06-22-2008, 03:17 PM

Are there any other good places to purchase a Macbook aside from Futureshop, Bestbuy, and the Apple store itself?

I noticed a significant price difference between iWorks and Office for Mac. Which one of the two are better? I'm a university student and I use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Nothing fancy.

Lastly, does the Macbook have a good photo editing software? I like using Adobe Photoshop CS for very basic things, but won't be able to purchase one for Macbook right away.

06-22-2008, 03:29 PM

Since pricing is pretty much the same between places like Futureshop, Best Buy, Apple Store, Simply Computing and Westworld (Here in Vancouver) I'd personally and based on experience, spend my money at a place like Simply, they are top notch for customer service. That's a deciding factor in my purchases.

I hate the commissioned sales staff at Future Shop you can smell upsell from 100 yards, Best Buy's sales people aren't exactly bright lights on Mac, however Simply and Westworld are dedicated Mac stores, the folks know the product and as I said before, Simply's sales staff are top notch, just my opinion.

06-22-2008, 04:10 PM

I'm in Toronto, so doubt that I'd be able to purchase from Simply Computing.

06-22-2008, 04:14 PM

When i bought my macbook a week ago, i went right to an apple store for it, it was an hour and a half drive for me but very worth it. I found the sales person at the apple store very helpful and non-pressuring. Plus its kind of nice buying it right from apple themselves. I also bought iWork 08 along with it and i must say, i like it a lot better than Microsoft Office, and its a lot cheaper (Only 71 bucks with student discount!!!). Good luck!

06-22-2008, 05:04 PM

i would advise looking into ms office. i am not saying it is better than iwork but you probably wont have to worry about compatibility.

as far as which one i like better i prefer excel over numbers. keynote over powerpoint. and pages and word are even.

06-22-2008, 05:34 PM

In Toronto eh, there's three Apple stores in your area, go visit them.....I've been to the new one in Vancouver recently, great service, no hard upsell, just good honest advice and help imho.

06-23-2008, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by Macbook-user2b

Are there any other good places to purchase a Macbook aside from Futureshop, Bestbuy, and the Apple store itself?

I noticed a significant price difference between iWorks and Office for Mac. Which one of the two are better? I'm a university student and I use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Nothing fancy.

Lastly, does the Macbook have a good photo editing software? I like using Adobe Photoshop CS for very basic things, but won't be able to purchase one for Macbook right away.

You have a few options for the office suite. I believe the student edition of office is $150. NeoOffice is a port of openoffice for the Mac. Openoffice will be releasing a Mac UI version eventually. iWork is solid but may have some compatibility issues.

As for photo editing, there are free alternatives: Gimp, and Seashore are two options. Searches on google will lead you to more. Adobe recently released a new version of Photoshop Elements. Very inexpensive and very good.

06-24-2008, 03:38 PM

If you're at the University of Toronto, your cheapest option might well be the University Campus Shop: http://www.campuscomputerstore.ca/ut...inanceinfo.php

Macbooks are discounted (slightly) there. iworks is $55; you can get a microsoft office for mac license for $89. I remember seeing somewhere there about showing ID from other local schools, so maybe check with them if you aren't a UofT student; you may still qualify for the student pricing there.

06-24-2008, 04:08 PM

I don't think iWork is the best option for students. For a start, citations and references work horribly, as opposed to MS Office which has amazing citaction and reference tools, and applies them automatically in Chicago style (others are available too). In my opinion, this is one of iWork's biggest issues.

06-25-2008, 12:06 AM

Brock U has iWork for $45, if you know someone that goes there and can grab you a copy. I'm using Office for Mac 04, and I find it quite slow at loading (especially powerpoint).. but I am on an older version of the Macbook with minimal specs.

Daisy

06-25-2008, 01:48 AM

Office 2008 Home and Student Edition for sure, and update with 12.1.0 and 12.1.1 updates. You will find a lot of your lecturers will receive and send assingments in MS Word ONLY alas.

06-25-2008, 11:08 AM

Originally Posted by Daisy

Brock U has iWork for $45, if you know someone that goes there and can grab you a copy. I'm using Office for Mac 04, and I find it quite slow at loading (especially powerpoint).. but I am on an older version of the Macbook with minimal specs.

Daisy

The problem isn't your MacBook, it's Office 2004, which runs on Rosetta on Intel Macs. Basically it means it runs at about 40% of the speed it would run on a PowerPC based Mac.

If you get Office 2008, it's significantly quicker - although the applications still take a while to launch.

06-25-2008, 12:05 PM

i find iwork fine... why does no-one like it?
i understand the compatibility issues but there is a big price difference.

06-25-2008, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by Avenged Origami

i find iwork fine... why does no-one like it?
i understand the compatibility issues but there is a big price difference.

It's not compatibility that's the issue, it's functionality. If you don't need the missing functions, you're fine, but if you do, it's an issue.