Microsoft Office/LibreOffice

Mouse

Mouse

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Ok, my laptop is dying. I need my laptop for work as I mostly work from home, as well as for writing. I've been given a John Lewis voucher from work for Christmas so I can put this towards a laptop. (Thinking of this one: Buy Lenovo YOGA 300-11IBR Laptop, Intel Celeron, 4GB RAM, 64GB EMMC, 11.6" Touch Screen, Snow White | John Lewis Any good? It's literally the cheapest 64gb one on there).

These things don't come with Office now, which is infuriating because not everybody is loaded! So... as I can't afford Microsoft Office, I'd like to know if anybody has any experience with LibreOffice? Is it any good? Will I still be able to work on edits from my publishers with it? (Publishers use 'track changes') and will I still be able to work on Excel spreadsheets from my day job?

Help!
 
Both LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice are both excellent alternatives to Microsoft Office, and are fully compatible.

Because they're open source they're both free, along with any subsequent updates. (I currently use Open Office 4.1.4, and have never had any issues using Excel spreadsheets with the exception of one or two complex ones that use VBA macros)

One word about your choice of laptop. The Intel Celeron isn't the fastest processor in the world, and you may struggle with only 4Gb of RAM onboard, especially when you've got a number of spreadsheets open along with any email and internet browsers running concurrently; the keyboard and monitor are budget quality too.

That said, it does what you want it to do for general activity; but expect slow performance when you have several applications open.
 
I find Libreoffice much poorer than Microsoft and a right pain to transfer between computers on libre and those on office (but fine on a computer with both).

My kid's school allows us 5 computers on the full Microsoft office for homeworks. I've told her she can never leave - I was so relieved to get Office's full functionality back.
 
I use LibreOffice 5 (5.2.0.4) and I'm happy with it. As HanaBi says, there are (or were) some problems with some of the more advanced macro/scripting functionality (which I don't use) but, otherwise, you shouldn't have any problems and, indeed, you can't beat the price. Download it and try it. If it works for you, you're set. If it doesn't, you haven't lost anything aside from a little time.

Oh, yeah, to address a specific point, LO does have the "track changes" feature.

(Agree about the specs/price on the laptop, too - I wouldn't be eager to get that, myself. Gotta be a better deal somewhere.)
 
Since i am also laptop buying (with a bit of a budget since it's for work-work primarily) what should I be looking for? (I'm hoping this isn't a thread hijack but will help Mouse, too). I work mainly on word and spreadsheets but also complete online reports and need multiple windows open.
 
I adore LibreOffice. It is compatible, but does sometimes mess up the formatting between it and MS Office. You need to double check it if you open it later in MS Office.

Other than that, I prefer it to MS O, as it's cleaner, and set out like the old version, say Office 95/97.
It opens spreadsheets but, again, the tracking and formatting can sometimes be a bit off between programs. It's not always as friendly towards Excel as it is towards Word, in my experience, but generally hasn't been too bad.

I use a Lenovo Miix for out-and-about work (John Lewis sell a similar one). It's a tablet-laptop hybrid, where the screen detaches to become a tablet. Not the most powerful, but it handles Libre easily. As a 'tablet', it was also able to download MS Office (mobile) free of charge* (Word mobile, Excel Mobile, Powerpoint mobile), which allows me to check and edit on a cut-down version, so that I can make any changes at the last minute. Or read manuscripts on. ;)

Not suggesting you get one, as the Miix is very basic, but used as an example of options in terms of MS Office and LibreOffice.
Re specs, if you can stretch a little bit more, Medion (the budget arm of Lenovo, but always had good experiences with them) sell better-spec computers for not much more, and do free shipping.

*Not sure how long that luxury will last.
 
I've used libre and I find that working on its own its great, the issues come when you have to cross things over from that to office and then back again. Most things work, some don't, some require jumping through hoops. Thus if you're regularly having to transfer stuff between two different software packages then you might find yourself going slightly nuts as you try to get it right; and never trusting the conversion.

For work as you work from home have you considered asking if work can provide you with access to a licence for office so that you can continue to work at home? That might be one viable avenue to allow you to continue performing and working at your best whilst using the correct compatible software.
 
Also I just saw a random online add - Office is something like £10 a month at present. If its for work and writing that would seem to me to be a justifiable expense. Of course I appreciate that you might be living close enough to the line that £10 a month is a big ask at present for you.
 
I tried to move over to OpenOffice, and set it up for the kids, too. But it always felt basic in comparison to Word and the kids hated it - I ended up installing an old licence for Word for them.

