Low End Mac Reader Specials
TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com
Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how
to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full
Tilt Poker Mac.
Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.
Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.
Mac2Windows
Microsoft Office 2004 for Macs Does More than Just Match the Windows Version
- 2004.07.28 - Tip Jar
Popularity: 
Though we may grumble about Microsoft, most Mac users have a copy of Microsoft Office on hand, using Word, Excel, and PowerPoint - just like most their Windows counterparts.
A decade ago, Microsoft tried to make Office look and feel the same on both platforms. The result, Office 4.2, was a pretty good Windows version, but the Mac version was slow and bloated. Since then, while letting Mac and Windows users share their work, Microsoft has set its Macintosh Business Unit free.
Recent versions of Office for Windows have included new features primarily of interest to corporate IT departments. While the previous Mac version did little besides make the previous Mac Office 2001 work under Apple's OS X operating system, the newly released Mac-only Office 2004 (US$399, US$239 upgrade) adds features aimed squarely at individual users. Many of those features are not available in any Windows version.
Entourage, like Outlook in the Windows version, started life as an email and calendar module. The new Entourage gains better spam filtering, archiving of email and schedules, and support for Microsoft Exchange servers. A new Entourage feature, Project Center, can be accessed from the other Office modules, allowing users to build projects, complete with deadlines and assigned tasks, linking relevant notes, documents, email, and contacts. Projects can be shared with other Mac users of Office 2004, aiding collaboration.
While word processor users haven't seen many big new features since real-time spell checking, Word 2004 in the new Office suite gets a new notebook view, mimicking a lined page. Aiming at making it easy to type in notes and organize an outline, it features a simplified toolbar and an easy way to record audio clips and link them to a Word document.
The new Excel gains a useful Page Layout view, making it possible to work with a spreadsheet while seeing how it will look on the printed page.
PowerPoint, under pressure to compete with Apple's Keynote presentation application, gains a set of new templates and animations. Perhaps more useful will be the new presenter tools, allowing presenters to view speakers' notes and to reorganize slides on the fly while the audience only sees the presentation.
Also handy are compatibility reports, noting whether saved documents will appear properly to users running a range of both Mac and Windows office versions.
Office 2004 isn't too proud to borrow good ideas that originated in the Windows version. For example, like its Windows cousin, Word for Macs now checks how to format pasted-in text, offering to preserve the original formatting or to make it match the destination. And it finally breaks with the previous version's refusal to save long file names. Entourage gains a three-column view similar to Outlook 2003.
Both the Windows and Mac versions of Office come in several different editions. On the Windows side, users of the higher-priced Professional package get Microsoft's Access database; small business version users get a copy of the Publisher page design program. There are no Macintosh versions of either program; instead Mac Office 2004 Pro (US$499) will be bundled with Virtual PC 7.0, allowing Mac users to load a Windows operating system and applications and run them in a window on their Mac.
Office Professional 2004 has not yet been released, as Microsoft works on making Virtual PC compatible with Apple's new G5 Power Macs and awaits the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2. Office 2004 also lacks the SharePoint collaboration tools built into recent Windows versions, which is used in some large organizations.
As with the Windows version, the most affordable Mac Office 2004 version is the Student/Teacher edition (about US$149). This version can be legally purchased by anyone with a student or teacher in the family and can be installed onto up to three home computers. If you're comfortable with a 185 MB download, there's a 30-day free Test Drive version available.
While lacking some corporate must-have features, Office 2004 sets a new standard for elegance and ease of use for productivity software for individual users.
Only on a Mac? Pity! 
Alan Zisman is Mac-using teacher and technology writer based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Many of his articles are available on his website, www.zisman.ca. If you find Alan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
Recent Columns by Alan Zisman
- QuickTime X in Snow Leopard Imports, Trims, and Publishes Video Quickly and Easily, 11.04. The long, slow process of importing video into iMovie to edit it, then render it to another format, is history as QuickTime X does that much more quickly.
- Another Hard Drive Disaster Ends Happily (Thanks to Time Machine), 10.29. This time it was the MacBook's drive that failed. Thanks to automated Time Machine backup, recovery was easy, although far from fast.
