This forum has been a great help as I have been transitioning from the PC world to my new iMac that I have had for a month. I have started using Safari (instead of Firefox) to get use to the Apple apps. But I have stayed with Entourage instead of Mail just because I am so familiar with Outlook (I haven't even looked at what Mail offers--guess I should?). I bought Office for Mac as soon as I received my Mac thinking I will just use what I am familar with. Yesterday I was just browsing at the base exchange and the Apple rep was there and I had questions on Office and he said he just uses iWorks--showed me why he uses it so I thought, why not. For the price it will be interesting to try it out. So my question---what are the thoughts of iWorks--expecially Pages--the word program versue Word for Mac. Which should I spend time learning?
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iWorks
- Thread starter Habu71
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iWork is quite nice - especially Keynote. Beats PowerPoint hands down. Pages is better than it was, but isn't a complete MS Word replacement. Numbers is still showing signs of being new, but I'm sure iWork '10 will help fix that. That said, it's way better than the version in iWork '08.
There's also OpenOffice.org, which you may not have considered, and is a viable MS Office replacement, at least in my opinion.
There's also OpenOffice.org, which you may not have considered, and is a viable MS Office replacement, at least in my opinion.
I think whether iWork is worth it depends on what you want to do with it. You mentioned that you are mainly interested in Pages/Word - but how complicated are your documents going to be?
I use Powerpoint, Word, and Excel rather regularly for my work and when I got my new iMac, I too debated whether I should get Office or iWork. So I took some typical work files into the Apple store on a jump drive to test them out with both programs. If you have a few files of stuff that you would regularly be working on, I highly suggest to load them on a jump drive, head to an Apple store if you can, and try working on them with both programs.
Personally, I found that my Word documents worked fine in Pages; however, Pages did not have the full functionality that Word had that I needed. The documents opened, they looked brilliant, but due to some specific formatting I was using, Pages couldn't completely work with my stuff.
My Powerpoint presentations were absolutely fantastic with Keynote. Hands down, IMO, Keynote is better than Powerpoint.
The big deciding factor though, was Excel and Numbers. I work with some pretty large calculations sometimes, and when I tried to program them into Numbers, it just didn't work.
So, it was a good experiment, and I decided on Office due to my specific needs.
(but oh goodness, Keynote is a sexy thing)
I use Powerpoint, Word, and Excel rather regularly for my work and when I got my new iMac, I too debated whether I should get Office or iWork. So I took some typical work files into the Apple store on a jump drive to test them out with both programs. If you have a few files of stuff that you would regularly be working on, I highly suggest to load them on a jump drive, head to an Apple store if you can, and try working on them with both programs.
Personally, I found that my Word documents worked fine in Pages; however, Pages did not have the full functionality that Word had that I needed. The documents opened, they looked brilliant, but due to some specific formatting I was using, Pages couldn't completely work with my stuff.
My Powerpoint presentations were absolutely fantastic with Keynote. Hands down, IMO, Keynote is better than Powerpoint.
The big deciding factor though, was Excel and Numbers. I work with some pretty large calculations sometimes, and when I tried to program them into Numbers, it just didn't work.
So, it was a good experiment, and I decided on Office due to my specific needs.
(but oh goodness, Keynote is a sexy thing)
This is possibly the most frequently asked question on MacRumors. Search for iWork in subject titles and you will find many, many discussions.
Also, your Mac came with a trial version of iWork already installed. It is fully functional for 30 days.
Also, your Mac came with a trial version of iWork already installed. It is fully functional for 30 days.
I prefer Pages over Word. You have to learn all the nooks and crannies of the software, but it's worth it.
The whole damn world prefers Keynote over PowerPoint, so I'm not alone in this one. You definitely want to use Keynote.
As for Numbers... well, Excel is just so good that it's hard to switch whole heartedly to Numbers. I use Numbers; love its layout style. But Excel is just sooo much better, that if you do any real charting or scripting work, you have to hang on to that one.
OpenOffice is a fat lazy dog.
The whole damn world prefers Keynote over PowerPoint, so I'm not alone in this one. You definitely want to use Keynote.
As for Numbers... well, Excel is just so good that it's hard to switch whole heartedly to Numbers. I use Numbers; love its layout style. But Excel is just sooo much better, that if you do any real charting or scripting work, you have to hang on to that one.
OpenOffice is a fat lazy dog.