Office X vs AppleWorks 6.2.7

chikan · September 24, 2003 11:20AM

Hi everyone,

This weekend I'll be looking at the 12" and 15" (1.25ghz) powerbooks and have a question regarding software. Simply which one of the above mentioned is better? I'm going to be doing A LOT of writing since I'm writing my 1st book and I want something that won't crash (cough cough...not microsoft...cough cough). I'm a "switcher"..and this will be my 1st mac. computer. I'm very excited about it and want a GOOD word processing program. Office X for students is $149 and Appleworks 6.2.7 is $119 (Canadian Prices). Thank you all for any help ; I'll really learned a lot for these types of forums!

powerpc · September 24, 2003 1:40PM

I know you don't want M$ Word, but if you plan on doing ANY file swapping to another computer you pretty much don't have a choice.

AppleWorks is good, if you plan on keeping your files locally on your computer...but trying to write in AW then save as a .doc and transfer to a PC with Word can become shakey formatting wise...

chikan · September 24, 2003 3:33PM

Thanks for the reply. I know. I hate Microsoft. Twice now while typing out book, Word just froze..luckily I'm in the habit of resaving every 2 minutes or I'd be in serious trouble. I heard that with Microsoft Office X for students, you are not allowed to upgrade (or update?) - is that true. Just the disk and that's it. That would suck because Microsoft is forever known to be fixing their products..... what to do, what to do.

\

brian green · September 24, 2003 10:12PM

chikan, while I can more than sympathize with your Word issues, I am curious about what you define as "GOOD" in terms of a word processor? Have you given TextEdit a honest look? I know that some complex formatting of document layouts won't work in TextEdit, but are you actually using such complex layouts, or simply writing text? Others in this forum have suggested that you use Microsoft Word to handle your cross-platform needs, and with the present offerings, I would have to concur. There are also rumors in other threads of this forum suggesting that future implimentations of TextEdit will be significantly more Word friendly. AppleWorks is also something to be considered, if for no other reason than to try other options outside the Microsoft realm. I am well aware that the current offering of AppleWorks indeed has it's limitations, yet it seems to me that it is more than capable of handling anything you may be writing. There are also rumors on other sites (to be taken with a grain of salt of course) indicating that AppleWorks is long overdue for a significant upgrade, one that is forthcoming.

Considering the extremely limited number of word processor applications out there, you'll have to base your final decision on how many of the bells and whistles in the application you actually use. Money may also be a factor. You'll pay a lot more for Word than you will for TextEdit that currently resides on your machine for free. If you haven't given AppleWorks an honest try, I suggest you do so. AppleWorks certainly has it's limitations, but that does not necessarily extend to the word processor portion of it.

All else said, at least you don't have to worry about using a typewriter. 8)

chikan · September 24, 2003 11:55PM

Hi Brian! Well, what I mean by good is something that won't crash, and that I can take on a disc to a printer for them to convert to QuarkXPress or Pagemaker. I know this sounds stupid but how do I save my "book" onto disc when mac's have no floppy disc? Do I have to buy a ZIPDrive or?? What happens in the summer "if" I get a 3ghz G5 - how do I transfer the files from the laptop to the G5? Again, forgive my ignorance of the mac. platform - since I've always been a PC user but I've increasingly grown dis-gruntled with them (I build them as a hobby).

I sincerely appreciate all the tips and advice you guys can toss my way!

I've been trying to figure out since the 16th if I should get the 12" or the 15".... In Vancouver, there are NO mac's on display yet of these new powerbook models . Today the Apple store downtown said "1st the Americans get them, then we do". Uh huh. I'm thinking that since I won't be using the computer for games, I can save $$ by getting the cheaper 12" version which should do the trick nicely and save me some dough for a nice monitor (revisions in Nov.?) and then towards the powerful 3Ghz G5 next summer. Any thoughts? Any reviews yet of the 12". Take care all!

brian green · September 25, 2003 12:22AM

TextEdit and AppleWorks will be faithful to you and won't crash, at least they haven't on me and I use them nearly everyday. Try TextEdit and see if it does everything you need it to. I'll bet it does. As for your disc concerns you have to understand that the floppy disk as you know it is being tossed out the window. Everyone is going to burning CD's or DVD's instead. You are concerned about getting your book to the printer, so burn a CD of it. It'll be a lot less difficult than using several floppies.

Transferring your files from your laptop to your G5 will be as simple as using a .Mac account and then using iSync. There are other ways to do that like hooking the two computers up with a LAN cable. I've heard you can do it with Firewire as well but haven't tried it. Let's just say this, it won't be difficult for you to do.

