Questions about iWork

[Lashujin]

So, The girlfriend is considering getting a Macbook to use for her last semester of college and beyond, but she's worried about compatibility with windows machines...

Do projects made in keynote easily transfer to power point and vice versa? same thing goes for pages to word and numbers to excel.

I know that Apple's website says that they are compatible, but how easy is it in real life to transfer your stuff around?

 

[Zero Satori]

Not to be a jerk, but why is your girlfriend getting a Mac if she's so damned worried about running stuff on a Windows system?

 

[CarlDMC]

I used Keynote on iWork '08 and depending on how elaborate you make it, it may be incompatible. You can make a simple presentation with typical slide transitions and it will export to .ppt fine. However if you use "builds" and transitions that are fancy, those won't export properly to .ppt format.

I had a presentation that had lots of elaborate builds, instant alpha, moving objects.... and I exported the file as a .mov file. It will work with windows and play as a quicktime file with the option of timed slide transitions or transitions on click. My presentation ended up working fine on a windows OS maintaining all the style of the original file. You can also import .ppt files, I can't vouch for complete compatibility but I have had no issues with it.

Pages is similar in terms of compatibiity. You can open up .doc files and export them as .doc/.pdf/.rtf/plain text so that it will work on windows machines.

I have no experience using numbers, so no comment there.

Hope that helps.

 

[BoriquaSNK]

You can import any MS office file into iWork and vice versa. This works with Office 2000-2007 on the PC.

With Keynote, several of the transitions are in 3D and use iCandy (haha) that is unique to OS X, so when you export a particularly flashy keynote into ppt, the file will have more generic transitions.

Numbers and Pages work the same way. If you are typing a paper or doing a simple spreadsheet, it won't be a problem. But if she makes an incredibly graphic heavy document in Pages or a very intricate and graphic oriented spreadsheet in numbers, they will export but it won't look pretty. Word simply wasn't made to do any serious design work, and excel doesn't handle pictures at all.

In short, you never have to worry about the formats being incompatible, Apple went to great lengths to make sure iWork and Office were completely backwards compatible, however there are some distinct advantages to using iWork over Office for more attractive projects and vice versa if you need things like mail merging from a spreadsheet (iWork can only mailmerge from the Address Book).

iWork is a terrific suite, you're girlfriend will be very happy with the purchase...plus it'll make her projects look absolutely gorgeous.

 

[Borman]

If youre that worried, why not just buy office?

 

[Kazuki Dash]

If youre that worried, why not just buy office?

What he said...I never used Powerpoint until I got a mac and my presentation worked fine when uploaded onto a pc.

 

[Nesagwa]

Office for Mac is probably the worst office suite ever produced.

 

[BoriquaSNK]

Office for Mac is probably the worst office suite ever produced.

What are you talking about. Office for Mac blows 2003 away.

 

[Lashujin]

In short, you never have to worry about the formats being incompatible, Apple went to great lengths to make sure iWork and Office were completely backwards compatible

Will Numbers do line addition and all that other stuff? I've read that it is missing a lot of the scientific features of Excel....

The rest sounds great, and to answer the question of why she doesn't want to stick with windows - it's actually something I suggested (even though I personally am anything but a fan of mac) because I know that she will be frustrated operating Vista and I don't know enough about it (and won't be around for awhile) to help her, plus she has an apple store nearby she can go to get help.

 

[BoriquaSNK]

Will Numbers do line addition and all that other stuff? I've read that it is missing a lot of the scientific features of Excel....

The rest sounds great, and to answer the question of why she doesn't want to stick with windows - it's actually something I suggested (even though I personally am anything but a fan of mac) because I know that she will be frustrated operating Vista and I don't know enough about it (and won't be around for awhile) to help her, plus she has an apple store nearby she can go to get help.

What do you mean by line addition? As in, can it add sums on different lines, do means, medians, averages, etc? Yes, absolutely.

And you'll be a Mac fan once you play around with your g/f's...Mac haters always become the biggest fanbois.

 

[Lashujin]

What do you mean by line addition? As in, can it add sums on different lines, do means, medians, averages, etc? Yes, absolutely.

And you'll be a Mac fan once you play around with your g/f's...Mac haters always become the biggest fanbois.

I just can't respect a company that blatantly overcharges for things like a different colored case. Beyond simply disliking their image, I have nothing substantial against them. I'd probably buy one for myself if they supported games a bit better.

