Like Microsoft says, if “you think BIOS is a plant-based fuel, this program may not be right for you.” For everyone else it is very worth trying new Windows 10 for PC thru Microsoft Insider Program. This is a prerelease software, so be careful and use it at your risk, timely backup never hurt anyone.
Good stuff! March 2011 issue of Computer Power User magazine is here, available as a free download in PDF format (33 MB). Chris Trumble, CPU Publication Editor, predicts at first how difficult it will be to keep buying CPUs with discrete graphics cards once Sandy Bridge CPUs are available, that beat the 980X in game benchmarks, video transcoding, for about a third of the price, and use significantly less power and generate less heat. Will 980Xs and X58 boards be put aside in 2011? That’s a big question. Looks like in CPU magazine April 2011 release there will be a comparison on Sandy Bridge-ready motherboards (talking about 32nm Intel’s new H67 chipset) versus AMD Fusion boards.
As usual here is the February issue of Computer Power User magazine, available as a free download here in pdf format (32 MB).
Some interesting topics inside with my little editing:
“Avast Software Goes Viral—In A Bad Way”: funny story about stolen licence for Avast Pro product (14-user license Avast issued June-30-2009 for a Tucson company, Arizona) mushroomed up to almost 800’000 active users by late 2010. I just wonder why Avast waited for so long to slam it.
Chrome OS is characterized as provoking “careless computing” and predicted to die next (2011) year — opinions from Richard Stallman and Paul Buchheit.
New AMD based 890GX & 880G Motherboards.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition – the latest top chip in AMD’s six-core line. Clocked at 3.3GHz, the 1100T also sports a slight specification bump up from the 1090T (3.2GHz).
SandForce SF-2000: New Family Of SSD Processors Promises Impressive Performance.
But anyway, what is going on with Computer Power User magazine? Where is Anand Lai Shimpi with his Anand’s Corner? Alex St. John (The Saint) with his cigar and game-oriented picking at Microsoft? Where are Alex “Sharky” Ross, Mike Magee, Barry Brenesal, crazy Chris Pirillo, Rahul Sood, and Rob “CmdrTaco” Malda with his articles.txt?? Where are all these people who contributed a lot to CPU in the past?
What’s the rush? It is January already for Computer Power User magazine. Here is a fine new release of January 2011 issue, available as a free download here in pdf format (84 MB).
Some interesting topics inside with my little editing:
• What Motivates Consumers to Engage With Companies Online? — number one reason is discounts and giveaways (77%)
• Better With Age — Two Years Later, X58 Is Still Intel’s Champion (ASRock X58 Extreme6 gets 4.5 point, i.e. “perfect”)
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 — Fermi Shows Its True Colors
• The Radeon 6800 Series. New Display Options Highlight AMD’s Latest Graphics Cards
• White paper: Toggle Mode NAND Flash. Samsung, Toshiba May Open More Markets For NAND
• The 2010 CPU All-Star Team. The Parts You Care The Most About:
The best CPU: Intel Core i7-875K, 2nd is AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition
The best Motherboard: Evga X58 FTW3, 2nd is Gigabyte 890FXA-UD7
The best Graphics Cards: Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 (1GB), the 2nd is AMD Radeon HD 6850
The best Storage Devices: OCZ Vertex 2 (240GB), 2nd is Crucial RealSSD C300
• The hardcore software winners: Norton Internet Security 2011 (?, I don’t understand this), Paragon Hard Disk Manager Professional 2010, Apple iTunes 10, Cloudmark DesktopOne.
And other interesting stuff!
New issue of my favorite technical magazine — Computer Power User December 2010 — is available as free download here in rich pdf format!
Chris Trumble (CPU Publication Editor) is talking in the Editor’s Note: [The last issue] represents the completion of nine full years of CPU magazine, which is simultaneously awesome and terrifying.
I hope they won’t be closed.
Interesting topics with some of my editing:
• Does Xbox Chip Modding Violate DMCA?
• Windows 8 Release Rumored For 2012
• Steam active accounts reached more than 30 million
• In Facebook Era, Email Remains the most popular way of sharing content (Facebook is second)
• Enclosure Disclosure – review of new set of computer chassis
• AMD Radeon HD 6870 & 6850 – The $200 Sweet Spot’s Never Been Sweeter
• Motherboard Gigabyte X58-USB3
• The PC Modder Holiday Gift Guide – Hardware For The Naughty & Nice
• White Paper: Intel Sandy Bridge – 32nm “Tock” Is Aimed At Mainstream Users
• CPU’s 2010 Graphics Card Buyer’s Guide
• Can Web Browsers Really Cover Your Tracks?
• Big failure of Uniblue Systems Limited PowerSuite 2010 2.1.10.14
• Ubuntu One: Streaming Music, Winning Hearts
• Game of the month: Civilization V, Dead Rising 2, World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
• A Brief History Of Linux Text Editors
• Interview with Brad Wardell (the founder and CEO of Stardock, a software development firm that designs and publishes applications and games)
Something wrong is happening to the Computer Power User magazine. They removed all the content from their main page www.computerpoweruser.com and now you are transferred directly to the DigitalEditions page http://www.computerpoweruser.com/DigitalEditions/Default.aspx
But here’s the latest CPU magazine issue of November 2010: official download link (zipped pdf, 29 MB)
In this issue:
And more good stuff!!
Computer Power User – is one of the most interesting magazines about computer hardware and software. Full editions are usually available to registered subscribers for a fee. Some time ago, in 2009 CPU started publishing screenshots of the issues, so called Digital Editions, here’s the link. This time they published for some reason a link to the free pdf copy of the last CPU for October 2010. Here’s direct download link. 35Mb. Grab it quick before they remove it.
Find inside articles about Nvidia’s 3D Vision Surround, a roundup of broadband testing tools, an advice for folks looking to tweak their SSDs’ performance and extend their longevity.
The guys also review Intel Core i7-970, Western Digital TV Live Plus, Sony Vegas Movie Studio, and other good stuff!