<p>D just purchased a new MacBook Pro. She needs to now buy Microsoft Office. Looks like the two options are student subscription to Microsoft 365 or Microsoft office 2011. Preferences?</p>
<p>The latest office product is 2013. </p>
<p>If all she needs are the editors, I think either would work and 365 would be cheaper. If she wants to use outlook for email, get office. Make sure to pay attention to how many PCs the license is for and how long. </p>
<p>Google docs is making some inroads in education as well, and its free. </p>
<p>Check to see if the college she’s attending sells office at a substantial discount or even provides it free for the duration of her undergrad career. </p>
<p>Personally, I am not a fan of subscribing to software like Microsoft 365. However, you/your D may feel differently. </p>
<p>Why does she “need” to buy MS Office? Google Docs is free, and her MacBook Pro came with Mail, Pages, etc. Is her school requiring Office for some reason?</p>
<p>If she uses Google Docs, make sure she really, really learns how it works. Some of my students send me links to essays that I have no way to copy or download. They should send me an attachment, but they don’t know the difference.</p>
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Yes! Most important - see if it’s already offered to her. </p>
<p>She needs word and excel. Her school doesn’t provide it but sell it at a discount.
She could probably use something else but I know this kid and it is easier to go with something she already knows how to use. </p>
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Macs do not come with Pages, Numbets, etc just like how PCs do not come with Microsoft Office. </p>
<p>@mom60 I’d say to get the Microsoft Office. It’s what’s she’s familiar with. It’s offered to her at a discount (hopefully a nice one!). </p>
<p>Microsoft is offering college students a 4-year subscription to Office 365 for $79.99.
<a href=“http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Office-365-University/productID.275549300”>http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Office-365-University/productID.275549300</a>
Normally I prefer to own software, but this looks like a good deal for the subscription. It is good for 2 devices, including both PC’s and Macs, as well as tablets.</p>
<p>I have office 365 and I am very, very happy with the new subscription / cloud backup model. </p>
<p>When you subscribe, you do get the complete software to download and install locally – so you can continue to work even if you don’t have an in internet connection. </p>
<p>I think $79.99 for a 4 year subscription is a steal. Your daughter will be lucky if her new MacBook Pro is still functioning well in 4 years – Macs are good computers, but things happen. Computers get dropped, liquids get spilled on keyboards, etc. But the subscription is good for 2 devices – so it means that she can install the software on a 2nd device like a tablet-- and if something happens to her primary computer she will be able to install the software on the replacement computer. </p>
<p>I like the fact that the software continually updates itself - so if Microsoft pushes out a new feature then subscribers automatically get that right away. </p>
<p>One extra benefit I REALLY like – the regular Office 365 comes with 20 gigs of cloud storage. (I don’t know about the student version). I configured my computer and office settings so all my work is saved to the cloud. Then I discovered that cloud saves all previous versions of a document. So recently I accidentally over-wrote everything in a file that was important. At first I started to get that queasy, I just lost everything feeling … and then I thought – maybe I can open up onedrive and see if it saved what was there before. Sure enough, the old file was online and all was rescued… </p>
<p>I personally find that the Office cloud integration is a lot easier to work with than Google docs. Others may have a different viewpoint – but it’s just nice to have that backup. (Just a caution: it is something that the user needs to set up or opt for - I don’t remember which – but it’s also possible NOT to have anything backed up so that is something to be alert to when the program is first installed)…</p>
<p>Free word processing and spreadsheet software that can read and write Microsoft documents can be found at either of these locations:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.libreoffice.org/”>Home | LibreOffice - Free Office Suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft;
<a href=“Apache OpenOffice - Downloads”>http://openoffice.apache.org/downloads.html</a></p>
<p>An article about the similarities and differences between the two is at <a href=“http://www.howtogeek.com/187663/openoffice-vs.-libreoffice-whats-the-difference-and-which-should-you-use/”>http://www.howtogeek.com/187663/openoffice-vs.-libreoffice-whats-the-difference-and-which-should-you-use/</a> .</p>
<p>Remember to back up any important documents stored on the computer.</p>
<p>The Apple software is free, but you do need to download it.
My D never bought anything Microsoft & she just graduated in a STEM field in June.
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<p>^^Thanks, emeraldkity4. I was pretty darn sure the MacBook we got our D for HS graduation in June has those apps! </p>
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Does her school provide a better deal than this? $80 is pretty steep considering the college discounts I’ve seen. </p>
<p>My D uses Open Office on her Mac. It has an open doc format but can open, edit and save Office docs. FREE :)</p>
<p>$80 for 4 years is a great deal. As mom60 said, the notebook will be junked in 4 years. Compared to glitchy Google docs, MSFT did a great job with their Office365. OneDrive works like a charm. </p>
<p>For some people, a full blown version of Excel is a must. As far as I know, some Oracle plugins for Excel do not work on Macs (e.g, Chrystal Ball). </p>
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<p>All those aren’t issues inherent in computer hardware, but PEBKAC/ID-10T errors. It also seems much more prevalent among younger generations of college students and colleagues. </p>
<p>One probable factor for this difference was computers…especially notebook computers were much more expensive a decade or two ago and most parents/students were much more careful about avoiding such errors to avoid having to eat the much more high cost and/or incurring the justifiable wrath of parents/employers. </p>
<p>Incidentally, at my first office after college I’ve overheard employers sternly counsel/yell at employees in adjacently located departments for this very issue. </p>
<p>One such employee ended up being terminated partially for destroying several company computers due to his carelessness. And they were desktops…not laptops. While the same company had no problems lending me office computers to use off-site/home on company business, they would never do so for employees known for pebkac/ID-10T errors. </p>
<p>I personally have never liked working with Open Office – I always found it more difficult. Possibly it was because I simply didn’t have time to master a different interface. </p>
<p>Wherever my kids have worked, their workplaces have always used MS Word & Excel – so I think it’s simply valuable for them to be familiar with that software and interface. </p>
<p>@cobrat - it really isn’t always user stupidity when computers get damaged. College kids live in shared space in dorms, they carry their laptops around with them to classes, stowed in backpacks. There is a lot of room for accidents to happen that are entirely outside the kid’s control. Sometimes the computer is working just fine… but it’s been stolen. That’s one more reason I like the onedrive and subscription approach - if my computer were stolen, the first thing I would so would be to log into OneDrive (from another computer of course) and change my password. I’d have my software and files ready to install on a replacement machine.</p>
<p>With Google Drive, Microsoft is becoming more and more obsolete. Don’t waste your money on office. Google Drive is very, very simple and all of your stuff stays in one spot.</p>
<p>@WasatchWriter You can always go to file> Make a copy> </p>
<p>This way, you can have access to a copy of the document and do what you want to it :)</p>