their needs. I'm not getting rid of Office, but, I do like the new Pages interface and will be trying to use it for my primary word processor.
 
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