Maximum PC - From the Magazine

CoolIT Freezone Elite

David Murphy — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:08:10 -0500

This Peltier's powerful performance makes tricky installation tolerable.

Logitech Squeezebox Duet

Michael Brown — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:17:12 -0500

An acquisition by Logitech brings lots of changes to the Squeezebox, one of our favorite streamers—and all the changes are good!

Dell Ultrasharp 3008WFP

David Murphy — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:47:22 -0500

This 30-inch Dell display falls a bit short of its target.

Alienware Area-51 m15x

Katherine Stevenson — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:49:22 -0500

Alienware's 15.4" m15x notebook offers peak performance if you want to pony up the drachmas.

Gigabyte GeForce 9800 X2

Michael Brown — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:20:57 -0500

Gigabyte's new GeForce 9800 X2 dual-GPU videocard is more beast than beauty. And that's a good thing.

Ken Kirby's Super Bee

Tom Edwards — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:38:51 -0500

Ken Kirby celebrates his father-in-law's love of Dodge muscle cars with his bright green Super Bee mod.

In the Lab: Will Smith Gets Burned by the Apple TV

Will Smith — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:38:06 -0500

Will says the Apple TV should carry a 'filling may be hot!' warning

In the Lab: Gordon Mah Ung Cross-Examines CrossFire

Gordon Mah Ung — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:35:28 -0500

Is four better than two? In CrossFire's case, yes.

White Paper: The Evolution of Viruses

Zack Stern — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:29:47 -0500

These technological beasties can take on lives of their own—much like their biological namesakes

Game Theory: The Alliance of PC Gaming Buzzwords

Thomas McDonald — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:23:38 -0500

PC Gaming Alliance is long on buzzwords, short on ideas.

Fast Forward: VIA's new Isaiah Processor

Tom Halfhill — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:22:10 -0500

Exciting times for mobile PCs as VIA introduces its new low-power-consumption x86 mobile processor, code-named Isaiah.

Ask the Doctor: Loud Noises and Thermal Events

The Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:07:10 -0500

Diagnosing and curing your PC problems - vanishing registry entries, blank screens, loud noises, and "thermal events".

Watchdog: May 2008

The Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:47:09 -0500

Our consumer advocate investigates BufferZone's Vista Delay, 3B tech's Drive Problem, and Saitek's Phantom Copilot.

Maximum PC's Sixth Annual Softy Awards

The Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:40:43 -0500

A big 'w00t' to this year's standout applications and utilities

How To: Streamline and Customize your Vista Installation

Mark Edward Soper — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:32:02 -0500

The free vLite application will help you save time—and gigabytes—by cutting the bloat from your Vista installation process

April 2008: Build Your Own No-Compromises $1500 PC!

The Maximum PC Staff — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:51:16 -0500

The complete PDF archive of the April 2008 edition of Maximum PC, every article included, every page posted! Download it now!

RAID Controllers Compared!

David Murphy — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:17:20 -0500

Another Maximum PC Challenge! Motherboard vs. add-in card, host-based vs. discrete. What role does a RAID controller play in overall RAID performance?

Xbox Live Marketplace

Michael Brown & Will Smith — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:00:50 -0500

The Xbox isn't just a gaming box - it's also a pretty decent high-def movie-download device. Pity about the needlessly-arcane Microsoft Points system and the inability to actually buy content.

Vudu

Michael Brown & Will Smith — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:00:24 -0500

We really wanted to like this service, but the HD content is inferior to Blu-ray, and the hardware's expensive.

Vongo

Michael Brown & Will Smith — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:00:01 -0500

Vongo is the all-you-can-eat movie buffet. And like a buffet, the fare is varied and versatile, but not particularly fresh.

Movielink

Michael Brown & Will Smith — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:59:51 -0500

The movie service that Blockbuster forgot. And we don't blame them; with SD-only fare, no support for portables or Firefox, and a mediocre selection, we'd forget it too.

iTunes Store

Michael Brown & Will Smith — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:59:27 -0500

Apple led the downloadable music charge, but will it have the same mojo with movies? Hint: Not unless it gets a lot more content.

CinemaNow

Michael Brown & Will Smith — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:59:07 -0500

CinemaNow is better than average, but that's not saying much in this field—its subscription service is particularly lame, and its catalog is nothing to write home about either.

BitTorrent

Michael Brown & Will Smith — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:58:46 -0500

BitTorrent's legal movie downloading service is not quite ready for prime time. Lack of portable support, fettered DVD-burning, and no WMC integration are just a few of the flaws we found.

Amazon Unbox

Michael Brown & Will Smith — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:58:29 -0500

Amazon Unbox doesn't have hi-def, but it does have tons of titles and a cheap-'n-easy way to get them on your TV. Read on to discover why this was among our favorite movie-downloading services.

