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Cheap but good word processor for mac?

Hey just got a Macbook today and the saleswoman said i have a 30 day trial of iwork. But after it runs out i would have to pay 80$ to buy it. Are there any word processors out there that are good and cheap? Also doesn't Microsoft Word work on Macs so I could just stick my Microsoft Word CD in and install that?

Posted on May 25, 2006 6:30 PM

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25 replies

May 25, 2006 6:41 PM in response to gniss39

Mellel is $49 for the regular download version, $35 if you're an educational customer. It also runs with footnoting/bibliographical software packages Bookends and Sente, but not Endnote.

Open Office is another possibility but it is only in alpha in the Intel version so far, and I think may still be in beta even for PowerPC, so probably not really a viable option just yet.

May 25, 2006 7:22 PM in response to Steve Hodson

No, not at all. Not if that $1000 purchase was the result of months of scrounging up money for a new MacBook. Besides, just because someone buys an expensive computer doesn't mean they should then stop caring about good deals on software 😉

And more on topic...you can use your existing Windows-compatible Office if you've got a Windows XP SP2 CD, because you can go download Boot Camp and install Windows and then Office.

May 25, 2006 8:07 PM in response to gniss39

Don't overlook TextEdit.app which comes free on your Mac. TextEdit handles fonts, basic formatting, tables and spell-check well. It also saves to and opens a variety of formats including .doc (i.e. Microsoft Word).

Sure there isn't any track changes or grammar features, and it won't insert footnotes, or endnotes, and there are no built templates, no ability for mail merge or presets for labels, however, it does stay out of your way, and type.

other than that I would get the Student Edition of MS Word. Pages isn't so much a word processor as it is a desktop publishing / layout app.

May 25, 2006 9:03 PM in response to gniss39

NeoOffice is free, and is completely compatible with Microsoft Office. I've exchanged lots of documents both directions with MS-Office users who use Windows. Never had a single problem.

Their getting ready to release an Intel Mac version here very soon.

It's absolutely the best office / word processing program I've used in a long time. And, it's free.

Don't let it's price fool you, it is the best one out there (at least in my opinion).

http://www.neooffice.org/

May 26, 2006 7:36 AM in response to Thom F.

Thom,

AW is still for sale in the Apple Store (online) and probably in Apple's retail stores as well as in other re-seller's stores. However it is a PPC app and will run on an Intel Mac under Rosetta. As Apple hasn't developed or updated AW for a couple of years now, I don't expect a Universal version of it.

You can check in the AW forums to see how it's still running.

I don't know about moving it to a new Mac with Migration Assistant, as I'm still waiting for my new BlackBook. I will give it a shot myself as I have many files in AW format.

May 26, 2006 8:52 AM in response to mymacluvsme

Appleworks runs fine on intel macs; according the AWUG tests, it's even faster than on a G5. However, given that you need to buy it for a new computer (your license is for only one computer at a time, so unless you remove it from your old computer it's not strictly legal to just copy the appleworks application folder over, although that works), and the fact that it is obviously EOLed by Apple, I'd start looking for new alternatives, alas.

Cheap but good word processor for mac?

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