What program are you using for word processing and spreadsheets?

Purchasing my first Mac (13" MBP) in a few days. I'm thinking about buying iworks with it. Just wanted to see what everyone else was using. I thought about getting Office but really don't want to spend the money. I used Open Office for a while and didn't like it. (May try it again.) I've also used Google Docs on occassion.

So, what do you use?

I use open office because its free, thought I never make spreadsheets so I cant say if its any good for that sorry.

If you don't want to spend the money for MS Office, I suggest waiting a bit until Apple upgrades the iWork suite. If you have iWork preinstalled, it'll be the iWork09 version. Apple should be publishing iWork11 in the near future. Besides, you can purchase Pages 09 separately for $19.99 from the app store.

I agree with you regarding Open Office for the Mac - in plain words, it's ugly!

I use Bean, it is also free and unlike Open Office it is not ugly. It is very fast and smooth, check it out.

(I don't think it can open spreadsheets, you can try though!)

roflitskyle said:

I use Bean, ...

I don't think it can open spreadsheets,

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I'm pretty sure you're right about that. I have Bean installed, it's a good word processor though.

I use Word and Excel (2004). Works better for transferring files with Windows users than iWork files do. (and it's easier)

But if you don't need to do that, iWork is easier on the wallet!

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look at Bean. I'll probably just use Google Docs for a while. If that doesn't work for me, then hopefully iworks '11 will be out by then. Or I'll have saved up enough for Office.

If you want the best invest in Office.

If you didn't like the looks of OpenOffice, try NeoOffice. It's essentially OpenOffice with a much nicer interface.

Kash said:

If you didn't like the looks of OpenOffice, try NeoOffice. It's essentially OpenOffice with a much nicer interface.

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I agree - been using it for years and have yet to have a spreadsheet problem.

The best office I ever used is office 2000 which is in fact what we still use at work I think. I upgraded by personal laptop to office 2007 and it was the worst thing I've ever used. Absolutely hate the experience of using that. I bought my first MAC yesterday and will use open office for a bit and then decide if I need to change it. Won't be going back to Office again though.

ScubaDachshund said:

Purchasing my first Mac (13" MBP) in a few days. I'm thinking about buying iworks with it. Just wanted to see what everyone else was using. I thought about getting Office but really don't want to spend the money. I used Open Office for a while and didn't like it. (May try it again.) I've also used Google Docs on occassion.

So, what do you use?

Click to expand...

I am using iWorks on one Mac and Office for Mac on another Mac.
I hope what you get depends on what you need. Office is more
powerful, but iWorks is fine for everyday stuff.

I decided to go with Neo Office for now. Thanks for the input.