The birth of PCW
Congratulation and thanks on the first class 30th anniversary issue of PCW, it looked absolutely great.
Here are a few more facts on the early issues of PCW, which it seems are vague to many people. The first issue was published (available in the shops) on February 8th 1978.
This issue was not dated (just issue 1, volume1) as I was not sure that there would be a second issue - firstly because all experts at that time thought it was too early for a PC magazine, and secondly I had very little money, no office and no permanent staff. In fact, our "office" was a table at the Troubadour Cafe on Old Brompton Road, SW5, with a convenient telephone kiosk located just outside.
The editor was Meyer Solomon, who lived round the corner and was working part time in the cafe, while the magazine address was listed as the newsagent above where I was living at the time.
What prompted me to publish the magazine was that I was always interested in new technology and had read a considerable amount about it (free newspapers and magazine from my shop!).
In mid 1977, the US newspaper, Wall Street Journal, published an article on small computers, which fascinated me. I researched a bit more by getting Byte and Kilobaud magazines from the USA.
The first issue was a sell-out and we received about 3,000 subscribers, which ensured there would be more issues of PCW.
Angelo Zgorelec (PCW founder)
April 29, 2008 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Historic computers
The article about Colossus and Bletchley Park reminded me of my early days in IT. In 1968 I operated an Elliot 803, before the company, a poultry breeder, moved to an ICL 1901A. What a machine that was; it filled a large room but had only 8KB of memory (‘store’ in those days).
All input and output was on eight-track paper tape, even the printed output that then had to be fed into a free-standing ‘Creed’ printer that had a tape reader attached.
On the night shift when there was no manager around, we used to feed the paper tape straight from the paper tape punch into the printer's tape reader, across the floor and into the next room. We corrected keying errors by plugging holes in the paper tape or punching new holes.
Storage consisted of two very large tape decks (one input, one output) with a difference: the tape was magnetic-coated 35mm film that was fed under a head with a very precise head gap. If the gap was wrong, the tape could not be read as the film would not touch the head. The computer was controlled by a large console with many buttons on it, including one labelled “Clear Store” – and that is exactly what it did.
Rows of buttons represented bits in a word (39 bit words), and could be set to pass ‘parameters’ to a program; only one could run at a time.
The machine was programmed in machine code or Autocode. In spite of its limitations, it was used to calculate payroll and perform genetic calculations. The good old days? Hardly, but interesting to look back on now. I for one would like to see the Elliot 803 at Bletchley Park.
Rod Theobald
February 28, 2008 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Early predictions
I was one of the early readers of PCW but I couldn’t afford Pet, Apple or Tandy as they cost six months' salary. I saw an advert for kit called the UK101 for £100, but you only got a bare motherboard and had to solder all the components, including the keyboard. It was a reasonable price if it worked, but a big waste if it didn’t. I found a shop that offered to fix any faults for £10 which meant I was more or less getting a working computer for £110.
It certainly worked, but it didn’t do anything as you had to write all your own programs using the built in MS Basic. Back then, PCW had a regular column for UK101 users and, month by month, I leant how to write or modify programs. There was a great camaraderie amongst users that helped people solve problems.
I remember the predictions – a laser printer for under £1,000. Oh, how we laughed as a simple nine-pin dot matrix printer cost £450 at the time.
The suggestion in Issue 3 about the computer to help deaf children hear seemed like science fiction at the time, but I now have a Cochlear Implant which enables me to understand speech although I am completely deaf. It is smaller than a Bluetooth headset that fits behind the ear. Most deaf children are fitted with them before they go to school and I don’t think anyone would have dreamt that possible in the 70s.
Derek Trayler
February 28, 2008 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wifi workaround
On a recent trip to Spain I subscribed to the local Wifi service at €45 for 14 days. I then encountered the usual SMTP relay problems for my email - even web based mail caused some issues.
However, using Thunderbird I changed the outgoing SMTP to my Googlemail setting, using SSL and port 465 with security and authentication ticked.
This allowed me to send mail from my Virgin, Onetel and Gmail accounts. This information may be of use to other readers.
Ann Edwards
February 28, 2008 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Hidden Defrag
My only gripe with vista is the new defrag tool.
