Options
Microsoft Office on Apple devices
Lindy_Loue
Posts: 9,874 Forum Member
✭
I am thinking of getting a Mac Air ( well, saving up....!!). My only hesitation is that I really want to continue using Office and I have seen some very mixed reviews of it on apple devices.
I can't try it out on my iPad, which was my first thought, because I don't have iOS 7 ( not enough capacity or it, due to the space taken by my daily newspaper!)
Does anyone here have experience of using MS Office on an Apple machine?
Many thanks
Lindy x
I can't try it out on my iPad, which was my first thought, because I don't have iOS 7 ( not enough capacity or it, due to the space taken by my daily newspaper!)
Does anyone here have experience of using MS Office on an Apple machine?
Many thanks
Lindy x
0
Comments
It's usually about half a release behind, and it lacks some functionality (doesn't VB come and go? And there's no Access). I wouldn't say "nowhere near as good": if you're a full-on Windows Office-ite they're different, but then you aren't buying a mac; if you're a Mac user who needs to interwork with Office users, they're fine.
Pages, Numbers and Keynote are very good, by the way, and worth looking at.
The iOS versions of Office are completely different, so wouldn't provide the OP with much guidance.
They're a mishmash between the ribbon on Windows' Office and the Mac style of UI for applications using the menu bar etc. They just look fugly to me, I'd rather learn how to use iWork if going to Mac and not working on complex documents. Although they've been dumbing down iWork, the 2009 versions of iLife and iWork seem more full-featured than the latest versions.
Agree on the iOS versions being different so that doesn't help.
I'd rather ask for the OP's reasons for going to an MBA first to understand that motivation. The Air might not even be the device they really need to buy.
Firstly I love my iPad, can use it with my eyes closed etc, but have kept it for social and media purposes really, though I do sometimes start documents off on Pages.
I have always worked ( for paid work) on Windows versions, and have Office 7 on a Dell laptop. Trouble is, this has had major virus infections, such that I had to re-install Windows, and it remains unreliable. So.....I bought a reconditioned Asus 220 laptop, thinking to move on to this, and have been thrown by Windows 8.
This is all supposed to work for me, allegedly, and not be such a pain - isn't it?!?
as i understand it, I have a choice:
....learn to use Windows 8
....or build on iPad experience and get a Mac of some kind
I don't do a huge amount of work, but what I do is vital, for presentations, reports and accounts. So I can't really stick with the unreliable Dell, much as I like Office 7.
Please can anyone offer me any advice?
Many thanks
Lindy x
The alleged relationship between iOS and OSX user interface and general look and feel is an overstated benefit. I'm a fairly committed Mac user, and although I don't use an iPad I'm a heavy user of an iPhone. Although, yes, deep in the operating system they share a lot of code, from a user perspective it's only the vaguest of relationships: it's like trying to argue that everyone who has an Android tablet immediately knows how to using a Linux laptop because they share a kernel. There's a certain sense that iOS and OSX have come from the same stable, but little more than that.
The problem with using iWork is that it's possible to construct documents that work correctly with Office, but it's very easy to produce documents with iWork that Office won't deal with correctly, and even easier to construct documents with Office that iWork can't get near, especially with Excel.
Unfortunately I am quite a journey from an Apple store
Thanks again.
Lindy xx
The Dell if probably fixable. How is it 'unreliable'?
As above, you can make Windows 8 behave like Windows 7 with some free utilities like Classic Shell.
To go out a buy a Mac and all new software sounds like overkill.
Why do you think that moving from Windows 7 to OSX, using significantly different applications (OSX Office and Windows Office) would be easier than moving from Windows 7 to Windows 8 whilst retaining the same applications?
Seems like OP is not the type to normally spend a lot on computing equipment (bought a refurb PC). In addition to the cost of the Mac, you then have cost of office and cost of windows on top going that route.
