Source: Computer Shopper – November 2000

Computer Shopper was a mammoth magazine. For a computer builder it was like the ultimate Christmas catalog. There were hundreds of pages of ads from a multitude of vendors with a seemingly unlimited variety of parts and pre-built systems. While sometimes overlooked, it also had great articles too. When I say this magazine was mammoth, I mean that I believe at times it topped 1,000 pages. Not sure on the exact peak. The largest I’ve managed to find so far tops out at about 950 pages but there aren’t that many in the wild or online so I only have a relative handful of issues to compare to.

The November 2000 issue was actually from a time long past its peak. I would say the popularity of this magazine (along with its size) topped out in the early 1990s sometime. Like most magazines, it was really the internet that killed it but it hit Computer Shopper particularly hard. The November 2000 issue has “only” 336 pages and includes:

Features

• Top 100 Products of 2000 – The top products in a variety of categories though they aren’t listed in any particular order. For example, in the Best Desktop category the following 10 desktop systems are listed: ABS Performance Alpha, ABS Performance 3, Atlas Micro AS9800, Compaq Presario EZ2200, Dell Dimension 4100, HP e-Vectra P2024T, IBM NetVista X40i, Sony Vaio PCV-L640 Slimtop LCD Computer, Systemax PJM-A7 Excite PC and Systemax PJM-T733 Excite PC. Typical components include an 800 MHz Pentium III, 128 MB RAM, GeForce2 GTS video card and 40 GB Ultra ATA/100 hard drive. Other categories include notebooks and mobile products.

• Get Your Graphics Up to Speed – A look at some of the newest graphics cards and their technical features. Cards looked at here include the Creative Labs 3D Blaster Annihilator Pro, Guillemot’s Hercules 3D Prophet II MX, and Guillemot’s Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS among others. Chipsets include the GeForce 256, GeForce2 GTS, GeForce 2 MX, and the new GeForce2 Ultra.

• 10 Insightful Search Engines – Google was just one of many at the time. In addition we had AltaVista, Ask Jeeves, Excite, All The Web, Ixquick, Lycos, Northern Light, Oingo, and Yahoo among others. Not many of those are still around.

• Media Merger – Personalized TV is definitely here today but perhaps not in exactly the same way as was envisioned in 2000.

• Best Buys – A look at the best values in new technology. Featured here are the Systemax PJM-T733 Excite PC featuring a 733 MHz Pentium III, 128MB SDRAM, 20GB hard drive, and 10x DVD-ROM drive for $1,149. Also, the Sceptre Soundx 7300 featuring a 600 MHz Pentium II, 128MB RAM, 13.3-inch LCD for $2,298.

News

• Net Now – How the web is changing election coverage. The presidential election at the time featured George W. Bush and Al Gore.

• B2B Buzz – A new service that verifies your identity by calling you back; a new online service to facilitate returns of items ordered online; and more.

• Hot Gear – A look at new electronic gadgets include the PS2, a radio for listening to stations streamed online; the Intel Pocket PC camera (which is both a webcam and lo res point and shoot camera); the Motorola i550plus which functions as a cell phone, text pager, two-way radio and more for only $99; an SVGA projector for $2,999; and more.

Web Buyer

• Site Reviews for Online Shopping – Short reviews of tons of shopping web sites.

Business Buyer

• Net Gains via Broadband – While broadband had been around for at least a couple of years at this point, it was by no means universal. At the time, DSL offered speeds of 500Kbps to 1.2Mbps downstream and 144Kbps to 500Kbps upstream. Cable averaged between 1Mbps and 1.5Mbps downstream and 128Kbps to 500Kbps upstream.

• e-Services and Tools – A look at online liquidation auctions and sales.

• Linux for Business – An article on embedded Linux and how one day it might power phones with streaming media and allow access to e-mail outside of the desktop. It is expected that one day the growth of embedded Linux devices will outpace Palm OS.

Help & How To

• Reach Out and See Someone – How to set up videoconferencing using Microsoft NetMeeting and CUseeMe Pro.

• The Hard Edge – Micron to produce DDR SDRAM for AMD 760 chip set; Xerox/Tektronix Phaser 850 vs. HP 4500; lie detecting software; and more.