I miss not being able to see what is happening as you could with XP, and in Vista it seems to take for ever to defrag. Otherwise I have got use to the new way of file searching etc.
Carol Underwood
February 12, 2008 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Limited choice
The laptop lemmings are all going the same way. I am a business traveller, working in an SME. Unfortunately my current notebook is coming to the end of its life. I need a laptop to make presentations, to communicate and carry out my daily work.
I want something not too heavy and quick. When the company buys me a notebook, it will be in the mid-range price bracket. I don't want to take the inevitable Vista performance hit you will get with a mid-range notebook and our IT manager doesn't want the uncertainty of Vista.
This takes out 70 per cent of the choice. I don't want a widescreen display because I will never watch DVD movies on it and it won't go in my briefcase. This leaves less than 5 per cent of the mid-range offerings. At the moment, this makes it easier to decide. Soon my only choice will be to grit my teeth and get a bigger bag.
Mike Jollands
October 31, 2007 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sound of PC silence
While you review a broad range of performance measures when carrying out a group test of PC systems (such as the £999 PC system group test in your April 2007 issue), I think you are missing a particular trick.
I spend a fair amount of time using my PC during my working day and so when I am considering buying a new system I am very keen to know how much noise it makes, both when running idle and when carrying out CPU or harddisk-intensive tasks.
This is particularly so when buying a reasonably fast system which may have an overclocked CPU such as the Chillblast system in the review already mentioned, because when buying online there is no way of knowing how bad the whine from the fans might be.
It would seem to me that many of the performance tests you already carry out put the PC systems into these states, so that measuring their noise levels would be an easy parameter to measure "for free".
Is there any chance you could consider this for your future reviews?
Dr Bernard Payne
May 8, 2007 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Speed up Windows boot times
Re you article on starting Windows XP faster:
I use hibernate all the time - I never shut down unless going away for a time - to speed up the shut down.
I use a power socket block which turns off all peripherals when the computer is shut down or hibernates. The result is an enormous power saving because I set to hibernate after no useage for
15 minutes.
John Lewcock
October 6, 2006 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
WEEElie bins for PCs
Thanks for the article ‘Our PCs, Our planet’ (PCW, October 2006). I would like to add a few comments.
You correctly stated that RoHS does not cover batteries, that’s because these are already covered by the Batteries and Accumulators (Containing Dangerous Substances) Regulations and the recovery and recycling of them will covered under the new batteries directive (see the DTI's web page for more information).
The WEEE directive only requires distributors to offer take back equipment when purchasing an equivalent replacement. Some distributors will also be joining a scheme that will allow them to opt out of offering a direct take back service and will instead ask the end user to deposit the items in the local WEEE skips as and when the WEEE is implemented.
The latest on WEEE is that it will not be implemented in the UK until the end of 2006. Producers will then have to join a producer compliance scheme which will act on their behalf in collecting equipment from your local tip.
The consumer is expected to deposit electronic equipment in these dedicated skips and the scheme will collect, treat and recycle this on behalf of its members. This make more environmental sense in dealing with the consumer locally rather than having Dell or HP offering to return old computers to them and having them shipped by vans across the country.
RoHS is, as correctly stated half way through your article, “The restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment” not “the reduction of hazardous substances” as you state in the second paragraph of the article.
And remember to wipe your hard drive or destroy it before taking it to the tip as a recent study has found that most people don’t and your personal data and bank details may be easily recovered!
Mark Dowling
August 31, 2006 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0)
Upgrade to downgrading
Every month I thumb through the pages of PCW and dream of owning the newest hardware. But then again, I think through the multitude of tasks I use my various computers for (Dell laptop for work, IBM Thinkpad for living room web browsing, bedroom PC for network storage and media, plus a media box under the TV). And if I were to replace the lot, I would still have change from £500.
My media box is a story in itself that I would like to share with your readers.
I picked it up from our local recycling centre, it’s a small form factor Compaq Pentium III 600MHz with near silent power supply that now sits hidden under my TV. It’s got a cheap graphics card with TV output, it’s networked to my main PC and runs a copy of MyHTPC. I paid £12 for an infrared serial cable with a remote control from an old video recorder and a media box is born with change from £30.
