Computer Magazines

Dampsquid

Which computer magazines are best for advanced user/it professional? Also for the home side of things, which is best for good reviews for hardware, software and games.

Blowfish

Dampsquid wrote:

Which computer magazines are best for advanced user/it professional? Also for the home side of things, which is best for good reviews for hardware, software and games.

The Internet beats any magazine, by far. It will always be more up to date and be more detailed than any magazine.

Conor108

Thats right! 'The Internet Monthly' is by far the best magazine.................:D

Offalycool

I sometimes buy MicroMart in Eason’s, it's available every week. It's only 3.65 Euro and it usually got some interesting articles. They have an active forum to.

HashSlinging

I remember buying BYTE, is that still in publication, that was a fantastic magazine PRE-INTERNET.

Anti

All magazines are too out of date, usually 1/2 months around. Find some good websites for reviews. Even forums are good for it too.

Conor108

Well PcLive! is good, Irish and cheap:D

Tom Dunne

Conor108 wrote:

Well PcLive! is good, Irish and cheap:D

And crap. Borderline tabloid computer magazine, if there is such a thing.

I remember buying BYTE, is that still in publication, that was a fantastic magazine PRE-INTERNET.

Nah, Byte is long gone. I used to read it all the time.

I find Personal Computer World to be the best, though, like most publications, I find their standards have dropped over the past few years.

Anti

And also 60-75% of the magazine are advertisements.

Ruu_Old

I used to get all sorts of magazines when I had dialup because they came with updated software and so on, ones with CDs attached. I get PC Magazine (ZD Media) now but I don't pay for it (got it on trial) and have a few more issues to get before the free issues end.

philstar

Ruu wrote:

I get PC Magazine (ZD Media) now but I don't pay for it (got it on trial) and have a few more issues to get before the free issues end.

oh ya ..how did u manage that??..can i get on trial??

Tom Dunne

philstar wrote:

oh ya ..how did u manage that??..can i get on trial??

Ruu lives in the US of A. They do lots of nice things like that for people who live there.

I remember getting a load of CDs on "trial" from a music club. Just before I left the US.....

christophicus

Personnaly I like Custom PC.

zilog_jones

I got PC Pro for the first time in ages a few days ago, but I already heard about half the stuff in it thanks to tinternet.

christophicus

Yeah I prefer reading reviews in magazines though and I find Custom PC do some of the best labs test around.

Anti

christophicus wrote:

Yeah I prefer reading reviews in magazines though and I find Custom PC do some of the best labs test around.

Yeah, this is the only magazine I buy. But they have become comercialised. No more hardcore mods. and 8 page 1on1 adverts are starting to annoy me.

SeanW

HashSlinging wrote:

I remember buying BYTE, is that still in publication, that was a fantastic magazine PRE-INTERNET.

Yeah, it bit the dust years ago.

unklerosco

Custom PC is possibly the greates mag of all time, mainly cause there's a devilishly handsome chap in this months readers drives section..... ;-)

philstar

Conor108 wrote:

Thats right! 'The Internet Monthly' is by far the best magazine.................:D

went to a newsagent could'nt find it, is this mag just for professionals??

Offalycool

That’s sarcasm for ya :rolleyes:

hopeful

unklerosco wrote:

Custom PC is possibly the greates mag of all time, mainly cause there's a devilishly handsome chap in this months readers drives section..... ;-)

Is there? I'd heard they were putting in the article about the very strange man who built a PC in a desk

BlackWizard

What Irish IT industry mags do you read? Are there any?

I do see a few mags popping around work. Ill have to get the name of them.

philstar

I think computeractive is very good...little or no gobble-dee-gook, and occasionally i get webuser which is very similar........there's my twopence worth:D

DublinWriter

All Irish I.T. publications are useless. They basically rewrite whatever copy is sent to them by the marketing department of manufacturers. Don't expect them to ever write a critical review of anything/anyone, the advertising revenue is God to them.

Computer Weekly/Computing are pretty good I.T. Industry mags in the UK aimed at the corporate user.

A lot of the US specialist mags such as Infoweek and Datamation (not sure if it's still around) were also very good.

Wired is too much in love with its own myth and is a laughable publication these days, both the US and UK editions.

The whole market in terms of what you see in Easons these days has been totally consolidated. There's only a handful of mags around now, whereas in the late 80's/early 90's there were dozens around with their own particular character.

knm

Yea, the internet is the best source of info.
I used to buy them all - PC Plus, PC Format, PC gamer, Linux Magazine, Linux Format, Custom PC, etc, etc.
PC Plus used to be good, then turned crappy and at the moment is trying to re-invent itself. I hope it does. It was the best.
PC Format used to be good but has turned into absolute crap in the last year. It's basically a games mag mixed in with FHM.
Linux Format is still a good mag, but there is no magazine that is worth buying every week/month now. I buy some of them on the odd occasion to avail of the disk. I got broadband, but installing fedora Core 6 from LXF still is the easiest way.

DirkVoodoo

Hmmm....a pattern emerges me thinks:

Rise in internet == Fall in printed computer magazines.

I can't imagine most "tech" people not wanting an electronic publication over a traditional rag, I don't neccesarily think it is a sign of "market consolidation".

Offalycool

For up to date info the mag cant compete. I do like to read a mag from cover to cover though, have done for years. Would recommend Micromart. I don’t buy it every week but its cheep as chips.. and gives me something to do when my girlfriend is hogging the pc.

tedstokes168

DublinWriter wrote:

All Irish I.T. publications are useless. They basically rewrite whatever copy is sent to them by the marketing department of manufacturers. Don't expect them to ever write a critical review of anything/anyone, the advertising revenue is God to them.

When I write my reviews I don't just rewrite the copy sent to me. I go through the game and pick it apart making sure to mention at least one error in even the best games going. I have even mentioned bad things about Oblivion. Some reviews im working on now hit the very low end of the scoring system as I have never tried some games that are so bad. I cant say what mag I write for or the name of the games but it is an Irish publication. So to say I just rewrite whatever copy is sent to me by the PR departments is an insult.

ALL OPINIONS VOICED ARE MY OWN AND DO NOT REFLECT THE OPTIONS OF ANY CORPORATIONS OR INDIVIDUALS OTHER THAN MYSELF.