I purchased the 15 inch PB. It is currently sitting at customs waiting to be cleared before it can come here. My guess is most people's laptops are in a similar situation. So just be patient for another week or so and there should be laptops there that you can look at, just remember to keep the drool to a minimum.

I haven't read up on the 12 incher. If you're not doing graphics intensive things on the laptop then I see no reason you wouldn't be happy with the 12 inch, aside from possibly wanting a bigger screen. But it will save you money for the G5. As for the monitors and such I haven't looked into them.

skipjack · September 25, 2003 1:00AM

Quote:

Originally posted by chikan

I know this sounds stupid but how do I save my "book" onto disc when mac's have no floppy disc?

If you absolutely must use a floppy disk (not every school is well off - the computers at my school in the Engineering timeshare lab, DSP lab, and microprocessor lab are Pentiums, 700 MHz, 1MB RAM, and the use of floppy disks for saving files and submitting homework is still standard practice), there are relatively inexpensive USB floppy drives.

Example of USB floppy drive - OW Computing

I transfer files between a desktop and a laptop with an ethernet cable. It should be as easy as going into Sharing in the System Preferences and enabling personal file sharing. Then, in the Finder's Go menu, select Connect to Server. I've never tried with a USB cable or with a Firewire cable.

chikan · September 25, 2003 1:30AM

Brain/Skipjack - thanks for the posts! I'll try TextEdit (I didn't even know it came with the powerbook) - you're right, it may just be enough. When I want to burn my "book" onto a disc, I guess I need the "superdrive"? I know the 12" model can have that...but...(drooling) that 15" 1.25 Ghz model sure seems tempting! LoL!

Also, anyone know if the display is the same quality on the 12" as the 15". I heard with the old 12" that the display wasn't as clear as the bigger screens. Some people said it was like the "ibook" screen..a tad grainy. Anyways, looking forward to "switching" and gradually getting away from the "evil empire of Billy Gates" Step 1 - laptop...step 2 (next summer) G5.... vroom vroom!

skipjack · September 25, 2003 1:40AM

Quote:

Originally posted by chikan

I'll try TextEdit

In the format menu, "Wrap to Page" shows you a view with the margins. In the Preferences, you can turn on the ruler, which also shows you Tabs, justification, font size, and line spacing.

brian green · September 25, 2003 1:52AM

Chikan, in regard to the Super Drive, I would recommend getting one just because you may eventually use the DVD burning capability. If you're an author the CD burner is more than enough. Considering that you can get several books onto one CD I doubt you'd have to worry about elbow room.

The screens on the Powerbooks do look better. I'm not sure of the stats so I can't quote you anything. I just know that they look better. As for the 15 inch PB, I think if space isn't a huge factor to you where you NEED a small laptop, then splurge and get a 15. You'll be happy that you did down the road.

res · September 25, 2003 3:49AM

There are a lot of other choices for word processors on OS X, here are a few of them:

Mellel $25 http://www.redlers.com/mellel.html

Mariner Write $139 https://www.marinersoftware.com/site...?product=write

Nisus Writer Express $59 http://www.nisus.com/Express/

Z-Write $29 http://www.stonetablesoftware.com/z-write/index.html

digitaldave · September 25, 2003 4:33AM

What is Think Free Office like? Has anyone here used it?

Dave.

chikan · September 25, 2003 8:03AM

Thanks for the tips guys....Mariner Write and Nisus look good and I think Mariner is Word compatible....I'll check with my editor to see what she recomends because she uses a Mac. at her work and loves them! I'd hate to write out a long draft on say "Z-write" (for example), only to find out that the printshop can't open it or convert it to word format (since that is unfortunately used everywhere). I'm definately looking for alternatives and you guys have really helped!

Thanks!

Yes, the 15" 1.25 sure seems nice. My local "London Drugs" had the "old" 15" 'er in stock, so I was looking at the screen and fooling around with it - pretty nice!! Comes down to cost I guess...The difference between the 12 and 15 (1.25 model) is $1250 Cdn ($925 US)...which is a bit of bread........we'll see...take care everyone!

bancho · September 25, 2003 8:32AM

Any program that will save to RTF is workable as well. The benefit here is that you can have some level of formatting that you don't get with a plain text editor. Personally I use Appleworks a lot and it works great for me. For most of my writing a simple text editor is more than adequate though.

barto · September 25, 2003 8:48AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dave Abrey

What is Think Free Office like? Has anyone here used it?

Dave.