I would also echo Hannbi's concern about specs - I was recently looking for a Windows laptop for my mother-in-law, and my finding was that they only really got decent above £300.
 
I don't work for Google but if you don't need to use Microsoft software you can buy a Chrome laptop at a very reasonable price. The downside is that, a little like Apple products default to Safari and Mac programs, you can only access the internet using Chrome, and you have to use Google Drive, Google Sheets, Docs and Slides. However, they are all compatible with the best-selling versions of those applications. I can't answer any of the questions regarding publishers though.

Another thought - I'm still using a version of Word that I bought outright, rather than this Office 365 rent-each-year business. There is little difference really between a doc file and a docx file and they are generally compatible, in fact, I really miss some functions of the much older versions of Word, such as the one that would abridge work down to a specific word count. Anyhow, can you not pick up an older copy of Word from somewhere like a charity shop?

Edit: sorry, just realised Brian already made that last suggestion. I'm sure you must have an old version of Word with spare licenses somewhere in the bottom of a drawer.
 
Just to answer a question, I have always had track changes work fine when I open in libre. But I also dislike them immensely, because I am a bit old fashioned and find a hard copy bleeding red ink to be much better.
 
The following site is one of my hardware bibles, and I find it immensely helpful when recommending personal kit for clients.

The following link gives a good all-round opinion of your proposed laptop. The general consensus being is that it is fine as a secondary machine for doing the basics while on the train, plane or lounging on the sofa; but start loading up memory/processor-hungry apps and it will go on a go-slow: It will get you there... eventually!


Lenovo Yoga 300: An inexpensive hybrid laptop-tablet which skimps on screen quality
 
Thank you, everyone, very helpful.

I should've specified, sorry, but I can only buy it from John Lewis. I have a £150 voucher and I cannot afford to buy a laptop anywhere else without that helping me!

@Abernovo the one you've linked to is out of stock! :cry:

Can anybody recommend a decent (or semi-decent!) one from John Lewis that's preferably under £300? This might be impossible.

Then I'll go for the LibreOffice, I think.
 
Mouse said:
Can anybody recommend a decent (or semi-decent!) one from John Lewis that's preferably under £300? This might be impossible.
Click to expand...
The one you found is probably it, under £300. If you can go slightly over that range there is this. Still 4GB memory, but it is an i3 processor, which is better. Hard Disk Drive, instead of SSD, which makes it heavier. But, interim measures, until you can afford more.
 
Why are they all so expensive? :cry: And they never last very long, anyway! Grr. Thanks, Aber.
 
Overread said:
For work as you work from home have you considered asking if work can provide you with access to a licence for office so that you can continue to work at home? That might be one viable avenue to allow you to continue performing and working at your best whilst using the correct compatible software.
Click to expand...

I've just read this again. This is a good idea, @Overread, thanks! They won't buy a laptop for me as it's in my contract that I need to provide my own, but I might be able to wangle the software.
 
Mouse said:
Thank you, everyone, very helpful.

I should've specified, sorry, but I can only buy it from John Lewis. I have a £150 voucher and I cannot afford to buy a laptop anywhere else without that helping me!

@Abernovo the one you've linked to is out of stock! :cry:

Can anybody recommend a decent (or semi-decent!) one from John Lewis that's preferably under £300? This might be impossible.

Then I'll go for the LibreOffice, I think.
Click to expand...

It's a great shame you can't stretch your budget to £350 because this is pretty decent both review-wise and spec-wise. It has the all important 8Gb of RAM, a duel Intel processor, plenty of USB2.0 and 3.0 ports, a 1TB hard drive and a 15.6 inch screen; windows 10 64bit (but no CD/DVD rom drive, and doesn't have a touchscreen)

Buy HP Laptop, Intel Celeron, 8GB RAM, 1TB, 15.6" | John Lewis

Or if you can't stretch to that there's this dedicated Chromebook at £299 (more of a notebook than laptop, hence its smaller screen size and weight); but again it only has 4Gb of memory, which should be sufficient since it is not running Windows as an OS; and you can install LibreOffice onto a Google Chrome OS

Buy ASUS Chromebook Flip C101PA, 4GB RAM, 16GB eMMC Flash, 10.1" Touch Screen, Silver | John Lewis
 
Just a thought, does it have to be a laptop? Generally speaking you get more for your money with a desktop; though I can understand its easier to keep data on a single machine if you're taking it into work, esp if work doesn't have work stations for you to work on (or only has a limited number and thus its not ideal to have to rely on them day to day).
 
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