colourbox - Very helpful. I'd been looking into Office 2011 for Mac and couldn't find a good comparison to the Windows version. If it really could operate seamlessly with the Windows version (I still use multiple Windows PCs) it would solve my problem. I used VirtualBox the last time I had a mac, but never spent much time figuring out how to have it not get in the way. Maybe I could put it in its own "space"? Hopefully Office for Mac will get good enough where I won't have to.
Here's a bummer. I took note that the new Air uses the same RAM as my old Macbook Pro. Since I happen to have 4GB of that laying around unused, I only ordered the 2GB version of the Air, planning to do the upgrade myself. Unfortunately, I ordered my Air (and it shipped) before anyone had done a teardown to reveal that the RAM is soldered in place and can't be upgraded at home. My Air will arrive in the morning but I'll have to debate whether to open it or to send it right back in exchange for the version with 4GB. Thoughts? I can't imagine being happy with 2GB of RAM. But I also can't imagine sending this thing back without opening it.
Ordered myself the 11" Macbook Air. I think the processor is underpowered, and I am disappointed in the 5 hour battery life claim (I was hoping it was going to be 10). Still, I've been looking for small and light, and I think the SSD speed may make up for the processor. We'll see.
If I keep it, it means the wife gets my iPad. That'll be hard to part with.
So my question is this - what's the best way to run Office (Windows version) on a Mac? Since this only has a 64GB SSD I'm probably not going to do Boot Camp. Parallels? Fusion? Some other option? I far prefer the Windows versions of MS Office to the Mac versions (no surprise since I prefer Windows to OSX) and I'd like to find some way to make that work, since I spend a large part of my day using Word and Outlook.
Why not use Open Office on your Macbook? Or the new version of Office for Mac coming out....
I don't use Open Office because it sucks. I really wish it didn't, but it does. In my line of work, I spend about 30+ hours a week using my word processing app, and I rely heavily on Outlook, so it's not a place where I want (or need) to cut corners. (That'd be like a pro giving up Photoshop or Lightroom for Picasa).
Office 2008 for Mac wasn't very good and it really had problems when I tried to move documents between the Mac and Windows version. If Office 2011 fixes those issues, that'll be my first choice for sure.
Gotcha, Pupator. JT made a really really small VM using VirtualBox, and Windows XP totally stripped down. That may help too, but you'd be limited to XP....
My Air will arrive in the morning but I'll have to debate whether to open it or to send it right back in exchange for the version with 4GB. Thoughts? I can't imagine being happy with 2GB of RAM. But I also can't imagine sending this thing back without opening it.
Bummer indeed, but I think the best choice is to send it back and get the 4GB model. Even if 2 GB will suffice for your immediate needs, you will regret the limit a couple of years from now, and maybe even sooner.
Why not use Open Office on your Macbook? Or the new version of Office for Mac coming out....
OO works pretty well for the casual user. But if you exchange documents that use many of the Word/Excel features, especially the more complex (like pivot tables), all bets are off as to what will and won't work.
If exchanging documents isn't a big deal, then iWork is a good choice too.
As far as sending it back, can you just take it to the local Apple store and get them to install more memory?
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As far as sending it back, can you just take it to the local Apple store and get them to install more memory?
I don't believe you can do that with the MBAir, or at least it doesn't make as much sense as exchanging it. Taking it to the store to do that might make sense, if they have the 4gb version in stock.
OO works pretty well for the casual user. But if you exchange documents that use many of the Word/Excel features, especially the more complex (like pivot tables), all bets are off as to what will and won't work.
If exchanging documents isn't a big deal, then iWork is a good choice too.
As far as sending it back, can you just take it to the local Apple store and get them to install more memory?
I useNeoOffice for work files, which are office 2003. It handles them perfectly but I don't know if NeoOffice is compatible with the newer versions of Office for Windows.
So far I'm very impressed with the performance. Cold boot was 11 seconds. Applications installed quickly - and that was doing several at a time. I may still exchange it for the 4GB model, but I may not.
My trick is to use VMWare Fusion and a small Windows XP virtual machine to run Windows. Moving it to a fast external hard drive made it way faster. I think a small minimal virtual machine and a small install of Microsoft Office (no clip art, no equation editor... nothing that you don't use) might be the solution. The reason I recommend VMWare Fusion is I have found it to be easier to customize than Parallels. I like VMWare stuff enough that I use it to run Windows machines under VMWare Player on my work Windows machine to do testing.
Interesting article here discussing the spread of lock-down technology to the Mac in Lion. Good for some, but not for everyone.
With all due respect, Valleywag is anything but authoritative on anything, being primarily a site for grabbing hits due to inflammatory statements.
