Pros: Well written articles; cutting edge reviews; digital format.
Cons: None that I see.
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for a magazine written for the average Joe (or Jane), but still provides useful intelligent, well written information, give PC World a look.
The world of computers is ever changing (be it personal or business / corporate) and I do mean ever. I own my own small (part-time) computer consulting concern and I have a small but growing list of clients, most of which are small businesses like men, but a few are well established regional nameplates.
As a consultant it is my job to keep up on the latest and great technological changes in the world of PC’s, Networking, and Information Technology in general in order to best advise my clients. This has turned into a virtual full-time job all by itself, and I depend on an ever expanding cadre of magazines and other professional publication to help me stay plugged into the information super mainframe of IT. One of those magazines is the independently published (as far as I can tell anyway) PC World, whose tag line is “Technology Advice You Can Trust.”
And it delivers on that promise. PC World covers not only personal computers, application / utility software and related peripherals, but all things personal computer related including digital cameras, and computer related advice. Recent issues have covered everything from buying advice on “Photo Printers; The Price of Great Pictures,” to an in-depth feature article on Spyware entitled “Spyware Stoppers.”
Like most (non-news related) magazines in America, PC World depends heavily on advertising to generate revenue, but unlike fashion magazines that seem to be 90% advertising and 10% substance, PC World only dedicates every other page to colorful spreads bent on selling us stuff we don’t really need. I counted only nine pages of advertising before I happened upon the Table of Contents.
PC World Content
PC World —a monthly publication—offers a wealth of information, too much for me to read even given a month. In addition to the monthly Features section, the magazine also includes a plethora of regular sections, including Top 100, Departments, Resources, New & Notes, New Products (one of my favorites), Next Gear, and Here’s How.
As an example of the riches of information you will find in PC World, the Top 100 section is dedicated to “[L]ab-tested rankings of the best in PC’s peripherals, and upgrade components,” and is sub-divided into sections that may or may not change per issue. For instance, the April 2005 issue covers Top 15 Desktop PC’s, Top 15 Notebook PC’s, Top 10 Monitors, and Top Ten Digital Cameras, as well as reviews and an extensive test and write-up of DVD drives.
The News & Trends section is particularly note-worthy because it covers what’s new in the PC arena, or will be coming down the pike in the near tear. Articles in the April 2005 issue included:
1. Stretching Wi-Fi: MIMO routers extend your home network’s wireless coverage to the furthest reaches of the house.
2. Intuit Cripples Older Versions of Quicken: Owners of Quicken 2001 and 2002 will soon lose the ability to download financial data via the application.
3. OLED: New Star of the Small Screen: Screens using organic light-emitting diode technology look to be winners for handheld devices.
4. New Oxyride Batteries: Twice the Life: Disposable batteries from Panasonic last more than twice as long as alkaline cells in our tests.
5. Plugged In: Install applications on a mobile keychain device.
Meanwhile, in the New Productions section PC World, the magazine offers a first look at the Dell Inspiron 6000, the Gateway M460, and the HP Compaq Nc6230 notebook computers; Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional productivity software; the Mac Mini and IPod Shuffle Apple Hardware; the Buffalo AirStation 125 High-Speed Mode Wireless Secure Remote Gateway; and the Canon Pixma IP90 mobile printer. And that is just for starters, the complete listing is much more extensive.
Subscription and Payment
PC World is offered in two formats: the traditional print format and a newer all digital format offered by Zinio.com (www.zinio.com); I get the latter of the two (more on PC Worlds’ digital format below). To subscribe I went to the PC World website (www.pcworld.com) initially to sign-up for two free print editions, but while there I saw a sidebar offering a free digital edition as well; I opted for that format.
I filled out my name and address information opted for one year of the magazine (the subscription can be canceled when the first billing statement is mailed to you) at a cost of $19.97. Payment is either via credit card, or you can be billed; I chose to be billed. Curiously enough, a two year U.S. subscription was unavailable, but a two year Canadian subscription was; go figure.
If I had wanted to cancel my subscription before I made my first payment, I could have written the word “CANCEL” across the first billing statement.
Digital Format
As I stated above I opted for the digital format of PC World which is offered via a reader by Zinio.com. Upon first use, I had to download the Zinio reader, for free, and then the magazine. Once a month (in-and-around the fifth) thereafter PC World sends me a new edition of the magazine which I download and place in a newly created folder call My Magazines—created by the installation of the Zinio reader—located in the My Documents folder. The magazine, once downloaded occupies around 25MB per issue; given today’s expansive hard drives, that is space I can well afford.
The Zinio reader is a full page reader in which two pages of the magazine are displayed at one time. One a 19” or larger monitor the print is fairly easy to read, except for very small print, but the reader offers a zoom-in/zoom-out feather, so getting around a page is easy. Hyperlinks within the pages can take you to either to other pages in the magazine, or to PC World’s on-line content (seriously cool). For instance, clicking a hyperlink in the table of contents will take you directly to the corresponding page. Even the advertisements have hyperlinks!
To me this is the way to go. I can download a free Zinio reader to every computer I use and read the digital version of the magazine wherever I am; i.e. on my laptop on a plane or train; at work; or at home at my leisure. No more lugging the paper magazine around, and no need to find someplace to put it for future reference afterwards.
Not to toot Zinio’s horn, but the site offers a fair selection of magazines in digital format including another magazine I receive in digital format, PC Magazine. Other titles include, but in no way limited to, U.S. News & World Report, Car & Driver, Business Week, Cycle World, Sound & Vision, CIO, Information Week, Mac World, Motor Trend, Jane’s Defense Weekly, and Cosmopolitan.
Conclusion
PC World is one of the most useful and informative magazine covering personal computers and related technologies on the market today. Written for the average user the magazine is packed with features, reviews, articles, etc. geared towards end-users. While I loath advertisements, PC World has struck a nice balance between information and advertisement; i.e. the ads are there but they are not so overwhelming that they detract overmuch from the flow of the magazine. And to be quite honest, some of the ads are quite informative.
If you are looking for a magazine written for the average Joe (or Jane), but still provides useful intelligent, well written information, give PC World a look.
Recommended:
Yes
Primary Reason for Buying: Articles Recommended For: Anyone
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