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  • PC World (May 2001)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: PC World – May 2001

    PC World was one of the main PC magazines throughout much of the 1980s, all of the 1990s, and into the 2000s. Like most magazines, especially computer related ones, this one died off as the Internet matured. The May 2001 issue includes:

    Top of the News

    • Notebooks Reach 1 Gigahertz – A look at some of the first laptops on the market to feature a 1 GHz processor. Thse include the Toshiba Tecra 8200, Dell Inspiron 8000, Gateway Solo 9500, and Hewlett Packard OmniBook 6000. They all feature 128MB of RAM and hard drives in the 32GB range. Prices range from around $3000 to around $4500. I wouldn’t buy a laptop until prices came down significantly in the Pentium M era, however, I was a fan of Gateway so the Solo may have been my choice here. However, the Dell would have tempted me as it offers a little more bang for the buck.
    • Record More, Pay Less – Less is relative here. Recordable DVD drives were still relatively new. The newly released and “cheap” Pioneer DVR-A03 would only set you back $1000 and discs were $10 each.
    • Great Xpectations: Next Windows – A preview of Windows XP. The version examined here is Beta version 2. While Windows 2000 and Windows ME were being put on new computers, most people were using Windows 98SE at this time.
    • A Lovelier Linux – A look at Linux kernel 2.4 and new distributions using it including SuSE Linux 7.1.
    • Palms Gain Expansion Options – Palm releases the new Palm M500 which includes an expansion slot for SD/MMC cards.
    • Rambus Lawsuits – Rambus sues SDRAM and DDR makers for patent infringement. This was the beginning of a very litigious time period for RAMBUS lasting more than a decade.
    • Quickbooks Opens Up – New QuickBooks add-ons for specific industries.

    New Products

    • New Products – New products previewed here include the Dell OptiPlex GX1505SD which is a small form factor business oriented PC with a Pentium III-933, Easy CD cReator 5, the Digital Relay CRX10U-A2 portable CD burner, GoToMyPC, PCAnywhere 10, Photoshop Elements, Kodak MC3 digital camera and mp3 player, the Apple PowerBook G4 featuring a 500 MHz G4 processor and 256MB of SDRAM for $3499, DriveWorks (hard drive utility), and more.

    Here’s How

    • Windows Tips – Customizing system properties plus viewing your desktop files in a folder.
    • Answer Line – Transferring old drivers to a new computer, removing uninstalled app information from the registry, networking two PCs without a hub, getting a list of file associations and more.
    • Internet Tips – Finding the source of attacks reported by Zone Alarm, synchronizing bookmarks, disabling Encompass, branding Internet Explorer, and more.
    • Hardware Tips – Creating your own emergency boot disk (sounds like a software tip to me).
    • Upgrade Guide – A guide to upgrading your PC’s sound system.

    Top 100

    • Top 10 Power PCs – Coming in at the top spot this month is the Gateway Professional S 1500 featuring a 1.5 GHz Pentium 4, 128MB of RDRAM, a 40GB hard drive, and an ATI Radeon SDR graphics card. I still want a Gateway machine with this case to add to my collection. It was the last one by them I liked.
    • Top 10 Value PCs – At the top of this list is the Dell Dimension 4100 featuring a Pentium III-1000, 128MB of SDRAM and a 20GB hard drive, and an ATI Radeon card with 32MB. Second placye features a Gateway E-3400XL Deluxe with a Pentium III-933, 128MB of SDRAM, a 40 GB hard drive, and an ATI Rage Fury Pro graphics card with 16MB. There are also machines with Athlon and Duron processors in this list. This was probably not long after I built my first PC which was Duron based.
    • Top 15 Notebook PCs – In this list, the IBM Thinkpad A21p gets the top spot for power notebook, the Gateway Solo 5300 gets the top spot for midrange notebook, and the Dell Inspiron 3800 gets the top spot for budget notebook.
    • Top 15 Home PCs – Top Power System = Dell Dimension 8100, Top Midrange System = Dell Dimension 4100/1GHz, Top Budget System = Dell Dimension L866r. Gateway gets the second and third spots in the Power System category with the Gateway Select 1200 and Gateway Performance 1500.
    • Top 10 Color Laser Printers – Coming in at the top spot is the Minolta-QMS Magicolor 2200 GN for a mere $1895.
    • Top 10 19-inch Monitors – Back in the day, if you had a budget system you were probably rocking a 15-inch monitor (or maybe even 14-inch a little earlier on). The average decent system had a 17-inch monitor. If you could afford the latest and greatest then you had a 19-inch monitor…maybe even a 21-inch if you could afford it and you could somehow transport it without killing yourself. The Samsung SyncMaster 950p comes in at the top of this list for $309.
    • Top 10 Graphics Boards – The best you could get was the ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon for $299. If you wanted nVidia then the CardExpert GeForce2 MX comes in at second place.
    • Top 10 Scanners – At the top of the SOHO list is the Epson Perfection 1240U Photo for $299. The best corporate scanner was the Microtek ScanMaker 8700 for $1000.
    • Top 10 Digital Cameras – Digital cameras were really still in their infancy at this time. At the top of the list is the Epson PhotoPC 3000Z featuring a 3.3 megapixel resolution and including a 16MB compact flash card.

