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Well, I just bought a Macbook Pro...and now some questions... (1 Viewer)

Michael D. Bunting

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Well, I made the switch :)

This is my first Mac (well, not counting my iPhone, which I absolutely love!). I currently have 5 Windows machines throughout the house/garage (3 desktops, 1 laptop, and 1 HTPC).

I spent about an hour or so yesterday afternoon at the local apple store and finally walked out with a 15" MacBook Pro (Glossy) with 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB Memory, & 120GB HD. I used my Govt. discount and got it for $1839 + tax.

I also got the $99 printer (free after rebate) and also purchased 12 months of .mac for $69 (after $30 instant savings).

Been setting things up here today and so far I am quite impressed. Now, my initial question:

1) Using Windows Programs: Is it better to just buy the mac versions of software such as Microsoft Office or will my Windows copy of Office 2007 work fine if I just buy "Parallels Desktop for Mac"?

That's really all I have right now...I'm sure I'll add some additional questions here as I get things finalized on my new mac...so far...so good!
 

Ronald Epstein

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Why, Michael....welcome to the club!

Holy cow! Another convert. And a Pro to boot!

Let me tell you something...you just made the best purchase ever!

Windows Office 2007 will work very well if you get Parallels.

Any questions you have, ask away. We have a great group here.
 

Andrew Pratt

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It would work fine in parallels but you'd have to boot the virtual copy of windows any time you wanted to use it. How dependant on Office are you? iWork is pretty decent and pre loaded on your mac so you might try using that and see if you still need Office...itmay be good enough for most of what you do and for the rest boot into windows...or wait till this fall and buy the new Office for Mac...or buy a cheap copy of the Office for mac that's available now (its old and for the powerPC hardware but it works fine and can be obtained cheaply online)
 

Michael D. Bunting

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Ron, thanks for the kind welcome to the mac family! (and I just knew that you would be one of the first to reply to this thread! :) ) I'm pretty sure that I'll be purchasing Parallels...most likely from amazon (unless there is a better/cheaper place?).

And I'm sure I'll get all the help I need (should any further Q's come up from the great HTF family!

Andrew, I'm VERY dependent on Office to be honest...nearly everyhting I do at work uses excel or powerpoint...and I'm also taking classes online that are very much uber-dependent on Word...so, I'm pretty much tied to it at this point. i do intend on trying the iWork as soon as I get some free time...but I doubt I'll be able to leave behind the MS Office suite anytime soon.
 

Jon_Are

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Michael,

I'm strongly considering jumping to Mac as well, and I am very dependent on Microsoft Office (Microsoft Publisher in particular).

I also just bought a full-install Office 2007 for Windows (just prior to giving serious consideration to Mac, of course).

Anyway, look into VMware Fusion; it's a new Windows-On-A-Mac program that, I'm told, is pretty awesome.

http://vmware.com/
 

DaveF

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Michael,
I'll echo Ron and Jon in their welcomes to the "club". Here are some conflicting thoughts on Office. :)

1) Ultimately it's easier, and maybe cheaper, to switch to Office Mac. You won't need to buy Windows or Parallels (or VM Ware). And it's simpler to run, as you don't need to first run Parallels or BootCamp to use Office.

However...

2) If your job depends on reading Word/Excel/PowerPoint files from others, and/or creating files for others to use, you may want to stay with Office (Windows) for guaranteed compatibility. I've read that Office Mac is not 100% file-compatible with its Windows brethren. And if your work buys your Office software, your expenses are mitigated.

3) If cost is strong driver: consider using BootCamp for Windows software work, and not buying Parallels.

With all that: BootCamp and Parallels are easy to install. It takes a few hours, but the process is straight forward. (VMWare, the competitor to Parallels, sounds just as nice. But Parallels got the early buzz with us switchers, and so gets talked about more.)
 

Craig S

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Remember, however, that if you want to run Windows on your Mac, you must purchase a new Windows license, which will almost certainly be more expensive than either Parallels or VMWare Fusion.
 

Michael D. Bunting

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Hmmm....you mean to tell me that I cannot use a current legal copy of Windows Vista (Premium) Upgrade?

Just want to be sure before I place my order....
 

Ronald Epstein

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Only the top two Vista releases (Business and Ultimate) will work
with any sort of virtual software on Mac. Premium will not.

This is a licensing issue.

My advice?

Forget Parallels unless you really have a lot of Windows programs you
are dependent upon.

For the price of Parallels and a copy of the Business/Ultimate Vista you
can just buy Mac Office 2004 Student Edition for much less. It goes for
(I think) $99. Just order it from Amazon. They won't ask you for student ID.
 

Jon_Are

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Not a good solution for me; Microsoft Publisher, which isn't included on Mac Office, is the Office software I use most.

Jon
 

ErichH

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The free demo of iWork 08 is worth a look before you venture back to Microsoft. Just a thought.
 

Michael D. Bunting

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Well, I bit the bullet and just ordered the $99 (after rebate) Office 2004 for Mac from amazon. Should be here in a day or two... (thanks for the info Ron!)

I tried out the demo/trial and it seemed to have no problem with any file I threw at it or created (then trying it on my Windows PC) so I'm thinking/praying I'll be okay.
 

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