Keynote System Requirements

Make sure you are aware of the system requirements for Keynote and the rest of the iWork programs before you buy a retail box. That's one of the reasons why you should download a trial version of the product.

The current version, Keynote 08 (or Keynote 4) runs on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and 10.5 Leopard only (and later versions of OS X). And if you are running an earlier version of OS X, you'll have to find an earlier version of Keynote and iWork as well (or upgrade your OS X version).

You can find older versions of Keynote and OS X on auction sites like eBay but be aware that the newest version of Keynote always has more features. Also, you might not be able to open Keynote presentations created in the new version inside older versions of Keynote, although the opposite is not true.

Labels: about, apple, buy, iwork, keynote, system requirements, trial

Buying iWork (and Keynote)

You can buy a copy of iWork (and Keynote) as a retail boxed product on CD at any of the Apple stores or resellers. You can also buy the same boxed product from the Apple online store at the Apple web site. There are different Apple stores on Apple's various international sites.

In addition, you can buy an electronic download version of iWork from the Apple web site.

Do remember that there are essentially two versions of iWork available:

The Single User pack can be installed on one system.
The Family Pack allows you to install on up to 5 systems in your household.

The Family Pack costs just a little bit more than the Single User pack -- so it makes a lot of sense to get that version even if you just need to install iWork on 2 systems. As you can see the pricing in Figure 1, a single user pack as of today costs $79, whereas a family pack costs $99.

Figure 1: iWork Purchase Options

No wonder everyone wants to buy the Family Pack!

Labels: about, apple, buy, iwork, keynote