Confused about word processing on macs - do i need to buy extra software?

Hi, am about to buy a new macbook (first mac- am switching over) but am very confused about the word processing facilities which come with. do i need to buy microsoft office for mac to use word etc or can i use something similar which comes with OS X (is it text edit?)? is this compatible with a word environment at work? thanks!
macbook   Mac OS X (10.4.7)  

I've personally always hated Microsoft Word, but have it because that's the "standard," and at the time I bought my MacBook, the Intel Mac version of NeoOffice (which is free) wasn't out yet. NeoOffice is now out for Intel-based Macs, and it seems to be every bit as powerful as Microsoft Office (and quite compatible).
However, for most things I do, I've found I actually like Pages the best. It's very easy to use, though if you do any special things in word processing it might not meet all your needs. It will open Word documents, and if you have to send something as a Word document, you can export it in Word format.
I would recommend that you try out the Pages trial that came with your Mac, and download NeoOffice for free. Try them both - go with what you like and what works best for you. I use Pages the most, NeoOffice for things Pages won't do, and Word if I'm forced to. (And I always have my old WordPerfect that I've used for years that I can run in Windows.)

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