I will be getting a new MBP when the Haswell refresh occurs, and Im looking for input on which office suite to install.
I have not used iWork before, nor have I tried LibreOffice, so I am seeking advice. The essence of my question boils down to, Should I purchase iWork or not?
My current computer, a 2007 MBP, has MS Office 2008, but I do not plan to install that on my new machine (nor will I spring for a newer version of the same.) I have used NeoOffice in the past, which worked okay but was slow and clunky.
I use Excel rather heavily for data analysis, and frequently make charts and graphs. A good portion of the time I find Excel does not have all the features I would like, especially for chart customization.
I use Word for page-layout, and I sometimes make rather involved documents with multiple sections with different layouts and insets, to the point that Word feels rather unwieldy but does get the job done.
And I use PowerPoint mostly as a vector-drawing program, to create diagrams, flowcharts, and illustration. There are times when PowerPoint does not make it easyor even possibleto make something look exactly how I want it to. For image editing I use GIMP and Pixelmator, but for drawing I have been using PowerPoint.
So, given that I require the ability to customize layout and design of charts, pages, and illustrations, while at the same time I highly value a simple workflow and ease-of-use, and given that I take numerical spreadsheets quite seriously, does it sound like iWork will provide a worthwhile improvement to me, or will I find LibreOffice superior?
I have not used iWork before, nor have I tried LibreOffice, so I am seeking advice. The essence of my question boils down to, Should I purchase iWork or not?
My current computer, a 2007 MBP, has MS Office 2008, but I do not plan to install that on my new machine (nor will I spring for a newer version of the same.) I have used NeoOffice in the past, which worked okay but was slow and clunky.
I use Excel rather heavily for data analysis, and frequently make charts and graphs. A good portion of the time I find Excel does not have all the features I would like, especially for chart customization.
I use Word for page-layout, and I sometimes make rather involved documents with multiple sections with different layouts and insets, to the point that Word feels rather unwieldy but does get the job done.
And I use PowerPoint mostly as a vector-drawing program, to create diagrams, flowcharts, and illustration. There are times when PowerPoint does not make it easyor even possibleto make something look exactly how I want it to. For image editing I use GIMP and Pixelmator, but for drawing I have been using PowerPoint.
So, given that I require the ability to customize layout and design of charts, pages, and illustrations, while at the same time I highly value a simple workflow and ease-of-use, and given that I take numerical spreadsheets quite seriously, does it sound like iWork will provide a worthwhile improvement to me, or will I find LibreOffice superior?