So what can I do with my media PC? Play my mp3 collection, play DVDs, Divx video clips, view pictures - just about everything I would be able to do if I’d spent £1,000.
We’re faced with mountains of old equipment which we feel no responsibility for its disposal. Legislation now passes this responsibility onto the manufacturer. But people continue to upgrade because software makes more demands on our hardware, for no real benefit. My old Thinkpad came with Office 2000, It ran like a dream until I was seduced by Office XP, even though it added little to my productivity. Office 2007 Beta won’t even give it the time of day.
So my message? Make downgrading your next upgrade. Before you swap your motherboard, CPU and memory, try formatting your hard disk and put last year’s software on it. Resist the temptation to install everything from every cover disk. When you install your camera, just install the drivers, (do you ever use the rubbish software that you always install by default?). You’ll be amazed how fast it is, it’ll bring back memories of the feeling you had when you paid big bucks for a fast, new PC.
Neil White
August 31, 2006 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (1)
Overspecified PCs
As I am one of the few retired computer engineers (I installed the typesetter on the QE2 at its launch), I still do the odd computer build and repair for friends and relatives. I despair at people being ripped off by salesmen selling over-the-top spec PCs to customers who will never utilise all the peripherals. I called to look at a PC with no sound output which had been bought by a lady for her daughter the year previously.
As the guarantee had just expired, she was paying the premium rate on the telephone for advice on how to fix the problem. After three or four phone calls (and a lot of waiting time) she contacted me through a neighbour.
The fault was due to a faulty connector which was easy to find and only took a couple of minutes. What surprised me was that she had paid well over £1,000 for a computer to do word processing on. As I was leaving she asked me if I could explain what the controller did that had come with the computer. She didn't know that she had a TV tuner built into the PC.
This lady must be like hundreds of others who get ripped off by big name companies overselling and then charging premium rates for help.
It would be nice if a free service bureau could be set up to give advice to non technical buyers to find out what they wanted the PC for, and then give them a spec sheet on their specific requiements.
Bill Gordon
August 4, 2006 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (2)
Green PCs
In the August 2006 issue of PCW, Julian Gough wrote about the need for manufacturers and software developers to try and reduce boot up times as an incentive for users to turn off their home computers when they are not in use. Kelvyn Taylor mentioned the use of hibernation, bar poorly written software which needs to be improved upon.
Whilst this might be true, recent hardware is becoming increasingly power efficient (well, apart from the fastest graphics cards) or otherwise more environmentally friendly anyway (by avoiding the use of lead, etc).
Examples of environmentally friendly hardware include the Intel Pentium Mobile processor range and the associated mobile chipset motherboards for desktop PCs.
I use such a configuration and have the ability to fully customise the settings for processor and fan speed throttling based on CPU load and temperature monitoring.
Also given that such computers typically consume <100 watts when they peak and feature highly advanced standby support (very much like hibernating, but with an instant recovery achieved by keeping the RAM active) I reckon if you are environmentally conscious and don't mind spend just a bit more money, it is very possible to have a hassle free, pretty green PC today.
John Sommer
June 23, 2006 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Power off to the people
Hardly a day goes by without me reading in the news another scare story about climate change. In the UK we’re being told of an impending energy crisis as our oil and gas runs out.
It has been identified that most people leave their computers switched on all day, even when they are not using it, and in some cases, all night too. So across the world, a vast amount of energy is being wasted. Also, even if we do turn them off, we are being told that the standby state that modern domestic electrical equipment goes into also consumes a noticeable amount of precious electricity.
We’re told that the only way to truly turn off your computer, TV, hi-fi or DVD player is to pull the plug from the wall. I am sure there are many conscientious people who see it as their duty to do this every night, but quite frankly, I do not think that a mass unplugging goes on as the populace retires to bed.
I use a bog standard Windows based PC most of the time, and I accept that I often leave it running all day, Why? Because of the time it takes to shut down and re-boot. It is just too long. I would like to call on the hardware and software manufacturers of this world to collaborate and solve this simple problem.