    Departments

    • Up Front – An editorial on the dangers of the Internet.
    • Letters – Letters from readers about wireless services for PDAs, video downloads, tax software, price matching, and more.
    • Consumer Watch – Some ISPs are getting too aggressive with their spam filtering.
    • Web Savvy – Tips for searching the web and when using search engines other than Google is useful.
    • Home Office – Using Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum and Diamond Cut Audio Restoration Tool 32 to transfer music from records to CD.
    • Bugs and Fixes – Tons of bugs in Windows ME, Netscape 6.01 is released, and more.
    • Full Disclosure – How searching for the best deals online might lead you to grey market items.

    …and more!


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  • PC World (December 2005)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: PC World – December 2005

    At one time, you could find PC World on the shelves of every book store and in many grocery stores and other places that carried magazines. Sadly, it disappeared with almost every other computer related magazine (and most magazines in general for that matter). The December 2005 issue includes:

    Future Tech

    • What’s New for 2006 – A look at upcoming technologies and products in 2006 including Windows Vista, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, Web 2.0, better and cheaper LCD displays, WiMax, Intel based Apple computers (RIP), and next gen game consoles like the Xbox 360.

    Features

    • Software-Giant Killers – Free and low-cost alternatives to high-priced software. Some products looked at hear include OpenOffice 2.0, Thunderbird, AVG Anti-Virus, ZoneAlarm, GIMP, Picasa (RIP), Musicmatch Jukebox 10, CutePDF 3, and more.
    • Color Lasers Get Affordable – Ten color laser printers are reviewed and compared with prices ranging from $400 to $700.
    • Deal Finders – A look at “next generation” shopping sites including PriceRunner, PriceGrabber, Yahoo Shopping, Shopzilla, NexTag, MSN Shopping, Shopping.com, Smarter.com and Become.com.

    Reviews & Rankings

    • Disc-Burning Suites – In the comparison here, the author recommends Nero 7 Ultra Edition for experts and Roxio Easy Media Creator 8 for novices.
    • Mobile Phones – A look at the Motorola Rokr E1 (the first iTunes compatible phone) and the Sony Ericsson W800i Walkman phone. Both emphasize combining MP3 playback with phone functionality.
    • Top 10 Desktop PCs – A look at the top “power” and “value” systems. The winner in the Power category is the Xi Computer MTower 64 AGE-SLI which includes a 2.4 GHz Athlon 64 X2 4800+, 256MB EVGA e-GeForce 6800 Ultra graphics, a 19-inch Viewsonic LCD and 600GB of drive space for $3699. The top system in the Value category is the CyberPower Gamer Ultra 7500 SE which features a 2 GHz Athlon 64 3200+, 256MB EVGA e-GeForce 6600 graphics, 17-inch ViewSonic LCD and 160GB of drive space for $1075.
    • Graphics Card – The ATI Radeon X850 XT CrossFire Edition is tested here. It’s not officially reviewed here but the recommendation from the author was not to upgrade to this model. Expected price was $449.
    • Top 10 Notebook PCs – The top “Desktop Replace” model in this round-up is the Acer TravelMate 8100 featuring a 2 GHz Pentium M 760, 15.4-inch wide screen, and a DVD+R DL/DVD+-RW drive for $1999. The top “All-Purpose Notebook” was the HP Compaq nx6125 featuring a 2.2 GHz Turion 64 ML-40, 15-inch screen, and DVD+-RW drive for $1249.
    • GPS Software – A look at Streets & Trips 2006 with GPS Locator. This type of package has been obsoleted by things like MapQuest and Google Maps.
    • Backup Software – Reviews of Norton Ghost 10 and Tru Image 9 both of which get “Very Good” ratings here.
    • Top 10 Digital Cameras – The categories here are “Advanced Camera” and SLR Camera. At the top of the Advanced Camera list is the 7.1MP Canon PowerShot G6 for $579. At the top of the SLR list is the Olympus EVolt E-300 for $799.
    • Image Editing Software – A positive review of ACDSee 8 Photo Manager.
    • Video Editing Software – A review of Adobe’s Premiere Elements 2 which gets a “Superior” rating here.
    • Projector – In the days before cheap giant screen flat panel TVs, projectors were a pretty common item. At this point in time they were pretty expensive though. The Plus Vision V-339 reviewed here is $1995 and it gives you 1024×768 resolution.
    • Input Device – A review of the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 from Microsoft. These so-called ergonomic designs seem to have gone by the wayside.