• Alfred Poor’s Computer Cures – Questions answered about AGP vs. PCI, printing Excel spreadsheets, determining the current user on a Windows 98 networked system, enabling thumbnail view in Windows 98; and more.

• Buying Advisor – Advice on buying an affordable CD-RW drive. Here the Iomega Zip CD External USB drive and HP CD-Writer Plus 8220e are recommended.

Reviews

• Desktops
  • Systemax PJM-T733 Excite PC – Best buy entry level system. Specs are included above in the “Best Buys” section.
  • Polywell 700DU – A desktop PC featuring a 700MHz AMD Duron, 128 MB SDRAM, 20.5 GB hard drive, 12x DVD-ROM drive, nVidia TNT2 M64 graphics card with 32MB SDRAM and more for $1,295.
  • Acer Veritron 7100-C533A – Featuring a 533 MHz Celeron, 64 MB SDRAM, 10 GB hard drive 40x CD-ROM drive for $999.

• Hardware
  • ATI Radeon 64MB DDR – A graphics card featuring the first Radeon graphics chip for $349.
  • Guillemot Hercules 3D Prophet II MX – Featuring the more budget minded GeForce2 MX graphics chip for $149.99
  • Plextor PlexWriter 12/10/32A – Plextor always made some of the best optical drives and this one was no exception.
  • Compaq iPaq Home Internet Appliance – Basically a really cheap underpowered computer that only cost $199…with a three year subscription to MSN for $21.95/month.
  • Mag Technology 770FD – A nice 17-inch CRT monitor for $269.
  • Lexmark Z12 Color Jetprinter – This cheap ($59.95) inkjet printer does not get a good review here.

• Mobile
  • Gateway Solo 1150CL – An entry level notebook featuring a 550 MHz Celeron, 64 MB SDRAM, 6 GB hard drive, and 24x CD-ROM Drive for $1,399.
  • Sceptre Soundx 7300 – This notebook features a 600 MHz Pentium III, 128 MB SDRAM, 6GB hard drive, 8x DVD-ROM drive, and ATI Rage Mobility-M1 graphics with 8 MB VRAM for $2,298.
  • Compaq Armada E500S – this notebookd features a 600 MHz Pentium III, 64 MB SDRAM, 5.8 GB hard drive, 24x CD-ROM drive, and ATI Rage Mobility-P graphics chip with 8MB of memory for $2,499.
  • Fujitsu LifeBook i-4177 – This notebook features a Celeron 500 MHz, 64 MB SDRAM, 6 GB hard drive, 8x DVD-ROM drive, and ATI Rage Mobility-P with 4 MB of memory for $1,499.
  • Sony CLIE – Sony’s PDA featuring Palm OS.
  • Tagram Mambo X P300 – A portable CD player that will also play MP3s from CD.

• Software
  • Readiris Pro 6.0 – Optical Character Recognition software.
  • Norton SystemWorks 2001 – Norton’s latest package of system utilities and anti-virus software.
  • Actioneer 3.5 Smart Portal – A search applet for your desktop.
  • Ontrack Internet Cleanup – Software for removing Internet tracking files. Personally, I think I could handle deleting cookies myself vs. paying $25 for software to do it.

• Web Services
  • FilePool – A service to store files to link to in e-mail vs. attaching them directly.
  • Octopus.com – From what I gather from the description, this was a sort of customizeable online bookmarks site.
  • Zaplet – Some sort of intermediary e-mail service that organizes conversations for you.

Games

• BreakNeck – An average arcade style racing game.

• Deus Ex – A role-playing/adventure game that was pretty heavily hyped back in the day.

• Earth 2150 – A sci-fi themed real-time strategy game.

• Ground Control – Another futuristic real-time strategy game.

Opinions

• Jack Blackford – The editor-in-chief opines on the supposedly paperless office, this time with an emphasis on e-books.

• John Dvorak – A look at the future of wearable display technology. In a practical sense, the only wearable displays that are really commonly in use today are smart watches. And of course VR.

• Jim O’Brien – A look at online discount travel services.

• Michael Slater – How Napster and the widespread illegal copying of music will for the music industry to change.

…and much more!