Once the inconvenience of the boot up and shut down procedure has been removed. I am sure that most people will have no issue in switching off their computer as they pop out for a cappuccino, knowing that they are saving power, money and that very important half written email to the Head of Department.
Julian Gough
June 2, 2006 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Building your own PC is more fun
I'm a first time reader and think the magazine is really well written. However, whilst reading April's issue, the 'Get More for your Money' £699 PC group test, I found I had an issue with some of the content. In this article you protest that It is more expensive to build your own computer than simply buy one, you then list prices of parts and get to a staggering £855. This is well over the prices of the other computers in your test, which are all £699.
This seems reasonable and good advice. However I have just started looking into building my own PC, and have read quite a bit of literature on the subject. So when I came upon your article I
decided to test and see how much I could make the same PC for, using the kinds of parts that you list. I found that I was able to find all the parts for a total of £688.35 including VAT and Shipping. So it is in fact not more expensive to build your own PC.
I do accept that it requires more effort to build your own PC and you do not get the warranty that you get with a bought pc. However, I believe that by building your own PC, or even learning what you need to do even if you never do it, you learn about what is inside your PC and what each piece does and how they fit together. This gives you the ablity to upgrade your PC later, which is often difficult with store bought PCs, and to customize it in anyway you see fit. I think this gives you many more options later in your PC's life too and can in the long run be more beneficial. Very much a case of the more effort you put in the more you get out of it.
Toby Chanin
April 21, 2006 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Memories of ComputertownUK
I was interested to read John Bone’s letter re ComputertownUK in the April 2006 issue of PCW. Yes, John, there are still some of us about. I helped create ComputertownUK Thanet in the early 80s together with my colleague Jon Finegold. We had great fun putting computers in local libraries so that the general public could get some hands on experience. That was in the days when libraries didn’t know what computers were either but they were enthusiastic and keen to see what could be done.
I remember having long telephone conversations with David Tebbutt which were sometimes interrupted by the demands of his small children. I wrote a piece about our Computertown Thanet activities for PCW and later helped organise and run a CTUK stand at the PCW Show in the Barbican Centre, London.
Now, aged 70, I am still an enthusiastic PC user as well as a PCW reader. Much has changed but the wonder of it all continues to stimulate and delight.
Peter Kiff
March 23, 2006 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
DIY PCs can be cheaper
In The April 2006 edition page 74 you contend that building a PC for yourself doesn't save any money compared to the £699 models on test. You then back this up with two elementary errors:
- You selectively quote extortionate "street" prices, anyone with any "nous" is going to shop over the web.
- You imagine that everyone plays PC games - I don't - the point of building a PC is not to match some system builder's spec, on the contrary it is to get the balance of features that you want.
However at Ebuyer it was relatively trivial to undercut your £699 target without using the cheapest components on offer even including a £95 graphics card I have no use for when a £25 one would do perfectly well for me and everyone I have ever built a PC for.
I didn't include the cost of XP Home as again it's not something I have any use for. However I do include a modem plus a DVD-Rom drive as well as a DVD writer which is invaluable.
- AMD Athlon 64 3700 CPU Skt 939 San Diego Retail 90949 £126.82
- AG Neovo F417 17" TFT 12ms 450:1 (1280x1024) Black 52611 £121.99
- Sapphire X800GTO 128mb DDR PCI-E VGA/TVO/DVI-I 99216 £81.69
- Asus A8N-E SKT 939 NFORCE 4 AUDIO LAN PCI-Express ATX 95458 £56.14
- CRUCIAL 1GB DDR PC3200 400MHz 184-PIN 65719 £49.36
- Maxtor 6V160E0 160GB SATA300 7200rpm 8MB Cache - OEM 102294 £42.20
- Ebuyer Extra Value All Black Neon Midi Case with 400W PSU 105240 £24.99
- LG GSA-4167BAL 16x DVD±RW Dual Layer Internal IDE (Black) 97237 £22.88
- Labtec Ultra Flat Wireless Desktop keyboard and mouse 88420 £12.83
- LG GDR-8164BL 16x52 DVD-ROM Internal IDE (Black) - OEM 98199 £12.29
- Creative Labs SBS260 Speakers - Powered Set 2.5w RMS 75081 £6.66
- Creative Labs Blaster 56k Internal PCI Modem - OEM 58623 £6.49
- Newlink AC Power Lead (Kettle Type) Suitable for ATX PSU 20293 £1.19
- Carriage £7.89
- Subtotal £573.42
- VAT £100.42
- Order Total £673.84
Dominic Shields
March 23, 2006 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tablet PCs miss the point
The tablet PC group test in April's PCW was interesting, but the machines seemed to miss the point in such a major way that I'm not surprised the tablet concept hasn't taken off.
