Posted on 10/10/2010 1:44:42 PM PDT by ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
Open Office did NOT work well for me. I ended up getting Office for the Mac after a lot of frustration. It is not that expensive and well worth it!
How close are you to an Apple store? They have “Switchers” workshops every weekend.
Open Office (http://download.openoffice.org/) is free and does everything that MS Office does for $150 less - at least for the things that I need to do - Word formatting the same, Excel functions and macros work, Power Point looks the same.
Warning, Snow Leopard is buggy by apple standards, especially if you are using Firefox as a browser, but then some times if you’re using Safari too.
My son is in the internet world...and has made a ton of money doing this.
Right now he has a software development company he started as well as another start up or two he works on as a sideline. He has written the code for more than one business on his MAC.
I asked him the same question when I needed a new laptop - my Thinkpad was dead - and he told me to get a MAC. Got water on my previous MAC - my bad - so now I’m on #2 and wouldn’t think of changing. I use Office for MAC sometimes but mostly this is internet/email.
Yeah. What he said. They are seamless. SEAMLESS. sd
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Thanks for the link. I didn't know about Go-oo. I wonder what effect Oracle's acquisition of Sun is going to have on the Open Office variants.
Using a 2007 Macbook to type this one. I’ve recorded & released 2 music CD’s with it. I’ve burned countless CD’s & DVD’s with it. It still boogies down the road perfectly.
I’d recommend Open Office and if you have further questions freepmail them to me.
Did it three years ago, and I’m still happy. You don’t necessarily need MS Office unless you need absolute compatibility with others. iWork is great, and Neo Office (Open Office for the Mac) does the job, but is not as good.
If you NEED Windows stuff, you can either use Boot Camp to dual-boot Windows (my easiest Windows install ever) or get Parallels or VMWare Fusion to run Windows virtually. Either does a very good job at it. These days I only run it for my Windows development and network testing. I have everything else taken care of with Mac software.
>>windows emulation software is a joke.
You don’t need emulation software to run Windows on a Mac. Only if you want to run both OS’s together.
Oh yeah, do not load up the memory from Apple. It comes with 2 GB, and that will work for most things (OS X is not a memory hog) unless you do virtuals or other specifically memory-demanding applications.
In any case, Apple charges too much for more memory, $100 to go to 4 GB. You can get 2x2 GB chips from Newegg for $85, then you can eBay your 2x1 GB chips to make a few bucks back.
Instructions on how to add memory here http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1651
The internal hard drive’s not too hard to replace either, but that may get you some warranty problems.
Pardon me, sir, but you don't know what you are talking about. "PC emulation" is NOT emulation. A Mac running Windows of any variety is a Virtual machine running on the same hardware as a PC, generally at full PC speed. In 2008, PC Magazine reported that the fastest Windows Vista notebook computer was a Mac.
As for "only running its own software," nothing could be further from the truth. Macs can run far more software than can Windows computers. Macs are certified UNIX and can run all POSIX compliant software, all varieties of Linux, all varieties of Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS, Amiga-OS, and a host of others under emulation. . . In sandboxed wIndows under OSX. . . at the same time.
You are spreading falsehoods. FUD.
Specific software availability is an issue on any platform. There is CCTV software for the Mac. And be thankful that with a Mac you are free from ActiveX.
And the windows emulation software is a joke.
Parallels and VMWare work perfectly. I have literally an entire Windows network running within my Mac, with an Active Directory server, SQL Server, application server, MOSS servers and a XP and Win7 clients, all under VMWare. I can run NAT or give each virtual machine an IP address on my network.
Dowwnload, Firefox browser. Some government (an other websites) still don’t support Safari. Firefox will let you navigate and fill out forms.
Download Flip4Mac. This will allow you to play audio/vids that may be coded for Windows only.
Download DivX. A good format for watching streaming movies.
Buy an external HD to plug in occasionally for the TImemachine back-up. (you don’t want to lose the extensive iTunes library that you will, no doubt, accumulate.
Get the Mac, don’t look back. It’s the best computer money you’ll ever spend.
Full-up Airport WiFi hub and a TeraByte (or half TB) of backup storage that runs backups automatically via Time Machine. Tell it how often you want backups -- and forget it. Or, if you want backup RIGHT NOW, tell it to "make it so"...'-)
That's how I'm FReeping at this moment-- wirelessly and kicked back in my recliner (with my MacBook Pro...) And I backed up a huge graphic presentation (on archaeology) I'm developing -- during dinner.
I rarely chime in on these threads, but I’ll lend my 2cents.
I have a MacBook Pro. I use it to write and edit, and I also produce and edit professional video using Apple’s Final Cut Pro software. I record and edit podcasts using Apple’s GarageBand software. I design for print, video and the web using Adobe’s Creative Suite. In short, my professional life is on my laptop.
Since I got this computer in January of 2009 (new job) I can count on my fingers the number of times I’ve rebooted it, usually because Apple asks me to after it installs a software update. I’ve never had a virus or a worm or a hack attack. I’ve never lost a minute of work due to a crash. Every night, I simply close the lid at the office, and open it when I get home. It boots instantly. When I get to the office in the morning, I connect it to an external hard drive and run the Time Machine software that was on it when I got it. I have incremental backups going back... at least 9 months... I haven’t looked because I’ve only needed to recover one file in all this time, and that was my fault for deleting it
Incidentally, I work in an all-PC office. I’m the only Mac. Granted, I’ve been using Macs for years, but the only way the IT guy would go along with me having a Mac was if I installed a virtual PC. I put VMWare Fusion on it and he installed MS Office. He hasn’t touched it since, nor has he had to.
In the last couple of years, I’ve invited and encouraged a bunch of people to use Macs and every single one of them has had the same reaction: “I wish I’d done this years ago.”
Ignore the FUD, get the best Mac you can afford, and never look back.
It's not emulation software. Boot Camp, included with the OS, boots the Mac into Windows. It's not emulating anything except the BIOS.
The virtual machine programs like Parallels and Fusion do a bit more emulation, but you're still running natively on in Intel processor and Windows-supported graphic hardware. You will see a bit of a performance hit with the virtual machines, primarily because you're running two OSes at the same time and they're sharing processor cycles and RAM.
Emulation was poor a few years ago, when Macs ran on PowerPC processors and had to emulate an intel processor. On an Intel Mac, Windows runs within a percent or two of the same speed as on a comparable Dell or Toshiba or whatever your favorite vendor is.
bfl
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