    Departments

    • Up Front – The editor discusses recent changes to PC World’s product reviews and rating system.
    • Letters – Letters from readers about AMD vs. Intel, online speeds, resetting Windows XP admin passwords, file search tools, and more.
    • Consumer Watch – Watchdog web sites for charitable donations, software heartbeats and security risks, and more.
    • Hassle-Free PC – Fixing Windows install errors, increasing font size in Internet Explorer, more easily adding events to Outlook and more.
    • Full Disclosure – How PCs working as your music hub may be a time whose time has not yet come. Of course, this article looks specifically at iTunes which is still a pain to use as far as I’m concerned.

    News & Trends

    • $500 Laptops – Basic laptops hit new low prices as the reach the $500 level. Three are looked at here including the Dell Inspiron 1200, the Acer Aspire 3003LCi, and the HP Compaq Presario M2000. They have 256MB to 512MB of RAM and feature either Mobile Sempron or Celeron M CPUs.
    • U3: Portable Programs on a USB Drive – U3 is a technology that allows U3 compliant apps to be run securely from USB drives securely.
    • Moving Your Number to VoIP? – These days, most people don’t even have landlines but at the time a lot of people were moving over to cheaper VOIP options though apparently the wait could be a while. I still have a Magic Jack number…
    • Plugged In – Yahoo and Microsoft introduce new web based e-mail services; Palm announces a Windows based Treo; and more.

    Digital World

    • Ten HDTV Myths – Things you need other than a hi-def TV to actually display hi-def content, how bigger isn’t necessarily better, how a high resolution set won’t necessarily result in a better pictures, and more.
    • Gadget Freak – An overview of recent gadgets including the Tao XM2Go portable satellite radio, Firefly’s kid friendly cell phone, the iAudio X5 MP3 player, and more.

    …and more!


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  • Maximum PC (March 2004)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Computer & Video Game Magazines – Maximum PC – March 2004

    Maximum PC, known as ‘boot’ in its early days, was my favorite computer magazine. It was published from the late 1990s until just recently. It made me a little sad when this one ceased publication but I can’t really say it was a surprise. It was really the last significant computer print publication still being published in the U.S. as far as I am aware. The March 2004 issue includes:

    Regulars

    • In/Out – Letters from readers about buying MP3s from other countries, EULAs and kids, Dolby encoding, the Radeon 9600 XT, and more.
    • Quick Start – An overview of the changes in Windows XP Service Pack 2, CPU naming schemes, why games don’t ship on DVD, modding your iPod, the exponential growth of digital cameras, moral choices in games, Creative acquires Sensaura, the OQO uPC, a 4GB 0.85-inch hard drive, the Creative Portable Media Center, dual layer DVD recorders, the Phantom fanless power supply, and more.
    • Head2Head – Yahoo vs. Hotmail! Yahoo was the winner here and it is still around. Hotmail sort of went away.
    • WatchDog – Copyleft.net appears to go out of business, issues with counterfeit Xbox controller to PC adapters, hard drive sizes, and more.
    • Ask the Doctor – Questions answered about troubleshooting random game crashes, fixing the hosts/lmhosts file win Windows XP, SMART errors, laptop hard drive upgrades, using the headphone jack on your CD-ROM drive, and more.
    • How To… – Using Windows XPs remote desktop connection to remotely access your PC.
    • Rig of the Month – A custom retro looking PC that blends in with the desk. In addition to the custom lighting and enclosure, it includes an AMD FX51 CPU, 512MB of RAM and a Asus V9980 Ultra 256 video card.