The Ultimate Guide to Movie Download Services

Michael Brown & Will Smith — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:57:50 -0500

Home-entertainment technology has lent new meaning to the phrase ‘home box office,’ but can any of the new on-demand Internet movie services really deliver the big-screen experience? We examine the top eight options to find out .

Future Sonics Atrio m8 Earbuds

Michael Brown — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:56:33 -0500

The Atrio m8 earbuds provide bass on a budget. An enthusiast's budget, though.

Dell Ultrasharp 3008WFP

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:00:24 -0500

This 30-inch display falls a bit short of its target, unless a splotchy-backlit display is exactly what you're aiming for.

Ed Word: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the iPhone

Will Smith — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:41:48 -0500

Will Smith accepts Gordon's scorn and finally gets an iPhone. Turns out it's pretty neat these days.

Frontlines: Fuel of War

Norman Chan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:04:41 -0500

Frontlines: Fuel of War is what happens when you don’t listen to environmentalists.

ViewSonic VLED221wm

David Murphy — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:02:51 -0500

ViewSonic claims its LED-backlit increases the color gamut and generates truer black than standard LCDs. They fail to mention how friggin' dark that makes everything.

Audioengine A2 Speakers

Michael Brown — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:06:34 -0500

The Audioengine A2's sound incredible, much like their much-bigger siblings, the A5s, which have been on our Best of the Best list since we first heard them.

Samsung HD103UJ Terabyte Drive

David Murphy — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:51:45 -0500

The Samsung HD103UJ has the highest areal density of any drive to date. It's also the fastest terabyte drive out there, which is nice too.

EVGA e-GeForce 9600 GT SSC Edition

Michael Brown — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:06:23 -0500

Need a new videocard? Lucky you!

Lite-On 20A4PU EZ-Dub Optical Drive

Katherine Stevenson — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:05:33 -0500

The 20A4PU goes where you go, and looks good too.

Falcon Northwest FragBox II

Gordon Mah Ung — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:28:37 -0500

Falcon's small formfactor rig surprises in more ways than one.

Daniel Klus' Jan Henryk Dabrowski's Castle

Tom Edwards — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:00:31 -0500

Daniel Klus melds the best of the new school with the best of the old school with rig built inside a castle.

In the Lab: David Murphy Doesn't Like Microsoft Mucking with Standards

David Murphy — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:33:27 -0500

Guess who's to blame for your media streaing woes? (Hint: Microsoft)

In the Lab: Gordon Mah Ung Re-Examines RealTek Audo

Gordon Mah Ung — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:32:24 -0500

RealTek's cheating drivers might finally be fixed, maybe.

Ask the Doctor: Picture Problems, Repairing and Sharing in Vista, Cross-Country Tech Support

The Maximum PC Staff — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:40:16 -0500

Diagnosing and curing your PC problems: Where's my picture, why can't I repair my OEM Vista install, where's my bandwidth, and why can't I transfer this file? Problems galore!

How To: Sync Your Online and Offline Calendars

David Murphy — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:28:02 -0500

Soeimes you need a calendar you can access from anywhere; sometimes you just need one on your desktop. We'll show you how to make these separate applications play nice.

Build Your Own No-Compromises $1,500 PC

Gordon Mah Ung — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:32:34 -0500

With the right parts and a little bit of elbow grease, you can have yourself an affordable DIY rig that does it all!

Watchdog: April 2008

The Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:22:04 -0500

Our consumer advocate investigates Camera Addict, Creative ALchemy, and EZVideotools

March 2008: Windows Hacks & Tips

The Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:53:41 -0500

The complete PDF archive of the March 2008 edition of Maximum PC, every article included, every page posted! Download it now!

White Paper: HD Video Encryption

Zack Stern — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 15:01:57 -0500

Hollywood math: HDCP + AACS = PITA²

Trendnet Easy-N-Upgrader TEW-637AP

Michael Brown — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:39:31 -0500

Trendnet provides an alternate path to N.

Game Theory: The Sundance of Gaming

Thomas McDonald — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:15:52 -0500

The Independent Games Festival is chock-full of inventive indie fare.

Fast Forward: Low-Power Newbie: the x86

Tom Halfhill — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:15:20 -0500

For the first time, 'low power' and 'x86' will taste great together

Sins of a Solar Empire

Norman Chan — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:14:17 -0500

Sins of a Solar Empire is so good you'll never want to repent.

Roxio vs. Nero

Katherine Stevenson — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:50:00 -0500

Roxio and Nero, the leading names in digital-media creation, square off with new do-everything software suites. Should you care?