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bate8473

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 31, 2006
27
0
hey guys i just bought my first macbook pro, actually my first apple compluter to be exact!!! YAY!!! anyways i was looking around here for awhile and still could not find my answer to this question.... I am a college student and looking for a good wor processing program. the only problem is that i do not know which route to go... the apple version or the office version? i leaning toward microsoft office 2004 but i do not know which version to get... it is either going to be the student/teacher or the standard one. all i need for this is Word, Excel, and powerpoint. Mainly because i am majoring in business so i need excel, and since i have knowledge and an use the way excel runs i am choosing office over the apple version.

so my question is student/teacher version or the standard version. and also is there a good place to get either one since i am sooooo low on money being a college student and it being after the holidays??? help would be greatly appreciated!!! :)
 

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Jul 17, 2005
19,160
4,152
5045 feet above sea level
hey guys i just bought my first macbook pro, actually my first apple compluter to be exact!!! YAY!!! anyways i was looking around here for awhile and still could not find my answer to this question.... I am a college student and looking for a good wor processing program. the only problem is that i do not know which route to go... the apple version or the office version? i leaning toward microsoft office 2004 but i do not know which version to get... it is either going to be the student/teacher or the standard one. all i need for this is Word, Excel, and powerpoint. Mainly because i am majoring in business so i need excel, and since i have knowledge and an use the way excel runs i am choosing office over the apple version.

so my question is student/teacher version or the standard version. and also is there a good place to get either one since i am sooooo low on money being a college student and it being after the holidays??? help would be greatly appreciated!!! :)

student version is like 150 so it's alot cheaper. i believe it has all the same functionality as the standard except you don't get a dicount for the upgrade to the new office

you could look up ebay for office v.x which is good (what i use) and it would be cheaper

you can get office 2004 from apple.com in the software section or even from microsofts site i would imagine (both would ship it to you as its not a download)

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?find=office&btn.x=0&btn.y=0

keep in mind you could use neooffice as it can read and write to the office suit and this is free. so if you are doing basic things, neooffice would be a good substitute for sure. just google it for the download

hope that helps
 

iMeowbot

macrumors G3
Aug 30, 2003
8,634
0
wow is that all the help i can get out of you guys?

dukebound85 answered what you asked about: the student and standard versions of Office are the same. What more did you want?

For the programs you say you want to use, the native Mac version should be fine.
 

igucl

macrumors 6502a
Oct 11, 2003
569
17
I have the student and teacher version, and I have no complaints. It has done all I required of it. I was also a business student, but I just graduated.

There's really not much to say. The student edition is fine, and the others just have extras you don't need. Why spend more?
 

mad jew

Moderator emeritus
Apr 3, 2004
32,191
9
Adelaide, Australia
Picture 1.jpg


Lick them.​



Office X is fine for your needs. Look around eBay for an old copy and you should be happy.
 

Father Jack

macrumors 68020
Jan 1, 2007
2,481
1
Ireland
I have the student and teacher version, and I have no complaints. It has done all I required of it. I was also a business student, but I just graduated.

There's really not much to say. The student edition is fine, and the others just have extras you don't need. Why spend more?

Hi,
I thought the Student / teachers edition was exactly the same as the "normal" version except for the license.

FJ :)
 

salix28

macrumors newbie
Jan 2, 2007
12
0
If you're a student, you should be able to buy the software from your college book store. I bought the Office 04 Professional Edition for only 20 bucks. Of course my college tutition at Indiana should have just given me the software for free. Check it out!
 

ReanimationLP

macrumors 68030
Jan 8, 2005
2,782
33
On the moon.
Hi,
I thought the Student / teachers edition was exactly the same as the "normal" version except for the license.

FJ :)

I kinda dont think Microsoft cares, since they allow us to sell the Student and Teacher version to anyone, as well as use it for the Geek Squad to set up new PCs. o_O I could never figure out the difference.