No. Which is not to say no-one here has installed it and tried to use it. Unfortunatly, it takes half an hour to load, and any letter you type takes a minute to appear.

***ANYONE WHO CODES AN OFFICE SUITE IN PURE JAVA IS A MORON***

Seriously, the developers of Think Free must be on pot.

Barto

digitaldave · September 25, 2003 9:04AM

Barto,

I guess I should probably stay clear of it then

.

Thanks,

Dave.

staphbaby · September 25, 2003 9:21AM

Quote:

Originally posted by chikan

[B]Hi Brian! Well, what I mean by good is something that won't crash, and that I can take on a disc to a printer for them to convert to QuarkXPress or Pagemaker. I know this sounds stupid but how do I save my "book" onto disc when mac's have no floppy disc?

I'd thoroughly recommend Mellel as a word-processor. AppleWorks is much maligned, but basically an extremely solid package. A bit of updating would be nice though...

As others have said, to replace a floppy sticking things on a .Mac iDisk would work (but will cost you a .Mac subscription, not cheap); burning them to CD is another option (cheaper); if you have a permanent internet connection with a fixed IP address you could even (easily - honest!) set up your own web or ftp server (apple help is your friend). And those USB thumb-drive thingies should work just fine too.

Quote:

Do I have to buy a ZIPDrive or??

*shudder* ZIP drives - the storage solution from HELL.

Quote:

What happens in the summer "if" I get a 3ghz G5 - how do I transfer the files from the laptop to the G5?

If you're worried about moving large numbers of files (mp3s, movies etc), you can always use the ultra-cool target mode of the computer. This turns your computerer into basically a firewire external harddrive... its as simple as shutting down the computer with the files on it, plugging it to the other computerer using a firewire cable, and then starting it up while holding down the letter "T" - it will then mount on the desktop of the other computer as a harddrive, and you can copy everything off at more-or-less full harddrive speed.

alternatively, the networking thing is also really easy. it goes like this:

(1) buy any old ethernet cable (crossover, non-crossover - it doesn't matter);

(2) plug the two computers together;

(3) go to system preferences, select the sharing pane, and click the check-box for "personal file sharing" to turn on file sharing.

(4) in the finder, press command-K, or go to the go menu and select "connect to server"

(5) your other computer will appear in the select box - double click on it, enter your user name and password, and that's it!

yay for that.

Quote:

I sincerely appreciate all the tips and advice you guys can toss my way!

I've been trying to figure out since the 16th if I should get the 12" or the 15".... In Vancouver, there are NO mac's on display yet of these new powerbook models .

That's funny - we already have them in Canberra (Australia) (at least, the 15" ones, anyway).

jukebox hero · September 25, 2003 9:27AM

Quote:

Originally posted by chikan

Hi everyone,

This weekend I'll be looking at the 12" and 15" (1.25ghz) powerbooks and have a question regarding software. Simply which one of the above mentioned is better? I'm going to be doing A LOT of writing since I'm writing my 1st book and I want something that won't crash (cough cough...not microsoft...cough cough). I'm a "switcher"..and this will be my 1st mac. computer. I'm very excited about it and want a GOOD word processing program. Office X for students is $149 and Appleworks 6.2.7 is $119 (Canadian Prices). Thank you all for any help ; I'll really learned a lot for these types of forums!

I would think that you would be safe buying any word processor that could convert to PDF format.

staphbaby · September 25, 2003 9:29AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jukebox Hero

I would think that you would be safe buying any word processor that could convert to PDF format.

and its worth noting that the print-to-file format for OS X is pdf, so you can make pdfs from just about any program that can print.

"Anarchy is crossing when it says 'don't go'" (TISM)

jukebox hero · September 25, 2003 9:33AM

Quote:

Originally posted by staphbaby

and its worth noting that the print-to-file format for OS X is pdf, so you can make pdfs from just about any program that can print.

"Anarchy is crossing when it says 'don't go'" (TISM)

That is so cool. I didn't know that. (Still waiting to be able to afford my first mac to make the switch)

staphbaby · September 25, 2003 9:40AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jukebox Hero

That is so cool. I didn't know that. (Still waiting to be able to afford my first mac to make the switch)

Actually, the cool bit is that the reason Apple could do this is that the operating system renders the screen with display PDF a.k.a. Quartz (which is one of the reasons why the OS X graphics system is so excellent). Apparently they chose PDF over Postscript (what NextStep used) because it meant that they didn't have to pay licencing fees to Adobe.

"Anarchy is crossing when it says 'don't go'" (TISM)

Office X vs AppleWorks 6.2.7

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