What microsoft software should I get on my laptop?

Question

I'm looking to buy a Dell Inspiron and when you order it there's loads of different options and add-ons you can have, and I want to know which software to get.

I am a student and I want software that will be compatible with that on the computers at my university (I don't know what programmes they have but I imagine they'll have Word and Excel and stuff).

Basically I don't want to do a load of work at a computer at uni and then find that I can't open the file on my laptop.

The options for software are:

Microsoft Works 9.0

Microsoft Works Plus 2008 - Words 2003 and Works 9.0

Microsoft Office 2007 Basic - Word, Excel and Outlook

Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student - Word, Excel, OneNote, Powerpoint

I don't even know what OneNote is....

Works is free but the Office home and student costs £60. Is it worth paying the extra to get programmes I'm familiar with and that work everywhere or should I just stick to the basic Works?

Any advice would be much appreciated as I don't know much about software at all.

Thanks :)

Answer 1

there are free software packages you can download all better than paying the high price for MS Ofice 2007

Open Office 2 has ALL  the same features and more besides.and is highly compatible with all MS Office versions, it will read and write in MS office format..

you can download professional template for any type of documents free also

Any other software you need message me and I will tell you where to download it from for free.... this is NOT pirated software  

for Open Office 2 click on the link below and download the one for windows

Answer 2

if cost is not too big of a problem, then get the office 2007 (student).

it maybe very usful for future work. and office 2007 is very good with the presentation (e.g. very good graphs for excel, good preinstalled template).

hope this helps.

Answer 3

OneNote is a program for well... taking notes.  It divdes documents in a heiarchy of categories, which are seperated by tabs.  You can mark notes to easily retrieve them, and you can search for them.

In Vista it will also integrate your "notebooks" into the indexing, allowing notes to come up when you search.

That's the only difference between 2007 Basic and Home and Student.

Outlook sucks. Unless you're using Windows Mobile on a device there's no real good reason to pick it over Thunderbird.  

As the other people answered, go for 2007 Home and Student.  

Since you are a student, you pretty much need Windows and Office 2007.

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open office doesn't support the new formats (docx, pptx, etc), so unless you plan on continually asking your teachers to reformat the files they send out, its going to be a head ache for you.

The work around is getting a "Word Viewer" then copying from there to works / open office.

But, let's face it, openoffice is about the range of Works, so there's no real reason to use it if you have Windows.

Answer 4

I wouldn't bother with any of them as there are open source programs available online for free that do the same if not more.

For instance http://www.openoffice.org/ will do what office and word can and will read microsoft office and word documents with no trouble.

Hope this helps and try googling open source alternatives in the future.

Answer 5

Spend the extra cash and get the Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student, it's better to be too prepared than not prepared enough. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Answer 6

Keep in mind that you can download free viewers for files if you don't have something that opens them.  Eg. Microsoft Word Viewer lets you see the file, but not edit it.

I would recommend getting word and excel.  OneNote could also be useful if you intend on using your laptop in class for notes.  It's basically like having virtual paper that you can draw on with the mouse, type on with the keyboard, or put images on.  Each 'notepad' is stored in your 'notebook' for that class.

I don't use outlook.  Free email seems much easier (eg. gmail, hotmail).

I'm not familiar with works/student/home, if they offer Microsoft word and excel, then you have all you need.  You can always download the viewers if you run into an odd file.

Answer 7

Most educational institutions offer the full Microsoft Office suite at considerable discount to registered students; you should contact your university to find out more. Some discounts are truly astonishing! Microsoft Works is a very basic tool and should not be used to present professional documents IMHO; Home and Student edition can be used on up to three pcs but will not be eligible for major upgrades; it doesn't include Outlook (email client) which is fine if you only use web email (gmail,yahoo etc) or prefer Thunderbird (free). It looks like a decent price for this option since you have Word, Excel and Powerpoint; OneNote

(http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/onenot... is an advanced note taking application - you can create a series of notebooks for projects, term essays, to do lists etc - you can even add audio comments to OneNote and it is all searchable via windows search - a very handy feature that will save you a lot of hassle trying to find an exact quote or phrase you wrote months ago.

Of course, you could use Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org/) which is free but if you are familiar with Word, Excel, Powerpoint and can live without Outlook, then the Home and Student option is excellent value for money.