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Powerbook in PC Environment

post #1 of 4
2/2/06 at 2:38pm
Thread Starter 
Newbie - first post

I am in the market for a new laptop and had the opportunity to play with a Powerbook at my local Apple store the other day. I liked the interface and the 12 inch suits my portability needs.

I am a long time PC user who will use the powerbook networked through an antiquated Novell network without wireless at work. It will have to file share with Mircrosoft PC based Office and share a printer through a router. I've visited Novell's site and don't anticipate any problems - is there anything I am missing?

Regarding sharing Office files - do I need Office for Mac professional to accomplish this. I've read mixed reviews regarding how necessary virtual PC is which I understand is the only difference between standard and Pro. Are there any other recommended Office suite style software packages more unique to Mac that will open word, excel etc. files? Seems a shame to have to go back to buggy Microsoft....

Thanks in advance....

Henry
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post #2 of 4
2/2/06 at 5:27pm
Connecting to the network should be no problem at all. Printing to printers shared on other computers, however, might be, but if they're connected directly to the network they should work fine.

Office is the best thing to use to open Office files. Pages, part of iWork, will open Word files, but there isn't a spreadsheet programme available for iWork yet so you're screwed with Excel files.

Office on OS X is actually pretty good.
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post #3 of 4
2/8/06 at 2:18am
Also, you should look at a MacBook Pro rather than a PowerBook, for the simple reason that the PPC based Macs are going away. All future Mac software and all new versions of existing Mac software will be x86 coded.
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post #4 of 4
2/9/06 at 8:56pm
I have been using an Apple with MS Office in a PC based network and I have not had too many issues. The biggest issue that I have is Visio and the only workaround that I have been able to come up with is to run Visio via VPC. It is extreamly slow, due to the VPC issues. I know that there are other programs, ie. OmniGraffle, but they do not have the shapes that I need. Other issues include custom programs that are written for Microsoft OS and they also need to be run in the VPC.

But, good luck in you new adventure.
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