Does Exactly What It Says On The Cover (PC Advisor)

Member Name: Nibelung

Product:	PC Advisor
Date:	25/02/01 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No high-flown language

Disadvantages: Possibly over-does the simplicity bit

PC Advisor is a magazine that I have been buying off-and-on since it came out.

I now subscribe to it (£42 for 3 years, I think – it was a long time ago!).

I was at first attracted by the promise of “real” software packages on the free CD-ROM every month (not trial versions with limited facilities or life-spans).

They have kept true to their word, but as time goes by, I am finding less use for them, although programmes like IBM Books Encyclopaedia are useful.

There is also the option of a DVD version, which obviously promises a huge hike in contents including sample movie clips. Alternatively, you can buy the DVD separately

I think the main attraction with this magazine, is that it doesn’t talk down to inexperienced people. Instead it puts over complex topics in jargon-free language, on the assumption that you must be a little bit interested in PCs to have bought it.

Reviews of hardware are regularly revisited to keep the Best Buy charts up to date.

Its Workshop articles frequently cover some problem I have been grappling with (I build my own PCs), and are almost certain to be “razored" out and filed away. Of late, they have been particularly useful with MS Office “Master-classes”

Likewise, there are “What’s New” articles relating to all inter-related media, like developments in hi-fi, digital TV, camcorders etc, since there is a coming together of all things technical with the PC at the hub.

Software reviews cover the “serious” user’s needs as well as the game player's.

There seems to be just the right amount of ads to be useful, without taking up too much of the book.

On a recent quiet holiday in Cornwall, I had occasion to read the thing from cover to cover, rather than dipping in as I normally do. I must say that I am more impressed as a result, with one proviso – a ce
rtain amount of repetition seems to be creeping in.

Now, I know that the magazine needs to cater for a continuing “churn” of readers, some of whom are PC virgins. This, in turn leads to frequent “glossary of terms” articles explaining the meaning of “Modem” or “VGA”.

If it’s not that, it’s articles on how to upgrade a PC by adding more RAM or another hard drive. I’m starting to feel a bit like someone who has bought two copies of the same encyclopaedia. Maybe it’s time to move on when that happens.

My only other major beef concerns the wealth of glossy (and stiff) adverts which always make the book fall open at a specific spot – no doubt their aim. However, they annoy me intensely, and are always the first thing to go in a frenzy of ripping and recycling!

Summary: