PC World (September 2003)

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Cover of the September 2003 issue of PC World


PC World was around for decades from the early 1980s until well into the 2000s. It was perhaps the most popular PC magazine for most of that time. The September 2003 issue includes:

PC Makeovers

  • 60-Minute Upgrades - A look at relatively quick and easy upgrades for your computer including adding a 100 GB 7200 RPM PATA hard drive, adding a DVD burner, upgrading a CPU (in this case a Pentium 700 to a Celeron 1400 via a PowerLeap PL-ip3/T adapter), adding more RAM (1 to 2 GB was a lot at the time), upgrading your video card (AGP was all the rage at the time), and more.

Features

  • Well-Connected Handhelds - At this time, PDAs were gaining wi-fi capabilities and cell phones were gaining PDA functionality. Some devices looked at here include the Palm Tungsten C, Sony Ericsson P800, Handspring Treo 300, Kyocera 7135 Smartphone, Palm Tungsten W, Samsun SPH-i700 and Samsung SPH-i500, T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, T-Mobile Sidekick, Sony Clie PEG-NZ90 and Toshiba E755.

  • Online Music: New Hits and Misses - A look at online music services including RealNetworks RealOne Rhapsody, EMusic, Apple iTunes Music Store, Musicmatch WX Platinum, FullAudio MusicNow, Pressplay, and more.

  • More Broadband for Your Buck - Broadband was still relatively new and not as fast as it is today (5 Mb was common). This is a guide to optimizing your speed and getting the most from the features your service offers.


Table of Contents from the September 2003 issue of PC World


Top 100

  • Top 15 Desktop PCs - The top power system this month is the ABS Ultimate M5 featuring an Athlon XP 3200+, 1GB of DDR400 RAM and 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card for $2739 while the top value system is the ABS Bravado 2280 featuring an Athlon XP 2500+, 512MB DDR-333 RAM, and 64MB EVGA E-GeForce Ti 4200 video card for $1139.

  • Top 15 Notebook PCs - The top power notebook is the IBM ThinkPad T40 featuring a 1.6 GHZ Pentium M and 512MB RAM for $3099 while the top value notebook is the Dell Inspiron 500m featuring a 1.3 GHz Pentium M and 256MB RAM for $1616.

  • Top 5 Photo Printers - At the top of the list is the Epson Stylus Photo 900.

  • Top 10 15-inch LCD Monitors - It's hard to give away a 15-inch monitor today but it was the norm in 2003. The top 15-inch LCD monitor this month was the NEC MultiSync LCD 1560M for $370.

  • Top 10 DVD Drives - The top drive this month was the TDK Indi DVD 440N for $300.

  • Top 10 Digital Cameras - The top digital camera this month was the 3.2-megapixel Canon PowerShot A70 (I think this was actually my first digital camera).

  • More Reviews - Other list toppers include the Olympus C-4000 Zoom digital camera, Oki Data Oki C7300n color laser printer, Dell UltraSharp 1901FP 19-inch LCD monitor, and Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 6Y120P0 hard drive.

Departments

  • Up Front - A look at some computer services actually worth paying for...maybe.

  • Letters - Letters from readers about adware, file trading, Windows XP updates, photo kiosks, and more.

  • Plugged In - A look at storage options for MP3 players, Microsoft's new version of Office, AOL 9.0, turning your PC off at night, and more.

  • Consumer Watch - Preventing your PC from being hijacked by spammers.

  • Home Office - A look at the ten best free utilities including hard drive utilities, web browser accelerators, and more.

  • Full Disclosure - Copyright and the perils of ignoring it.


Table of Contents from the September 2003 issue of PC World (continued)


News & Trends

  • Cheap Ink Probed - Part two of a series on third-party ink cartridges.

  • ISPs Promote Premium Extras - ISPs promote extra services such as antivirus software, digital music, firewall software, and more for an extra cost.

  • A 64-bit Computer: Your Next PC? - The next generation of PC processors will be 64-bit, including Apple's G5 and AMD's Athlon 64.

  • .Zip File Format Splinters - Winzip and PKZip use incompatible implementations of AES encryption.

  • Built-in Graphics Show Some Improvement - Integrated graphics show improvement but are still far inferior to even cheap dedicated graphics cards.

  • RSS: Hot Fix for Inter-Junkies - New RSS standard makes it easy to get news on the topics that you want.

New Products

  • Notebook PCs - A look at new subnotebooks including the Compaq Nc4000 (1.6 GHz Pentium M and 256MB), LifeBook P5000 (900 MHz ULV Pentium M and 256MB), and Sony VAIO PCG-TR1A (900 MHz ULV Pentium M and 512MB).

  • Privacy Software - A look at the latest version of ZoneAlarm.

  • Digital Camera - A look at Apple's ISight camera.

  • PDA/Cell Phone Hybrid - A look at Hitachi's G1000 Pocket PC/phone hybrid.

  • Hard-Drive Backup Software - A look at Drive Image 7 for Windows.

Here's How

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Ah missed those days. To be honest, I was more of a video game nerd. Computers were more expensive and "delicate". They needed so many upgrades and accessories while videogame console were more standard.

However eventually I bought a PC magazine and decided to try to understand it. Eventually got into Linux and got Linux Journal every month delivered at my house.

It was a treat!

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