Surely the key thing about a tablet is that it is light and convenient to move about? To use when standing up, to have in a meeting without looking like an idiot? When you're sitting at a desk the motivation becomes minimal. Doesn't this point to a detachable keyboard, and the cd/dvd drive in a docking station?
Basically what would be nice would be something superficially like a laptop, where the "screen" part detaches and is usable as a tablet, and the other half holds the keyboard, optical drive etc. Okay, I can see there are balance issues, but I can also see ways round them.
Is this what the Microsoft Origami will be? Seems not.
Tom Richards
March 9, 2006 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Laptop repairs
I run a PC retail and repair outlet. Desktops are easy to repair, having largely common standard components. Laptops however are another matter.
They do have some common components, ie: hard drives and memory. Optical drives used to be unique, but now increasingly share a common format, albeit with different cosmetics. Motherboards understandably are model unique, but the biggest anomaly is displays. Why should a LG 15” TFT have a different connection interface in a Compaq than in a Toshiba? If the internal cables in a desktop can be standardised, why not the ribbon cable connecting a screen to the motherboard on a laptop?
A common screen problem is Inverter failure. This is a small inexpensive component that handles the screen backlight. Failure results in a dim display. Why can this not be standardised? Why does Compaq for example insist that you buy a new screen/inverter package when only the Inverter (roughly £20 ) is faulty?
I have a collection of faulty laptops with perfectly good screens that could be used to repair other laptops with faulty screens or inverters. If the above issues were addressed by laptop manufacturers, (apart from screen sizes) the 2nd hand screens in those units could be used to economically repair others.
Why would I want to use 2nd hand screens instead of new ones? A 15” TFT monitor costs typically £130 The same screen (minus its casing) for a laptop will set you back about £250! Add the labour and VAT and the repair cost can easily exceed £300! Inevitably, faced with a bill like that the customer abandons his computer and invests the money in a newer better model, adding to the pile of faulty laptops!
In view of the WEEE directive and environmental concerns, and the pockets of consumers, Laptop manufacturers pull your corporate fingers out!
Mission Computers
PS. When reviewing Laptops it might be worth mentioning the availability of parts for repair. Retailers brands like Time & Tiny & Advent, nearly impossible, and in Advent’s case (PC World) ridiculously expensive! SONY – Unobtainable!! They refuse to supply any parts, not even a keyboard!
January 6, 2006 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (88) | TrackBack
Sensitive Mice
Does anyone else suffer from this problem? I find the right hand button on my mouse is too sensitive, which means I am constantly having to close down an accidentally called right-click menu. I tried to find a way to make the spring stronger so that I could rest my finger on the button without triggering it, and I finally found a solution.
There is a small gap between the mouse body and the button on my Fujitsu which is just wide enough to accept a short piece of elastic from a small elastic band. This wedges into place in the gap, and can be adjusted for resistance by altering its length. The result is a stiffer button that I can comfortably rest my finger on without triggering it. Eureka! No more cramp!
David Kelsey
October 20, 2005 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Chillblast Fusion confusion
After reading your glowing review of the Chillblast Fusion X2 4400 GTX in November's issue I hastened to their website full of enthusiasm.
To my dismay and I found that Chillblast's package does not include either the keyboard or, worse, the LCD display. Their excuse appears to be that there was a 'misprint'!
While I would be the last person to accuse them of deliberately misinforming you and your readers I do think that like was not being compared to like and to that extent was being unfair to the other manufacturers in the test, unless that is, they are all doing it!
I think to be fair you ought to publish a disclaimer in your next issue and I will note with interest whether this is forthcoming. Not least I think you may consider it desirable to reappraise the 'Value for money' assessment.
