Apple Mac running MS Office or a PC/MS based Laptop?

[chhcope]

I use a mac, and I have Microsoft Word and Pages (the apple equivalent). I find myself using the Pages application more often than Word. It's simpler and the finished product usually looks superior. I will never buy another windows based PC. Apple is way to innovative, all my devices work together flawlessly and effortlessly. Back to the issue at hand...

My mother, who is about 52 bought a Macbook and I installed Microsoft Office on it for her; she uses a PC at work all day and then comes home to the Mac. This poses a problem for her, that I fear might be shared with your wife. Going back and forth from PC to Mac the applications are not the same and that makes things difficult. Being such creatures of habit we tend to trend towards what we are used to. If she can separate the PC version from the Mac version of the application it should be fine. Or she could learn to use Pages. I have no problem with the Microsoft Office application on the Mac. Some do, some don't. They probably have a laptop with Word loaded at the Mac store, have her check it out for herself. But to add my opinion, Once you go Mac you never go Bac.

 

[cowzrul]

Was always a Intel/Microsoft type. Even studied my butt off and earned my MCSE in 1999. In 2001 I took some Sun Solaris classes and learned the power of *nix. Sold my stinkerpad and bought my first Macbook. Everybody in my home now uses Macs and we all run Microsoft Office.

Food for thought -- I couldn't even begin to tell you how much stuff I lost over the years due to system crashes or Office locking up before I could save my work. Haven't had a single glitch since moving to Macs. They aren't perfect but I believe them to be more stable especially if you are a multi-tasking type user.

 

[LightningCrash]

cowzrul: if you know Bryan Boden, he went Mac.
His words: "I'm over 40 I don't have time to tinker with my laptop, I have to get work done."

 

[vvvvvvv]

My wife ran a Mac with Office while she was in law school and the only issue she had was occasionally, depending on what format she saved in, the person she sent it to couldn't open it. That was easily remedied by asking the person what they were using and she could resave as whatever was needed and it worked fine.

About a year ago, I know for certain there were still issues even when saving in the format that the recipient supposedly needed.

Either way, you might check with the school what their MSAA price is for Office - might save you a few dollars.



<<< I run Debian >>>

 

[inactive]

I used to run a Mac Mini but sold it when I got my work-issued Dell laptop. I loved the Mac, and I didn't even run MS Office on it. I cheap'ed out and used Open Office

I prefer the Mac. Also, the cost savings are not as much as they seem if you look to sell your used Apple equipment. I sold my $599 Mac Mini for $325 3 years later. I could not imagine a PC going for over 50% of new when sold 3 years later.

 

[pb2624]

Got a free MAC when I went back for my MBA and it has the dual operating systems and I'm not impressed with the MAC side of the house to switch. The Excel on the MAC side is a joke compared to the windows side as it cannot run some of the more useful add on solver programs.

 

[VitruvianDoc]

Got a free MAC when I went back for my MBA and it has the dual operating systems and I'm not impressed with the MAC side of the house to switch. The Excel on the MAC side is a joke compared to the windows side as it cannot run some of the more useful add on solver programs.

That would be microsofts fault, not apple. Microsoft makes the office suite for Mac and determines what features are going to be in it. Try open office.

 

[DFralish]

I'm not anti Mac by any means, but you can pick up a PC for less money and do everything a college student will need to do. Unless you have a specific Mac app you need to run, or money is no object, stick with the PC for this application.

Just to clarify, I'm an IT guy professionally.

+1 Yep, MAC is nice, but you're gonna pay the overly heavy price and quite honestly, contrary to popular opinion, it isn't worth it. They, like many PC's, are running Intel processors, and a X type variant operating system, so really what do you gain for all that money? They aren't engineered, programmed nor manufactured by Rocket Surgeons! Jus Sayin!

 

[LightningCrash]

+1 Yep, MAC is nice, but you're gonna pay the overly heavy price and quite honestly, contrary to popular opinion, it isn't worth it. They, like many PC's, are running Intel processors, and a X type variant operating system, so really what do you gain for all that money? They aren't engineered, programmed nor manufactured by Rocket Surgeons! Jus Sayin!

how do you feel that the build quality of a 2011 macbook air compares to, say, an HP g6X?

 

[okietool]

Buy her what she wants You might ask if she has checked with a course advisor (?) to see what her is the preference in her field of study.

I'm not sure why Commodore 64 was left off the list.