Mac / PC Compatibility

[razor]

I've always used PCs, but was impressed by a G4 powerbook that I saw recently.

I use Word (in Office XP) alot on the PC - if I buy a Mac Powerbook and buy the latest edition of Office for the Mac, will the conversion of my PC-created docs for use on the Mac affect their formatting? Likewise, will docs created on the Mac (in Word) have their formatting altered if I send them to recipients who have PCs? I know these are probably very basic questions, but I don't think that I have ever come across docs from a Mac user.

I create lots of documents in Word which have bullets and numbered paragraphs - I'm worried about them being messed up if I switch between machines, which would be a bit embarrassing as most of the documents are for work.

Sorry for asking such a basic question, but I would appreciate a pointer. Thanks.

[Andy M]

You'll be fine - I've never had any issues

Once you've used the Mac version you'll notice that it's actually better than the Windows version...

[Paul 2000]

One problem you may encounter when switching a Word file across Mac/PC & PC/Mac is with fonts. If you create a job in a font that most users don't have, for example Helvetica Neue, the file will default to any old font when you open the file on the other machine. If you stick to 'generic fonts' such as Arial and Times these are normally 'system fonts' on both platforms, so files should retain their formatting and display and output correctly.
Mind you the same problem would occur if you create a file in a unique font and transfer the file PC to PC or Mac to Mac, Word will default to another font if the font is not available on that machine and cock up the formatting.
Sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know.

>> Edited by Paul 2000 on Wednesday 5th May 17:51

[razor]

Thanks for responses. Just to be sure, I may well test the powerbook by taking one of my PC docs along to an Apple store.

I was really impressed by the Mac OS, so I hope that there aren't any issues on compatibility.

[Paul 2000]

razor said:

Thanks for responses. Just to be sure, I may well test the powerbook by taking one of my PC docs along to an Apple store. I was really impressed by the Mac OS, so I hope that there aren't any issues on compatibility.

In my experience Macs seem to be much happier to 'talk' to PCs than PCs are talking to Macs. You're right about the OS - OSX is superb - simple to use (handy for me ), rock solid and never crashes.

[HiRich]

The document formats for Office products have been the same on both Mac and PC for several generations. I'm still running Office 98 for Mac and can open and view much later versions. Glitches are very rare indeed (and related to age rather than platform).

Though I've never actually used it, the Preferences pane (to set for all documents) and the Save options pane (for a single document) offers an "Embed Truetype fonts" option, which might solve the problem if you really must use special fonts.

If you're a 'power' user, one small issue: the Quartz graphics base of OSX allows far better graphics, particularly transparency on charts (very effective on that 3D tape-style graph with several threads). PCs and older Macs will still show the graph, but lose the transparency.

A final point. Office 2004 For Mac is due very soon. If you need to buy now, make sure you get the "Upgrade For The Price Of A Stamp" offer (currently at the Apple Store, and presumably on offer to all Mac resellers) and make sure you hve the claim form and any relevant stamps. This is a major upgrade, so you really don't want to waste £400-odd.

[razor]

Excellent. Thanks for all your help.

One last question: is the G5 likely to feature in the Powerbooks in the near future?

[hoganscrogan]

No G5 for a long while, heat and power issues will prevent it.

G4 powerbooks have just been updated - 1.5ghz 15" is a nice buy [backlit keyboard is nice]

PS I'm still using my 4 year old Ti powerbook [400mhz] with the latest OSX and apps and it's more than fast enough.