Otherwise, an interesting magazine which I look forward to reading.
David Hopton
October 17, 2005 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Dust in Computers
I have just replaced my desktop, as the power supply unit had failed. This was due to a large build up of dust in and around the fan in a sealed unit that was not accessible to cleaning with either vacuum cleaner or compressed air jet.
The fan eventually became stuck and it had overheated. Mind you, the thing was pretty obsolete and needed replacing anyway, but why was the dust there at all? It had been cleaned at times according to your “Spring Clean your PC” feature in the March 2004 edition, but obviously to no avail.
It is now over 60 years since car manufacturers found that putting filters on carburettor air inlets prolonged engine life. They started as rather primitive “pancake” filters on the carburettors and progressed to the elaborate folded paper devices all our modern cars have.
Dust is everywhere, especially in air of cities, and even in apparently beautifully maintained offices we are shedding skin scales as dust with every movement. Dermatologists tell us that we all renew virtually our entire epidermis every thirty days. Think of how much that is.
Try taking your socks off in a ray of sunlight and see a cloud of scales arise. All these shed skin scales and fibres from clothes and carpets in turn feed an entire ecosystem of microscopic scavenging mites who become dust in their turn. So why cannot computers have air inlet filters, easily accessible on back of the case?
No great engineering would be required to fit an easily replaceable disposable paper device onto the fan air inlet. “Oh, but people would forget to change them, and the fans would get overheated as before” was the reply when I mentioned this to a computer maintenance man.
So, a very small program could be inserted that displayed a message at startup after so much running time such as “Warning - it is 200 hours of running time since your last air filter change. It may get clogged if not changed soon will result in damage to your computer.”
Charles Moon.
October 7, 2005 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Tech for tech's sake?
Congratulations on the new look. PCW has always been my computer magazine of choice for well written and informative articles. Now it's more readable than ever.
Like you, and no doubt most of your readers, I too have a passion for technology. My first computer was a floppy disc driven Amstrad PCW circa 1987. My latest is a Dell Dimension 5000 P4 with a 17" LCD screen. Using the excellent Serif Photo Plus 10,1 have been able to colour some of the old black and white photos taken of my children fifty years ago.
Having updated my hi-fi, I have burned all my old vinyl records and cassettes on to CDs for ease of use. My trusty old Nikon SLR is gathering dust while I snap everything in sight with a digital camera. These days my finances are kept in order with MS Money and I keep track of the running costs of my car with a program which I wrote using Delphi.
However, I do sometimes wonder whether much technology which we see today is being used simply for the sake of it. When I bought my new computer nine months ago, I advertised my four year old Dell in the village post office for £200 including the new free Dell printer which I had no need for and offered to set it all up.
A middle aged lady came along and said she wanted it to help her research her family history. It was far more powerful than she would ever need but she was delighted with it. And much as I love my new all singing and dancing Dell, I often feel that it is rather like buying a Ferrari and putting a roof rack on it for the weekly shopping trip to Tescos.
Even so, in no way does this blunt my sense of excitement and wonder at the sheer inventiveness and breakneck speed at which digital technology is pushing back the boundaries. It took the steam locomotive the best part of sixty years to reach the magic 100 miles per hour. One day in the future, the quantum computer will be as common as today's PC - infinitely more powerful but probably much smaller and very much faster. I don't expect to be around to see it, but if I were, I know I'd still want to have one.
My best wishes to you all
John Revell
October 6, 2005 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Zero-defect laptop screens?
I noticed the lab test on TFT screens (September PCW) included reference to Class1 and Class2 panels. A welcome addition, in my view.
Call me fussy, but the 'dead pixel policy' has kept me from buying a laptop, or parting with my large VDU, and despite much searching I have yet to find a supplier prepared to offer a Class1 panel on a laptop to anything other than a corporate customer.
Would it be possible to consider quoting panel class as a matter of course in all relevant reviews from now on? With all suppliers looking for a 'Unique Selling Point' perhaps it will provide encouragement.