OP, I have to agree with the posters here, it would be cheaper and easier for you to:
a) get comfortable with Windows 8 (learn about start screen, make it more like win7 etc)
b) learn how to use it so you don't get viruses etc.
iPad is an "appliance" which is designed to be as easy to use as possible. Macs are nowhere near as simple as iPads.
Consider getting a machine with Windows RT on it. This will be secure like the iPads, not getting malware on it but it comes with a full windows version of Office.
If your uses of computing kit is just social/media/browsing on iPad plus office on laptop, you can probably consolidate into a single device with the Surface 2 and get the security benefits of running RT instead of Windows 8. (The reason it is secure is that, apart from preinstalled Office, you can't install other desktop applications like Chrome, iTunes etc on it and malware can't install itself). You do get access to the growing metro app store however.
Overall I recommend just trying to get your existing laptop to work fine but some other thoughts above for you too.
My advice would be to factory reset the Dell laptop. Install the 8.1 update (as this alters the UI and may be sufficient)..if after a while you find you still can't get to grips with it, install Classic Shell to make it look like Windows 7.
Virus infections don't just happen on their own so you were either very unlucky or have been following bad practice -ie. opening suspicious emails, downloading things you shouldn't be etc. Install a decent Antivirus like Avast or Eset NOD32, use a browser that isn't IE, do not mess with the default UAC settings and probably most importantly refrain from installing lots of freeware junk off the net without first researching it's authenticity. An occasional scan with Malwarebytes can help wonders too.
Lindy
I'm one of those that doesn't. I have been running Office for Mac 2011 for the last three years and it hasn't given me one bit of trouble. A lot of my work revolves around Office and I bring work home a lot. I also run the Windows versions so I'm in a position to make a comparison.
How simple do you want these things to be? I often get in from work to find my dog sat there using my iMac.
I think I was just unlucky. Believe it or not, all I did was click on a link to a local charity, and all hell broke loose! This was two years ago.....within minutes the laptop was completely unusable, couldn't even be switched on or off
As it's a Dell I got onto their support service (iYogi) and as I couldn't turn the machine on, let alone get remote connection, they had to talk me through beginning to repair it on the phone. Eventually I was able to re-install Windows from the CD that came with the machine originally, and then reinstall various other things. Once I had Internet connection, iYogi took over and sorted it. Basically ( as I understand it) they had to put the damaged part of the machine's system into a partition.....Now every time I turn the machine on, I have to choose the 'healthy' partition and ignore the other one.
The laptop does now work reasonably well although it is very slow. And it seems to drop out of wifi connection at the drop of a hat, as I were. I backup all significant documents onto an external hard drive as I so nearly lost everything in the 'big drama' of the virus!!
The Dell has a 17" screen (seemed a good idea at the time but is heavy), is slow and I've never quite recovered my confidence in it
I have McAfee antivirus and anti malware installed and I get iYogi to check the system every 3 months or so.
So, that's a bit of background that may or may not help explain why I suddenly took advantage of the offer of a reconditioned Asus. Will now read through properly
All those problems are fixable, if we take them one at a time. It sounds like your reinstall of Windows wasn't entirely successful, and there's a good chance the PC could have improved performance with a few tweaks.
You'll find an Apple Mac sadly boring in comparison. I've used them since 1987 and had no such excitement - ever. I just have to get on with my work. No excuse to goof off.
As a matter of historical interest, I first used MS Word on an "Apple Mac Plus" in July 1987 when I published my first book.
The first graphical version of MS Word was released for the Mac in 1985. This "GUI" version for Windows wasn't released until about October 1987.
BIB This sounds like a good idea
Would still like an AppleMac but don't think I can justify the expenditure. Oh, for that lottery win!
Meanwhile, the Asus is sitting in a drawer, waiting for me to bother to learn to use Windows 8.1. I have a Windows 8 for Dummies manual to hand!
Many thanks everyone
Oh, it sounds brilliant.....!!!!
How does the dog get on with your iMac? Is he able to use it without any help or lessons at the Apple Store?
I don't find Macs boring