I recommend these two articles from Ars Technica, and also remind everyone that the presence of an app store is in ADDITION to, not in place of, the way you get apps today on your Mac. You will notice that there is no mention of Valleywag's "lockdown". Really, in my opinion, nothing to see here...yawn.
Gawker has an axe to grind against Apple because of the stolen iPhone 4 prototype. Take everything you read form one of their sites about Apple with two grains of salt.
I do think that this application store is just the first step in what will be a several year process of eventually "walling in" OSX. And why not? Apple has about 6% market share when they try to do what Microsoft does. They have much, much, much more success with their walled garden approach (even though all us techies complain about it).
I don't especially trust anything the computer press says prior to the launch of a product. Opening up a new channel for Mac software through the Apple store could be a blessing for small developers and well worth the cost of admission. Adobe, Microsoft and other large vendors will simply not agree to the commission, licensing and other terms. They may cut individual, private deals, or may simply pass and continue to sell their products as they have always done, though retail channels and their own online stores.. Apple is not stupid and will not exclude those products from the Mac.
As for walling-in OS-X, we'll just have to wait and see. If non-Apple store applications become second class citizens in any way, that will seriously damage the Mac's standing as a general purpose computer. I think it's more likely that Apple would get out of the computer business altogether than allow that to happen. What remains to be seen what additional hoops developers (and users) will have to jump through to get an app up and running, if any.
Many of us geeky types see the iPhone/iPad environment as restricted, walled-in, closed. And in many ways it is. But, actually, what these system are is extremely good user experiences. Above all else, Apple seems to put user experience and ease of use. In the case of these devices, that includes managing the "software" which even my 75 yr old Dad can do with ease. Updating apps on the Mac can be complicated, and frustrating, especially if you come from Windows. How many know Mac users who run apps from .dmg archives and don't know the difference? How many of you have gotten calls asking what "growl" is, and should I update it? Despite what many choose to believe, Mac is not much easier or better than Windows.
Now if Apple would apply the same care and attention to the Mac user experience that they do to idevices, they would finally have a PC that normal, non-geeky humans could use. And no, they would not have to restrict it or wall it in, but simply make the user experience of the Mac that much better.
How many know Mac users who run apps from .dmg archives and don't know the difference? How many of you have gotten calls asking what "growl" is, and should I update it? Despite what many choose to believe, Mac is not much easier or better than Windows.
As a long time Mac user I agree with you. At least on Windows there's one way to install an app and everybody knows what it is. On the Mac, there are several ways, and I regularly run into those folks who don't realize what a disk image is and why the application disappears when they restart (because they've been running it from the DMG and never copied it to Applications). Or that a DMG you downloaded is not the app, so double-clicking what you downloaded neither runs the app nor installs it. That once you download an installer you need to then run it. So many users don't even know the difference between a drag-and-drop install and installer-based install.
So far I'm very impressed with the performance. Cold boot was 11 seconds. Applications installed quickly - and that was doing several at a time. I may still exchange it for the 4GB model, but I may not.
Me too. 13incher, 4gb Ram, 256Gb SSd.
Bridge comes up in 3 seconds.
Photoshop CS5 comes up in about 4 seconds.
1Ds Mark III and 5D II Raw files open up in PS in 3 seconds.
LR 3 comes up in 3-4 seconds.
Win7 in VMware fusion opens in 10seconds, as fast as it does on my Mac Pro. Win7 suspends faster than on my Mac Pro.
Yeah, I'm actually content to stick with the low-end (heh) model with 2GB RAM. I haven't had a single performance issue yet. My wife got the 13" and she's been very happy as well. Neither one of us have felt like we're using under-powered machines.
Anyone ever order non-Apple; i.e., non-genuine, Macbook A/C adapters or refurbished adapters? The strain relief portion on my adapter failed to actually give decent strain relief, the cable cracked, and I had some nasty smells and sparking.
This is one thing I hate about Apple - their thin, crappy cables break too easily.
Wow. 14mos is nothing. I hope that gets resolved quickly for you!
I was going to run out to the Apple store today (I actually had to drive into the office for the first time in months - and the store is just a handful of miles from there), but the rain that hit this area today put a damper on that. Nothing like driving home @ 5 mph for 15 miles since you can't see but a few feet in front of you.
Comments
colourbox - Very helpful. I'd been looking into Office 2011 for Mac and couldn't find a good comparison to the Windows version. If it really could operate seamlessly with the Windows version (I still use multiple Windows PCs) it would solve my problem. I used VirtualBox the last time I had a mac, but never spent much time figuring out how to have it not get in the way. Maybe I could put it in its own "space"? Hopefully Office for Mac will get good enough where I won't have to.