    Reviews

    • Vicious PC Assassin desktop system – A PC in a clear case that features an AMD Athlon 64 3400+ CPU, MSI K86-Neo (Socket 754, VIA K8T800 chipset) motherboard, 1GB DDR400 RAM, an ATI Radeon 9800 XT video card, two 36GB Western Digital Raptor hard drives (10,000 RPM), and more for $3000.
    • Belkin Bluetooth GPS Receiver – Sure, every phone has GPS today but in 2004 if you wanted to, for example, to have GPS capability on your Pocket PC then you would need an external receiver like this for an extra $300.
    • Kyocera FineCam SL300R – A 3.2 megapixel digital camera with an interesting form factor for $400.
    • AOpen AK86-L 64-bit mobo – This Socket 939 motherboard features VIA’s Apollo K8T800 chipset and supports the new Athlon 64 3400+.
    • Albatron K8X800 PROII 64-bit mobo – A similar motherboard to the one above. One of the small differences is that it features a whopping 6 PCI slots (vs. 5).
    • MSI K856 Neo-FIS2R 64-bit mobo – One of the earliest motherboards to support the Athlon 64. It has three memory slots but will only support two and DDR-400 speeds.
    • Toshiba e805 PDA – PDAs were what people used in addition to phones when phones were still dumb. This one features Intel’s PXA263 processor running at 400MHz with 128MB SDRAM and is among the first to feature a VGA (640×480) resolution screen.
    • Creative Labs Wireless Music MP3 streaming box – A device designed to stream your MP3 music collection wirelessly.
    • Slim Devices Squeezebox MP3 streaming box – Similar to the above but this one gets a perfect 10 rating. The idea is that you install a piece of software on the PC hosting your MP3 collection then plug this device into your stereo system (or headphones or whatever) then use the provided remote to control playback.
    • Addonics 18-in-1 Multi-Function Recorder – A portable USB 2.0 DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive that also provides slots for CompactFlash, Memory Stick, Sd cards, MMC cards, and more.
    • Mad Dog Entertainer 7.1 DSP soundcard – A decent (but not perfect) sound card for a bargain price.
    • logear MiniView III USB KVM – A no-frills four port KVM switch that allows you to use up to four PCs with a single mouse/keyboard/monitor.
    • Acoustic Authority A-3780 2.1 speakers – An apparently not so great set of speakers than include two satellite speakers and a subwoofer.
    • MediaRecover data recovery app – A $40 utility to recover data from accidentally deleted or formatted media such as compact flash cards.
    • Arrowkey CD/DVD Diagnostic – A tool designed to recover data from damaged CD or DVD media.
    • Adobe Photoshop CS – Photoshop is a great tool but it has never been cheap this latest update at the time would set you back $650 for the full version.
    • Norton AntiVirus 2004 – Norton was rated highly but came in second place in the comparison of three anti virus programs.
    • McAfee VirusScan 2004 – McAfee fared the worst with complaints about ads and a poor interface. At some point the anti virus becomes the virus.
    • AVG Anti-Virus – Rated the highest here and the best part is that the most important parts are free.
    • Armed and Dangerous – A third person humorous action game that is decent but linear and somewhat repetitive.
    • Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – This Prince of Persia sequel gets a high rating here and often appears on best of lists.

    Features

    • Join the Wireless Revolution! – A guide to adding wi-fi to your home. Includes tips on positioning your access point, making any printer a wireless network printer, protecting your wi-fi network (which meant enabling WEP in this case) and more.
    • P4 Prescott – A look at the new Prescott version of the Pentium 4. Changes include a new SSE3 instruction set, redesigned pipeline (that would supposedly take the Prescott to speeds of up to 5 GHz), double the cache, and a die shrink. This article makes the point that it could have been called the Pentium 5. At the end of the day, it didn’t end up being much faster and didn’t scale to higher speeds nearly as well as expected.
    • RAM – A guide to RAM, how it works and the differences between different kinds of memory. This guide includes BIOS setup information including what the different settings mean, info on memory banks, dual channel memory, as well as a look at memory technologies currently in use including SDRAM (PC66, PC100, PC133), DDR SDRAM (PC2100 to PC4000), and RDRAM (400MHz-600MHz).

    …and more!


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