| Product: |
PC Advisor |
| Date: |
14/04/03 (65 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Not Too Expensive
Disadvantages: Not One of the Best on the Market
PC Advisor is a magazine that claims to give 'expert advice in plain English'. This is yet another computer magazine on the market that gives away free software and helps advise about PCs. But is it as good as others on the market?
COVER DISC
There is only one cover disc on this magazine and yes it does have a lot of software on it, but compared to other magazines most of it is trial or shareware products, not full programs.
The DVD does seem to rate slightly better (I am only going on what's in the magazine as I buy the CD version) there's more programs and utilities on the DVD.
COMPETITION
There are always several prizes up for grabs and you can enter by the website or by using a freepost address.
READERS WRITES
Got any moans or groans? Then this is the place to vent your fury and write your problems down. In some cases PC Advisor will reply others they won't and there are never many readers letters shown, the writer of the star letter wins a Canon SmartBase MPC400 multifunction printer.
NEWS
This fives the latest news of the computer world, giving details of new products, the details of what the major players in the PC world are doing and also detailing any up and coming legislation that will affect pc users.
TOP GEAR
This gives details not only of new products but details some of the top products to have. The price and contact details are shown.
REVIEWS
This section rates and reviews different products from hardware to software. Each product has a rating but there is no overall rating which is quite annoying as you can't just look at the overall ratings and see how good the product is but you have to look at a set of ratings. The ratings are in the following classifications: 1-3 poor, 4-6 average, 6-8 good and 8-10 excellent.
The PC Advisor gold award is given to outstanding hardware products and also honours excellence in any other product.
TECHNOFILE
The technofile is where a certain topic is taken and explored in detail (April 2003 had a feature on motherboards). A range of products is tested and a features a comparison table of each of the products shown.
READERS CHOICE
This is where PC Advisor takes real life readers looking to buy PC-related items and then gives them the choice of several, they both test the products and the reader then chooses the one for them, this is good as it may well show the true life product rather than just the specs that the magazine writes.
CONSUMER WATCH
This is where if you've got a problem with a manufacturer of pc seller you can write in and name and shame them, or if you want to know your rights on certain things to do with the PC trade then this is the place to look. If a manufacturer or PC seller has been particularly good it is also noted here.
They also have a supplier profile that profiles major players in the pc world.
WORKSHOPS
This section gives workshops on a range of things. Not all of these workshops can be useful and if you're not very good with the PC it's probably best to stay well away. The workshops don't cover some of the main applications that we are all likely to use, although there is a section devoted totally to Windows XP.
BROADBAND
This section gives details on the latest broadband news and gives help on how to set up certain broadband aspects.
HELPLINE
Helpline is a series in which readers write in with their problems and PC Advisor will try to answer them. There are several categories: general, windows, the Internet, applications and pass it on which is tips from readers.
LIFESTYLE
The leisurely part of the magazine! It has reviews and details of the latest pc games.
CLASSIFIED
Classified ads for all parts of the PC world.
TOP 10 CHARTS
This has several top 10 charts, they give the specifications and details of what PC Advisorthi
nks are the top 10 products on the market. The charts include PCs, digital projectors, notebooks, digital cameras and video cameras, personal printers, graphic cards, monitors and DVD and CD ROM drives.
COST
The cost of the CD edition is £3.49, I don?t know about the DVD edition, as my local shops don?t stock it. To subscribe to CD issue costs £23.97 for 12 issues and for 12 DVD editions is £39.99.
This is admittedly cheaper than most of the other magazines on the market.
VERDICT
PC Advisor is an average magazine although it is one of the cheapest, but there are much better magazines on the market. I would buy the magazine again but only if there wasn't anything else around.
CONTACT
www.pcadvisor.co.uk
PC Advisor, Fifth Floor, 85 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4TQ
Tel: 020 7291 5999
Fax: 020 7436 2370
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