 

[BoriquaSNK]

I just can't respect a company that blatantly overcharges for things like a different colored case. Beyond simply disliking their image, I have nothing substantial against them. I'd probably buy one for myself if they supported games a bit better.

?

You mean the Black case for the MacBooks?

Yes, if you were to spec out a white and black macbook identically, the black one would end up being about $50 more, and that kinda sucks.

However, the black case is a different type of plastic, it is matte and doesn't get as smudgy as the white books. I personally think the $50 isn't so bad for a case that's a little sturdier.

But your assertion that Macs are the only ones that do it is ridiculous, look at the VAIO, Alienware, or XPS lines from Dell...they all charge considerably more for their design distinctions, they all cost more than Macs and have the same Santa Rosa innards, and they usually run Vista Home Premium...which is almost twice the price of OS X with half the functionality.

I think your concept of Macs is stuck in the nineties, and unfortunately a lot of people think that way. As though walking into an Apple store and playing with one were some admission of guilt about something.

 

[kernow]

lol mac users, no technical knowledge

 

[BoriquaSNK]

lol mac users, no technical knowledge

lol not being able to watch a DVD

 

[Lashujin]

Yes, if you were to spec out a white and black macbook identically, the black one would end up being about $50 more, and that kinda sucks

and the extra $150 is for......the bigger hard drive......I hope not $150 for 40 gigs is a terribly shitty price

 

[BoriquaSNK]

and the extra $150 is for......the bigger hard drive......I hope not $150 for 40 gigs is a terribly shitty price

When you buy them in the store the price configurations are different and I'm assuming your g/f is smarter than you and is using her student discount, which is $100-115 off of the final price.

Also, don't start a thread soliciting help and then shit all over the products you need help with dickhead.

I hope for humanity's sake you're sterile.

 

[Lashujin]

When you buy them in the store the price configurations are different and I'm assuming your g/f is smarter than you and is using her student discount, which is $100-115 off of the final price.

Also, don't start a thread soliciting help and then shit all over the products you need help with dickhead.

I hope for humanity's sake you're sterile.

Jesus Christ, I never made this a personal attack on you. What the hell man? I got my question answered (which I thank you for) and then you made the comment about how I would become an apple fan boy, so I said why I dislike apple. Cool it, and then tell me why it's reasonable for apple to charge (non-students) $150 for 40 gigs.

BTW - She doesn't get a student discount because her school isn't listed on apple's website, but I do so we are ordering it with my discount.

 

[BoriquaSNK]

Jesus Christ, I never made this a personal attack on you. What the hell man? I got my question answered (which I thank you for) and then you made the comment about how I would become an apple fan boy, so I said why I dislike apple. Cool it, and then tell me why it's reasonable for apple to charge (non-students) $150 for 40 gigs.

BTW - She doesn't get a student discount because her school isn't listed on apple's website, but I do so we are ordering it with my discount.

It isn't reasonable, I fully admit that. If you want more customization buy it online.

Secondly, as long as its a college, it doesn't have to be in their database. They shouldn't give you any problems.

Finally, I don't really hope that you're sterile, for the record, I just get sick of the snide asides by kernow and danadamkof (and yourself) over anything Mac related.

The $150 buck upcharge for a bigger harddrive and the black case, yeah that sucks, but if you were to go online and price the white MB the same, the difference is $50 or so.

People need to realize they're buying a premium machine, the hardware components might be the same as other PCs, but the relationship between the hardware and software is like nothing else in the world.

 

[Lashujin]

It isn't reasonable, I fully admit that. If you want more customization buy it online.

Secondly, as long as its a college, it doesn't have to be in their database. They shouldn't give you any problems.

Ok, can you use any 2.5" drive in the macbook?

About the college thing, in order to get the discount, her roomate (who goes to the same school and recently bought a macbook as well) had to send paperwork in to mac and claims it was a big hassle <---- this is what I'm going off here. Perhaps she didn't do it right in the first place.

Oh, and I fully admit to being a dick about it for no legitimate reason in plenty of other threads. Apologies.

edit: I'll probably bash them again though....

 

[td741]

2.5 " SATA drive...

I tend to buy anything from Apple via Apple Refurbed so I do my own upgrades since Apple Refurb doesn't allow custom options. (And it's generally cheaper to source your own components. :P)

It is easy to upgrade the HD and Ram from a MacBook.

 

[kernow]

lol not being able to watch a DVD

?