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word processing on new mac..and other recommended software

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djcyph

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 12, 2010
39
0
im patiently waiting for my first MBP ever...ive used mac b4 but never knew what comes stock.. so ive been reading up on Snow Leopard and if im reading right it does not come with a word processor?

so i cant open documents without iwork or ms office?

which software would u guys go with as well? iwork or office? anyone try the office 2011 beta yet?

also, what are the must have applications do u guys recommend for my first macbook pro?

im music buff...plan on starting with Ableton live, Pro Tools, Serato, utorrent, adobe audition, and google chrome

thanks guys
 
If you need word processing stuff and you don't want to spend the money, go to openoffice.org. It's a good free program, fairly similar to MS office. I haven't used iWork, or Office Mac '08, so I can't really help you there. (I use Office '07 in Win 7). Personally for browsing, I use firefox, but that's just a preference, and the new beta is actually pretty cool.
 
You can do basic word processing with the included TextEdit (somewhat comparable to WordPad). Office for Mac is the obvious choice, and probably better if you are in a predominantly Windows environment (for compatibility), but some people prefer iWork (I think it's cheaper too). If you don't want to buy either, the free OpenOffice.org would probably suffice for most things.

Software I use myself: Adium (get Microsoft Messenger if you need A/V capabilities), Skype, the Unarchiver (more powerful than the default unarchiving software).
 
which software would u guys go with as well? iwork or office?
Click to expand...

I have both iWork and office 2008 for mac. Personally for word processing I prefer Pages to Word, XLS to Numbers and Keynote most certainly over Powerpoint.

I think office 2008 for mac is dated, certainly when compared to the latest office for windows (vastly superior interface and in the pro version you get Access, unavailable in both office for mac and iWork). Wouldn't buy it now.

In the end it depends on how you're going to use the machine, if you interact a lot with people using office, go for that one, there's still no 100% compatibility with iWork and that can be a pain, especially if, like me, you have to prepare lots of presentations and can't always plug in your mac to present natively in keynote.

Of course there's still the option of running a windows virtual machine with office on your mac but I chose not to do that, for me it defeated the idea of switching to mac, might as well just get a pc laptop and save a lot of money.
 
thanks guys...forgot about Open Office...def will check that out when MBP arrives...

any other software u guys use that you CANT live without? :D
 
I use openoffice for my docs etc.

I bought parallels for Windows use, but uninstalled it as I don't need it right now.

Handbrake for video conversion.

Onyx for cleanup.

As an IT admin, I use JollysFastVNC and the windows Remote Desktop app.

uTorrent for my obtaining of files (legally of course).
WoW
Steam

I use built in mail and iCal for calendar and email.
 
I'm a big fan of NeoOffice (which is basically OpenOffice) :) I use it for the occasional envelope printing & their version of Excel - all of which open from *inside* the app, rather than being separate applications (ie, you open NeoOffice, and then tell it what you want from there (spreadsheet, document, etc), rather than Open 1 for Excel, Open another for Word, etc).
 
djcyph said:
bump for more software recommendations...thanks
Click to expand...

BetterTouchTool (Makes the great touch pad even better!)

CarbonCopyCloner (clone an image of your drive - a step beyond TimeMachine)

ClamXAV ( I know most people think that Anti-Virus on a Mac is a waste of resources, but this is really important if you are going to be on a network with Windows systems, or exchanging files with windows users)

In addition to OpenOffice, take a look a NeoOffice - this is a branch of OpenOffice with a native Mac UI. To run OpenOffice, you have to use XWindows (an optional install in OS X), which works fine, but looks a bit off in relation to other Mac software.

Office vs iWork vs openOffice/NeoOffice come down to just how compatible you need to be. None of them is fully compatible with Macros for example, but any of them will happily produce PDF output, which would allow you to share a view only copy with anyone. So, if you need to use a spreadsheet with macros (not formulas, but actual VBA Macros) your only option is to run the windows version of Excel in either bootcamp or a VM (Parallels Desktop or VM Fusion). If you just need to share more basic documents, any of the options does a good job of reading and writing MS Office file formats.

Personally, I find that MS Office (2008) for the Mac is slower than the other office options, but that's mostly just noticeable at load and adding an SSD fixed it for me.
 
I have to say I went for office 2008 , because i wanted to use endnote.
I am also a big fan of the omni products (http://www.omnigroup.com/products/) omniplan is Microsoft project compatible and beat it hands down
they also have a visio look alike
 
iStat Pro is good for monitoring your mac. stuff like temperature readings, memory, all that good tech stuff.

coconut battery is good also.
 
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