Good magazine for learning about new components?

[tlarkin]

Maximum PC used to be good, when it was called Boot Magazine. Now its kind of lame. They hand out too many high scores on products that are really more mediocre. I lost all faith in them when they listed Windows XP Professional as a perfect 10, when it first came out. Yeah, in the first 2 days of running XP I found numerous bugs and incompatibilities, no brand new OS ever deserves a perfect 10. I think they may have got a kick back for that review. A lot of their (all of them now) original writers left after they changed the name to Maximum PC.

In all honesty, magazines are obsolete. Really you can read most everything you want off the internet, that is what I do. All of them just seem like one big advertisement to me these days, and not really a magazine.

I mostly google search items and then go from there.

 

[The_Beast]

^^^ well sometime you see products that would wouldn't just find browsing the Internet. Have you ever heard of a 6DOF??? No; me neither until my Computer Shopper came and I saw a 3dconnexion 6DOF controller. I bought it with in 3 days of seeing it in CS

 

[tlarkin]

No, I don't keep up with the latest hardware any more because I am no longer a system builder as part of my job. Several years back when I worked as a PC tech for a local company, we did build custom systems for people. So, I kept up with all the latest hardware.

So, I guess magazines can give you that. However, when I am looking to buy a new piece of hardware be it: video card, RAM, hard drive, RAID controller, processor, sound card, I/O card, whatever... I still google search the product and then I get millions of hits with the latest products that are out.

I don't really see a magazine being worth the subscription cost for just that function. If their articles were unbiased and actually reviewed things based on some standards, and didn't do things like give a brand new released OS a perfect 10 score, I would maybe read them.

I do occasionally pick up 2600 magazine and read it, only because I find it interesting. I haven't picked up one of those in probably 2 years.

 

[The_Beast]

your not getting it; I would have never heard of/searched a 3dconnexionspace navigator if it hadn't been for Computer Shopper

There are some good reads in mags too

 

[Ramodkk]

Look no more and stay around this forum, you'll learn a bunch of things

 

[tlarkin]

your not getting it; I would have never heard of/searched a 3dconnexionspace navigator if it hadn't been for Computer Shopper

There are some good reads in mags too

Yup, you're right there would be no other place it would be reviewed. Only in that magazine, and definitely not on the internet.

Its, not like you couldn't browse their websites and then google it.

 

[mep916]

Although I'm very aware of the marketing element associated with computer magazines, I still find them useful. People believe newspapers are obsolete, but I read those as well. To each his own.

 

[The_Beast]

Yup, you're right there would be no other place it would be reviewed. Only in that magazine, and definitely not on the internet.

Its, not like you couldn't browse their websites and then google it.

Your still not getting it, I would have NEVER heard of a 6DOF or a 3dconnexionspace navigator; so how could I have googled it if I don't know what it is???

 

[tuxify]

Do you guys know if PCXL is planning on making another go? I looked through a few of them at a Safeway, and it looked pretty good. Hot chicks and fast computers... MMMMMMMMM...

 

[Kill Bill]

I know one it's called computer something

 

[Kesava]

does anyone know of any more mags that you can downlaod as pdfs like maxiumum pc?

 

[JohnJSal]

Yeah, we have Fry's in Texas but apparently there isn't one here in NYC.

I haven't gone through the magazine yet but I'll let you know.

So far it seems pretty good. It has short, one-page articles about things going on in the industry (like what Intel announced at their last conference), reviews of hardware components and some systems, an article on how LCDs work, etc. I like it a lot so far.

 

[mep916]

So far it seems pretty good. It has short, one-page articles about things going on in the industry (like what Intel announced at their last conference), reviews of hardware components and some systems, an article on how LCDs work, etc. I like it a lot so far.

Awesome! I'll see if I can find it in my area. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[JohnJSal]

Awesome! I'll see if I can find it in my area. Thanks for the feedback.

No problem. I also just read the article about what to expect next year. Probably not much new information in it, but it discussed Nehalem, nVidia's new card, memory, etc. Definitely give it a flip through.

 

[tlarkin]

Your still not getting it, I would have NEVER heard of a 6DOF or a 3dconnexionspace navigator; so how could I have googled it if I don't know what it is???

No, my point is you don't have to google it or buy a magazine, just visit the publication's website.

My point is clear. If you like the paper version of a magazine that is your personal preference, but it does not mean you can't browse the website and view it for free with out buying the magazine.