You would need to get specific details from each supplier of Class 2 panels. Although all suppliers claim to comply with the same ISO standard, my experience indicates wide variations in how various manufacturers interpret it. Simply quoting a Class 2 panel will not be enough.
Somewhat surprisingly the worst interpretation given to me (after much persistence on my part) was by possibly the largest supplier of 'desktop replacement' laptops.
I was told that Samsung LCD TVs now come with Class 1 panels, but sadly their largesse does not currently extend to laptops.
Does anyone know of a laptop supplier offering class1 panels to consumers?
David Reynolds
September 2, 2005 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Jet-powered PCs
Using the latest high performance jet engine in a car for everyday usage would be illogical. The car would be costly, use lots of aviation fuel, be noisy, produce considerable heat and so be bad for global warming. The car's blistering performance would be unnecessary, except for some
record breaking sporting events.
Apart from the fact the fuels are different, the same same applies to PCs fitted with the fastest CPUs.
A high spec PC is costly, uses lots of electricity, is noisy, produces lots of heat and is therefore bad for global warming. The PCs blistering performance is unnecessary except for a small number of specialist tasks. Six years ago I completed a PhD thesis - a document far more complex than
most people today will ever write. There are endnotes, footnotes, graphs, equations, figures and photographs, all of which are numbered properly and automatically. A 100MHz PC was used for the task.
That 100MHz PC would be far too slow to run a modern version of Windows. Let us hope cars don't get bloated like Windows software has been, so that in 6 years time a new car will need a jet engine to move it along at a reasonable speed.
Dr. David Kirkby, PhD.
August 19, 2005 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Media Center madness
I've read reviews, looked at pictures and generally fancied the idea of a box in the corner with all my MP3s on, which is also a hard disk recorder and digital TV plus being able to do the odd bit of browsing etc. let alone play games and check my emails.
But.... let's be honest it isn't going to happen until we can see these things in shops. If the likes of Comet, John Lewis etc feel it's important to have their entire range of TVs and Hifis playing away so the punters can be impressed with the sound and picture quality before making a choice, then surely these same punters want to see and hear equipment that is going to set them back twice the price of a normal TV, especially as most of the boxes are so ugly that there unlikely to get the thumbs up from one member of the family at least (normally female with an eye for matching accessories and colour schemes).
All this is before the problem of who will be actually able to work it in the family cuts in. The old joke about who can program the video recorder gets magnified when half the family won't be able to switch the thing on just watch TV.
At a time where I've experienced that even the most simple MP3 player may need a firmware update in order to fix a problem it makes me wonder whether the technical types have finally taken over the asylum.
R. Houghton
July 28, 2005 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sony Vaio revisited - laptop's build quality in question
I am writing this to you on my Sony Vaio VGN-FS115Z, which I bought as a result of the review I read in your April 2005 issue, where it got bot a "Recommended " and "Best Buy" award. I have previously owned a Sony PCG-X18 and felt happy to continue with the brand.
Having now owned the FS Vaio for a couple of months, I'd like to offer my experience of using the laptop.
The general feel of this machine is that it has been engineered and manufactured on a budget and it is not of the pedigree I expect from a Sony. The most irksome aspect is the two dead pixels glaring at me on the screen.
I intended to upgrade it to 1GB of memory, but both available sockets are used with 256MB chips, so I am forced to buy two 512MB chips (Sony want £338, Crucial charges a more realistic £108). I have subsequently discovered that the professional model, the VGN-FS115XP, uses just the single 512MB chip.
Other niggles include no telephone or patch cables for the integrated modem and network sockets. Accessories such as spare batteries and port replicator have only just become available.
I am now waiting to send it back for a warranty repair (no quibble) as the right hand locking catch (made of plastic and the one that operates the "lid's shut" micro-switch) has broken through the stress and strain of gently opening and closing the lid about 50 times. Only Sony don't have the replacement part in stock yet.
In short, the spec is great and I can't refute what was said in your review - technically it is spot on. But the real world practicalities of the machine seem very different from my point of view.
I accept the fast nature of the computing world, but is it possible to revisit some of the more popular of your "Best Buys' with extended use reviews?
Michael de Whalley
April 14, 2005 in Customer Service, PCs | Permalink | Comments (174) | TrackBack
