🚀 go-pugleaf

From article <GERRY.93Jan8111215@onion.cmu.edu>, by gerry@cmu.edu (Gerry Roston):
> I recently resubscribed to PC Magazine, and after having received the
> January 26 issue, I must ask myself why.  The columnists are total
> morons, the hardware reviews are wrong, self-contradictory and biased,
> and the ads are not as good or plentiful as the Computer Shopper.
> 
> Seriously:
> Page 164: data for G2000 wrong... but page 193 its correct.
> Page 193: G2000 as Editors choice, but the review was mediocre and the
> chart nothing special.  The stuff they picked on, e.g., 64 kB cache is
> a simple and cheap problem to fix.
> Page 232: Tangent has 4 dots for upgradability, but the review
> specifically says it has limited upgradability.
> 
> Need I go on?  As these people on drugs or just plain stupid?
> Needless to say, of course, that these "reviews" are written so far
> ahead of press time, that by the time htey come out, most companies
> have changed their product line. 
> 
> Also, how about this.  The G2000 and the TriStar are basically
> identical machines.  They have the same graphics card and the same
> mother board.  So, why do they show different performance figures?
> Also, why do none of the reviews shows a WinMark benchmark for the ATI
> VLB of greater than 22 when it is advertised as 28 and people here
> have reported 29+? 
> 
> Sorry about the tirade.  However, I know that there are at least a 
> dozen readers of this bboard who could team up to produce a vastly
> superior journal.

I agree.  While there have been *some* good articles in these magazines,
the brunt of them seem to be catered to the "less-informed" user, the
casual shade-tree computer user that runs Word Perfect, Lotus and Windows
and thinks he's a computer expert (no offense if anyone in net-land only
uses these programs.)  I think that the majority of the people on the net
are beyond the scope of some/most of the magazine articles anyway.
However, Computer Shopper, while I like their articles better (and ads),
also suffers from the approx. 2-month lag in article-to-press time.  This 
is why you can often talk a vendor into a lower price than what's in the
"current" Comptuer Shopper.  They have to estimate the market two months
in advance, and sometimes the current market price is lower than their
estimates.  If you don't pry, they won't give in.  I have successfully
bargained for a better deal on two complete systems from two major
mail-order vendors (I don't care to name them, so please don't ask).

The main purpose I think these mags do, however, is to introduce new
products in a "brief" fashion.  I would hate to dig through thousands
of pages of technical-sheets each month looking at all the new products,
and try to decide what they could do for me.  

-Jason Worley