Professional also gets you Access, and a few other odds and ends.
 

besler3035

macrumors 6502a
Oct 29, 2004
561
110
Grand Rapids, MI
Microsoft Office 2004 Student/Teacher edition is the EXACT same product as the standard edition. The professional version adds VirtualPC, which won't work on Intel Macs.

I have both Office and Apple's iWork, and I personally like iWork a lot better. Pages is a lot easier to use I find and it's a lot simpler to do many of the things you can do in Word. Not as many advanced options, but for a word processing program typing papers, it works. And it can export to a .doc file. Keynote is way better than PowerPoint as well. I find Office to be slow and a little more confusing, however the Notebook View is a plus. But I believe that MacBook Pros come with OmniOutliner, which should satisfy your need if you wanted that.

Only thing missing from iWork is a spreadsheet program. There's NeoOffice for that, which I personally haven't tried but heard it works well. You could always wait til next week's MacWorld Keynote to see if Steve Jobs introduces a spreadsheet application for iWork '07 :)
 

michaelsaxon

macrumors 6502
Nov 15, 2006
359
64
Check with your university. I got a boat load of great software at really cheap prices through the bookstore.
 

djejrejk

macrumors 6502a
Jan 3, 2007
520
1
Uhh...
If i have the test drive version and my 30 days is almost up, I have a cd key from a friend, is it possible to just enter the key or do i have to download something to make office work after the 30 days? :confused:
 

e12a

macrumors 68000
Oct 28, 2006
1,881
0
wow is that all the help i can get out of you guys?

that was damn rude...no wonder you're a newbie.

What more do you want to know?
if you want office 2004 i suggest ebay.

and fix the title. it's not "Windows" office 2004. Its Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac.
 

djejrejk

macrumors 6502a
Jan 3, 2007
520
1
Uhh...
we don't assist in pirating

if you want it buy it. it's that simple

Im not talking about 'pirating', a friend of mine gave me her key and I was wondering If i need to go through the trouble of getting her disc or If I can just enter the key.
 

Teh Don Ditty

macrumors G4
Jan 15, 2007
11,306
8
Maryland
Im not talking about 'pirating', a friend of mine gave me her key and I was wondering If i need to go through the trouble of getting her disc or If I can just enter the key.

Around these parts that's considered pirating. If you, yourself did not pay for said program it is not legally yours. There are other ways of finding this type of information out (which we can't tell you where).
 

mad jew

Moderator emeritus
Apr 3, 2004
32,191
9
Adelaide, Australia
If the friend isn't using the key then it's not illegal. Remember, some versions of Office for Mac come with three keys meaning you can legally install it on three systems. You shouldn't need to install the app again, you should be prompted for the key at some stage at which point you just need to enter it. :)
 

Speedracer04

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2006
617
0
Michigan
I would suggest MS office, just because if your new to OS X and Mac's in general at least your word processing will be somewhat familiar.

However if you dont need it right away...I would get by with Neo office and then upgrade to MS office once Office 2008 comes out for mac in a couple months.
 

aljlin

macrumors regular
Sep 7, 2006
101
0
CA
Actually if I remember right, the student teacher ms office 2004 is identical to the standard edition, except for one part, it comes with THREE keys, so while I don't know whether you should use it for your machine, not really sure what the rules are for that, *shrug* I think the wording may say you are only allowed to use it on three of your own machines, but since I don't have the student teacher version, I don't know what the packaging says about the three licenses, someone else who has the student teacher edition can probably look at that for you. since it seems like you need excel and stuff like that, then maybe go ahead and use office. There is NeoOffice, and that would work, but you can always try that out, and if it doesn't work for you, you can always move to MS Office.
 

xparaparafreakx

macrumors 65816
Jul 29, 2005
1,273
1
If your a college student, go to your Major/College IT Department. Usually they should have a MS Campus Agreement so you can get Windows Office 2003, Mac Office 2004 or if you have connections with the IT people, Office 2007 and coming soon Mac Office 2008.
 
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