CPU Mag complimentary sub
So, I just receive my first free issue and this is what I can tell you: nice toilet reading material. (Pretty much why I got it. However, two things missing are all the old article writers and the editorial at the beginning of the magazine. (Makes me wonder if they let the editor go.)
"For God so loved the world..."
Comments
There are some reviews of components I wouldn't spend the money on, but there are even more reviews on items for the budget concious buyer. There have been a lot of reviews in the mag that have helped make up my mind on purchases. Case fans for exampmle... How the hell would i be able to pick from the slew of fans that are available in the market? I read a review on the Apevia Shark Edition fans, liked what I read, and now that is what I purchase when needing a case fan.
It also helps keep me up-to-date on the hardware. I like to seek out information on processors and boards, but sd drives and other components I don't care to seek out that info. The magazine does a good job of touching base on all the components so I have a general idea of what new technology is available to me.
I also have to disagree w/ you TechGuy. Those students taking programming classes may one day program the piece of medical equipment that saves your life.
There are a lot of other factors that are cause to demand in the health care field, but I don't think it's relevant to this thread, and I don't care to touch on it personally.
Case in point, if I can render HD videos on my 2 year old PC (Intel 860 i7 CPU, P55 motherboard, EVGA 470 GTX video card, 16 GB RAM, 4 x 7200 SATA HDD) using Adobe Premier Pro and Adobe After Effects; run a complete development environment (with Visual Studio 2010, SQL Server and associated services like SSRS, SSIS, etc.) in multiple Virtual Machines, etc., then what is the reason for building an even more powerful desktop hardware? I am still interested in reading about Ivy Bridge and Bulldozer but I don't think I will be building a new PC anytime soon unless I get a sense my current rig is either maxing out or about to give up the ghost.
Even web magazines are shifting their focus on mobile devices and gadgets and de-emphasizing coverage of desktop and even laptop hardware which CPU Mag used to focus on. Last month I bought Laptop magazine because I am on the hunt for a new laptop I can run my Virtual Machines on and found out that almost half of the magazine is now devoted to smartphones and tablets (running iOS and Android). Even CPU Mags peer, Maximum PC, had 1/3rd of its issue last month devoted to a smartphone shootout.
In summary, I think the appetite for tech info is just as strong as ever... however, it has shifted away from covering desktop/laptop hardware and is now focusing on mobile devices/tablets/gadgets. Even software development reflects this with the hottest activities appearing to be in developing apps for iOS and Android. Even Microsoft is targeting its newest OS (Win 8) to run on tablets and smartphones.