Advantages: Very well laid out
Disadvantages: Not for PC boffins

...In my opinion Computer Buyer is the best PC mag I have ever bought, it offers advice the "new" people to computers and a few tips for the people that know alot about PC's. As with any computer magazine each moth they have a "lab" test where they test a group of PC's from well-known companies within a price range. The thing that makes Computer Buyer stand out from the crowd is that it is so easy to read and well laid out. The reviews are in my opinion better then the likes of PC Pro and Computer Shopper because they are more detailed and offer 4 separates marks in different area of the PC - Performance, Expansion, Overall and Ergonomics. In my opinion if you are new to the computer world then this is the magazine for you and it is also the mag for people who know lots about computers... Read review

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Advantages: Very quick speed and storage and great price
Disadvantages: Metal base makes some noises

...What a computer, I bought this computer for only £500 with 1 GB RAM and 160 GB. I have used a lot of computers over the years but this one has to be the best. The computer is very reliable and I haven't had any major problems even though I use it a lot. The computer is extremely quick. Normally a lot of computers make a lot of noise with the fans with this computer it is complete silent. When all the programs are running the computer will not even slow down it will still be fast. I have this PC for both work and multimedia and nothing on the computer has gone wrong. The computer comes with a flat screen "17" monitor, sub woofer, speakers and the other normal accessories. The flat screen monitor is very good to have as it makes your computer look better. The PC comes with the latest Windows XP which I think is the best. I have used... Read review

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Advantages: Good service for first time PC buyers
Disadvantages: Expensive compared to other retailers

...I am a great disbeliever in PC World. The company found a niche in the computing world, and their customers are a very select group. PC World is aimed at people with absolutely no idea about computers - the sort of people that say 'Oh, I hate computers!', when they run most of the worlds Banks, Airlines, etc. PC World play on their ignorance by offering package deals which include software and all ancillaries. Although this would seem a good way to get into computers, it is also expensive. PC World charge a lot more for their products than a lot of other places. Looking at a copy of 'Micro Mart' or a similar magazine will show you that there are companies that do similar parts and services at much lower prices. Sometimes, people are drawn to PC World by there big name. PC World is all over the country, and so first-time PC buyers... Read review

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Advantages: cheap, friendly
Disadvantages: need to know what you're dping

...The computer fayre at Newcastle is very good value for money. For the cost of 3 pounds entrance fee you can pick up all of the computer components required to build a PC. Hard drive, disk drive, memory, motherboard, modem etc. I found the people there to be friendly and offered dirt cheap prices. On the positive side you can build a new pc for around 200, all with state of the art components. However, you do need to know a bit about computers in order to put it all together. There are no instructions provided which each piece of hardware. Anyway who is interested in computers and who wants to save money and build their own PC should definately have a go. Otherwise if you're a bit nervous about pc's then stick to pc world.... Read review

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Advantages: Very reliable and cheap
Disadvantages: speed, storage are not good

...This computer is a reliable computer but the can improve in terms of speed and storage. With only 256MB ram the computer can be a bit slow. When I first bought this computer it was quite quick but after a while it got slower and slower. The storage (40GB) is not impressive and you cannot really store much on the computer. I didn't really like this computer and after a year I bought a Dell dimension 5000 which was excellent and gave the Dell 3000 to my brother. I did use this computer quite recently and the computer was getting slower but the reliability was still great. The one thing that really disappointed me was the graphics card. Dell did not inform me to tell me that the graphics card was not very good and I could not play hi speed games which I wanted to play. The two good things about this computer are that it comes with a great... Read review

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Advantages: simple, consise
Disadvantages: too basic for some, CDs are not outstanding

...PC Home is a good magazine for beginners into the PC world. The style is fun and not too serious, which is good for this audience. More experienced PC users may find this patronising and frustrating. For the beginner, PC Home offers a consise variety of reviews and information. They, perhaps, aren't a definitive guide to quality, but they are a good idea. The cover CD's are reasonable and useful. The software isn't amazing, but quite good. THe magazine could spend a few more pages explaining the cD's contents, though. There is little advertising, and quite a lot of content. This is a good magazine and good introduction to the PC world, after a while though, you may want to move onto something more detailed.... Read review

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Advantages: Good graphics, engrosing storyline and intense music
Disadvantages: not as good as ff7

...This game is a particularly big one in the eyes of the PC gamer bring for the second time one of the best RPG development teams in the world to the pc. The first game squars soft made that was converted to the pc was the prequel final fantasy 7 and this was a masterpiece of computer game programming however it did on the pc have its problems. Final fantasy 8 havd promised to rectify these problems and produce a new quality of squars soft computer game on the pc. It did to a certain extent achieve this but ssome of the promises have not been met much to the dissapointment of gamers like myself. The story line and game play are sound , mabey not as good as final fantsy 7 but near enough and the life span is hudge as on the pc the game comes on 5 discs.... Read review

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Advantages: cheaper, a lot than the rest
Disadvantages: shorter, no dvd cover.

...I prefere this computer magazine from PC Gamer mainly because of the quality of the reviews. Why are they different? Well, it seams that PC Gamer is bigger. They get a lot of the exclusives but when they get an exclusive they often seem to push the review up a bit. Or more importantly, if someone else gets the exclusive then PC Gamer marks it down a bit. All the big companies think lets give them the exclusive then. PC Zone is different in that it is honest on all the reviews. They trash them if they are rubbish even if they have been hyping them (Diaktanna) and are brutally honest. The magazine is also written with a decent sense of humour and has some good hardware reviews (although not enough) and a decent cd cover. Only bad things, a bit too short and no dvd cover... Read review

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Advantages: Lots to choose from
Disadvantages: unhelpful staff

...Where in the World? (can you pay to much?) PC World. When you thin of somewhere to buy your computer from, you automatically think of PC World. That is because they are one of the market leaders in PC and Peripheral Sales in the UK. They may be one of the leaders due to their famous name but they are definitely not the cheapest. My first PC came from PC World. I did not know much about them then and was sucked into one of their great deals (or so you think) It was £1000 for an Acer Across 100Mhz Pentium machine. Seemed reasonable enough and got me the grounding in PC know how to allow me to be where I am today, The I.T. Industry. The thing was, the machine was not very good quality and had loads of problems. Own Brand PC's from PC world are not very good.The Brand PC's such as Hewlett Packard and IBM are much more expensive in PC world... Read review

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Advantages: some cheap PC's
Disadvantages: Slow, Unhelpful staff, Missing bits

...When purchasing a new family computer I thought that there was no better place to get one than PC World. I had seen the smart ads on TV and I thought a big store like that must have some good offers. Anyway I visited our local store and inquired about several PC's. The staff seemed very friendly and polite, but they just didn't seem to know anything about PC's. The staff would basically read the specification, which is by the PC and thats it, if you ask them anything else then they simply haven't got a clue. I asked one shop assistant what software a PC comes with and he said that he would find out for me. It took him half an hour to come back with an answer. This was only on a Monday morning, I dread to think what the store is like when its busy! However, having said all this, I did see a PC which looked quite good and at a very... Read review

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