- Preview in Snow Leopard Supports Scanners and Screen Shots, 10.19. The newest version of Preview can even use a remote scanner, creates compact PDFs, and includes three screen capture options.
- Creative's Vado Pocket Camcorders Now Work with Macs, 09.16. Until now, Creative's Vado camcorders didn't play nice with Macs. With the release of Vado Central for Mac, that has finally changed.
- More in the Mac 2 Windows index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: Mac mini Core Solo, Feb. 2006 - The only Mac to use a Core Solo CPU, this model ran at 1.5 GHz, has integrated graphics, and includes a Combo drive
- Group of the Day: SuperMacs is for those using Umax SuperMac clones.
- November 24 in LEM history: 98: Microsoft's heavy hand - 00: Looking at the iMac - 04: The best Mac for the holidays - Picking the right replacement for a dead mouse - Better battery for 15" AlBook
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Why Spaces is My Favorite Leopard (and Snow Leopard) Feature, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.23. Spaces, a feature introduced with OS X 10.5, is like having several monitors on your Mac without the cost and space of using multiple displays.
- i5 iMac Benchmarked, Mac mini 'Shouldn't Be Overlooked', Twitter Client for Classic Mac OS, and More, Mac News Review, 11.20. Also why Apple leaves the low end to others, 10.6.2 fixes video playback problem in 27" iMac, 3D Leopard and Snow Leopard performance, and more.
- Apple's Tablet an End Run Beyond Netbooks, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 11.20. Whatever Apple has planned will leverage existing technologies while going beyond what its competitors can offer.
- Apple #4 in Reliability, Apple Tablet a Gadget for All?, HP's i7 Notebook Outdoes Mac Rivals, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.20. Also Flash 10.1 improves video on Hackintosh netbooks, thin-and-light notebooks impress, Windows XP finally on the way out, and more.
- NASA Chemical Sensor for iPhone, Smartphone Death Match, iPhone Earrings, and More, Ian R Campbell, 11.20. Also mobile phone dangers, new apps, GPS solution for iPod touch, new iPod and iPhone cases, and more.
- Replacing the Hard Drive in a Clamshell iBook, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 11.19. Yes, it is one of the most difficult Apple notebooks to disassemble and reassemble, but a 10 GB hard drive just will not do.
- IBM Model F: A Great Old Keyboard with an Outdated Layout, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 11.19. Although it used a different technology than the revered IBM Model M keyboard, the Model F was a great keyboard in its own right.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best G4 iMac Deals, 11.24. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $150; 800 MHz Combo, $229; 1 GHz, $289; 17" 1.25 GHz, $200; 20" 1.25 GHz, $509.
- Best PowerBook G3 Deals, 11.24. Used 233 MHz WallStreet, $75; 266 MHz, $160; 400 MHz Lombard, $199; 400 MHz Pismo, $289; 500 MHz, $350.
- Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.24. Used from $899; refurb from $1,099; new 1.6 GHz/120 HD, $1,150 after rebate; 1.8/64 SSD, $1,150 a/r; 1.86/128 SSD, $1,350 a/r; 2.13/128 SSD, $1,694 a/r.
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.23. Used 867 MHz SuperDrive, $348; 1 GHz Combo, $379; SD, $519; 1.33 GHz, $529; 1.5 GHz Combo, $549; SuperDrive, $609.
- Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.23. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 4-core. $1,919; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.93 8-core, $4,999; new 2.26 8-core, $2,290.
- Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, 11.23. Used 802.11g AirPort Extreme, $49; 500 GB Time Capsule, $150; new, $190; 1 TB dual-band, $280; 2 TB, $469; 802.11n AirPort Extreme, $170.
- Best eMac Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz Combo, $100; SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 GHz Combo, $119; SD, $319; 1.42 GHz Combo, $289; SD, $498.
- Best Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac Box Set Deals, 11.18. "Snow Leopard", single user, $25; 5 users, $45; Mac Box Set, single user, $139; 5 users, $180; Server, $414. Shipping included.
- Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
- More deals in our archive.