Here's a bummer. I took note that the new Air uses the same RAM as my old Macbook Pro. Since I happen to have 4GB of that laying around unused, I only ordered the 2GB version of the Air, planning to do the upgrade myself. Unfortunately, I ordered my Air (and it shipped) before anyone had done a teardown to reveal that the RAM is soldered in place and can't be upgraded at home. My Air will arrive in the morning but I'll have to debate whether to open it or to send it right back in exchange for the version with 4GB. Thoughts? I can't imagine being happy with 2GB of RAM. But I also can't imagine sending this thing back without opening it.
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I don't use Open Office because it sucks. I really wish it didn't, but it does. In my line of work, I spend about 30+ hours a week using my word processing app, and I rely heavily on Outlook, so it's not a place where I want (or need) to cut corners. (That'd be like a pro giving up Photoshop or Lightroom for Picasa).
Office 2008 for Mac wasn't very good and it really had problems when I tried to move documents between the Mac and Windows version. If Office 2011 fixes those issues, that'll be my first choice for sure.
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Bummer indeed, but I think the best choice is to send it back and get the 4GB model. Even if 2 GB will suffice for your immediate needs, you will regret the limit a couple of years from now, and maybe even sooner.
OO works pretty well for the casual user. But if you exchange documents that use many of the Word/Excel features, especially the more complex (like pivot tables), all bets are off as to what will and won't work.
If exchanging documents isn't a big deal, then iWork is a good choice too.
As far as sending it back, can you just take it to the local Apple store and get them to install more memory?
I don't believe you can do that with the MBAir, or at least it doesn't make as much sense as exchanging it. Taking it to the store to do that might make sense, if they have the 4gb version in stock.
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I useNeoOffice for work files, which are office 2003. It handles them perfectly but I don't know if NeoOffice is compatible with the newer versions of Office for Windows.
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Interesting article here discussing the spread of lock-down technology to the Mac in Lion. Good for some, but not for everyone.
With all due respect, Valleywag is anything but authoritative on anything, being primarily a site for grabbing hits due to inflammatory statements.
I recommend these two articles from Ars Technica, and also remind everyone that the presence of an app store is in ADDITION to, not in place of, the way you get apps today on your Mac. You will notice that there is no mention of Valleywag's "lockdown". Really, in my opinion, nothing to see here...yawn.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/10/mac-app-store-boon-or-bust-for-developers.ars
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/10/mac-os-x-107-lion-mac-os-x-meets-the-ipad.ars
Gawker has an axe to grind against Apple because of the stolen iPhone 4 prototype. Take everything you read form one of their sites about Apple with two grains of salt.
I do think that this application store is just the first step in what will be a several year process of eventually "walling in" OSX. And why not? Apple has about 6% market share when they try to do what Microsoft does. They have much, much, much more success with their walled garden approach (even though all us techies complain about it).
As for walling-in OS-X, we'll just have to wait and see. If non-Apple store applications become second class citizens in any way, that will seriously damage the Mac's standing as a general purpose computer. I think it's more likely that Apple would get out of the computer business altogether than allow that to happen. What remains to be seen what additional hoops developers (and users) will have to jump through to get an app up and running, if any.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Now if Apple would apply the same care and attention to the Mac user experience that they do to idevices, they would finally have a PC that normal, non-geeky humans could use. And no, they would not have to restrict it or wall it in, but simply make the user experience of the Mac that much better.
As a long time Mac user I agree with you. At least on Windows there's one way to install an app and everybody knows what it is. On the Mac, there are several ways, and I regularly run into those folks who don't realize what a disk image is and why the application disappears when they restart (because they've been running it from the DMG and never copied it to Applications). Or that a DMG you downloaded is not the app, so double-clicking what you downloaded neither runs the app nor installs it. That once you download an installer you need to then run it. So many users don't even know the difference between a drag-and-drop install and installer-based install.
Great read David. Hits the nail on the head.
BTW - All the stuff about being a first born is so true
-Fleetwood Mac
Me too. 13incher, 4gb Ram, 256Gb SSd.
Bridge comes up in 3 seconds.
Photoshop CS5 comes up in about 4 seconds.
1Ds Mark III and 5D II Raw files open up in PS in 3 seconds.
LR 3 comes up in 3-4 seconds.
Win7 in VMware fusion opens in 10seconds, as fast as it does on my Mac Pro. Win7 suspends faster than on my Mac Pro.
Everything is just so much fasterer.
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Nevarrrrrrrrrr!
One day I'll have to bring you up there. Somewhere in the 6,000,000 acres that is the Adirondack Park
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there's been a serious lack of fishing for me this fall. something about work!
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This is one thing I hate about Apple - their thin, crappy cables break too easily.
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
Later I will get a photo of this if I can.
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy