Maximum PC

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maximum PC, formerly known as boot, is an American magazine published by Future US, and focuses on modern day PC hardware. Being a forum for printed review, Maximum PC is generally a respected label on commercial products. Most content in the magazine is projected to a less business-oriented audience than many other magazines. The magazine is focused more so on home-related computing, and the relation of modern hardware towards modern software and gaming.

Maximum PC's use of humor, sometimes vulgar language, and suggestive images (two of the issues featured a female nurse fixing a computer on the cover) gave it a distinct populist feeling, and also resulted in some controversy. In particular, the 'nurse cover' of February 2003 generated a large amount of reader feedback and letters.

Prior to September 1997, the magazine was called boot. boot and sister magazine MacAddict launched in 1995 when Future US shut down CD-ROM Today.

1 Product reviews
2 Notable features
3 Differences from boot
4 Forums
5 Folding@home
6 Circulation
7 Staff
8 External links

[edit] Product reviews

Product reviews are done by editors on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best. The only product to receive an "11" rating was Half-Life 2 in January 2005, raising some objections from readers.

Outstanding products are also given a "Kick Ass" award. Exceptional products with a "9" rating and all products with a "10" rating receive this award.

Each review also includes a "Pros and Cons" section giving a quick summary of the product. Shortly after its first publication, the magazine started placing humorous captions in this section, many of which being a pun on the product itself or its function. For example in a review of two monitors, one section is captioned LCD (pros) vs. LSD (cons), in the other it is liquid crystal (pros) vs. crystal meth (cons).

[edit] Notable features

Head2Head - a side-by-side comparison of two or more competing products.
Watch Dog - a section where Maximum PC acts as an Ombudsman, going after fraud reported by the readers. Each month the section features a new dog, whose photos are also sent in by the readers.
How To - short, technical instructions on modifying computer components.
Ask the Doctor - advice of fixing computer related problems.
R&D - a look into the inner workings of commonly used hardware today.
In the Lab - a behind-the-scenes look at Maximum PC testing. This section often includes humorous features sometimes involving "torturing" interns.
Softy Awards - a yearly roundup of the staff's favorite new software (mostly utilities)
Hardware Autopsy - a diagram of the innards of various devices, such as a printer, a camera, etc.
In/Out - fan mail
Rig of the Month - a monthly showcase of an elaborate case modification.
Dream Machine - an annual attempt to build the best-performing PC on the market, using the best components and techniques available.
Geek Quiz - An annual computer/technology quiz that will have even the most hardcore geeks grinding their teeth.
Gear of the Year - a review of the best PC parts for the current year.

[edit] Differences from boot

A common criticism of the time when boot was published was that it was elitest in the nature of the products it reviewed and attitudes taken by its writers. boot was aimed at a super hardcore PC and gaming audience with many articles focusing on computers for the absolute best computer and/or gaming experience with absolutely no regard to cost. When it revamped itself as Maximum PC it dropped much of the elitist attitude and focused on being accessible to a wider array of hardcore PC users and gamers. boot also featured a monthly commentary with Alex St. John, nicknamed "The Saint", regarding the emerging DirectX standard which he was instrumental in developing at Microsoft, often leading to some controversy in the gaming community on the merits of DirectX vs. OpenGL. His arguments with id Software's John Carmack became famous during this time in the gaming community.

[edit] Forums

Maximum PC's added a forum to their website in 2004 to serve the purpose of answering computer related questions, as well as feedback and questions concerning the magazine. Since the startup date, the forums have over 11751 users as well as 526555 unique posts making it a huge sucess.

[edit] Folding@home

Maximum PC has a Folding@home team, associated with Stanford University's Folding@home program. The Maximum PC team number is 11108 and is currently ranked fourth in the world.

[edit] Circulation

The magazine claims a circulation rate-base of 300,000.

[edit] Staff

Editor-in-chief: Will Smith
Managing Editor: Katherine Stevenson
Executive Editor: Michael Brown
Senior Editor: Gordon Mah Ung
Associate Editor: David Murphy
Art Director: Natalie Jeday
Associate Art Director: Boni Uzilevsky
Editorial Director: Jon Phillips

Senior Editor Josh Norem resigned on Friday, August 18th 2006, and moved to Texas. Robert Strohmeyer, formerly of Future US' Mobile PC magazine, joined the Maximum PC staff in September 2006.