While off of its peak telephone book sizes, Computer Shopper was still going pretty strong in 2002 with the April 2002 issue having well over 400 pages. The Internet was killing it slowly. This issue includes:
Features
Clash of the CPUs - A comparison of three Athlon XP based systems (1800+, 1900+, and 2000+) with a couple of Northwood 2.2 GHz Pentium 4 systems. While I was building my own Athlon XP based systems at the time, if I had been buying one of the pre-built systems here it would have probably been the Gateway 700XL featuring a 2.2GHz Pentium 4, 256 MB DDR RAM, and a GeForce3 Ti 200. This was probably the last Gateway design I liked.
Top of Your Game - A comparison of the Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2, including some of the top games on each system.
Service...Please! - Things to do to prepare for a tech support call.
Rock Your World - The MP3 revolution was in full swing with tons of different types of devices that could play them including flash based portable players, hard drive based portable players, CD players, DV players, and more. Devices looked at here include the Bantam Interactive BA350, Apple iPod, iRiver iMP-350 SlimX, Panasonic DVD-RP56, Audiovox D1700, Sony NetMD Walkman, and HP Digital Entertainment Center DE100C.
Image Makers - A look at four different image editors including Adobe Photoshop Elements, Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7, Microsoft Picture It, and Ulead PhotoImpact 7.
Calling All PCs - A guide to making phone calls on your PC.
Virtual Meeting Places - A look at six Web-conferencing services (this was well before the days of Zoom and Temas). Products looked at here include Centra Conference 5.3, eRoom 5.4, PlaceWare Conference Center, Raindance Web Conferencing Pro 5.10, and more.
Trends - Apple's new iMac G4, a wireless plan from Palm, Rhode Island first with Enhanced 911, new optical disc format form DataPlay, and more.
Gear - A look at various products including the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Exigy, NexiCam for the Compaq iPaq, Sony Xplod MEX-SDI, Logitech Cordless Presenter, XGaming X-Arcade, Targus Blacktop CBT100 Handheld Organizer, Archos Jukebox Multimedia, and more.
Opinons
Rik Fairlie - Concerns about copy protected CDs.
Steve Fox - More on the convergence of the computer and the TV. It happened eventually...sort of...but not really in the ways predicted.
John C. Dvorak - Pen based computing bounces back with devices like the Palm and Pocket PC.
CD-RW to the Rescue - Using a CD-RW drive and discs to backup your hard drive. This was perfectly reasonable for the hard drive sizes of the time, however, it rapidly became less reasonable as drive sizes grew.
The Hard Edge - The dot-com comeback Intel's new iteration of the Pentium 4, and more.
Alfred Poor's Computer Cures - Questions answered about hidden files after a Windows Me upgrade, a whining sound on Windows 98 shut down, cleaning the hard drives of donated computers, random modem disconnects, and more.
Buying Advisor - The advantages of a PVR over a DVR.
Reviews
Desktops - Reviews of the Dell Dimension 4400 (1.8GHz Pentium 4, 256MB DDR, nVidia GeForce3 Ti 200), Cyberpower Gamer Platinum Pro (1.6GHz Athlon XP 1900+, 1GB DDR, ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon 8500 DV), and eMachines T4155 (1.5GHz Pentium 4, 256MB SDRAM, nVidia GeForce2 MX 200).
Hardware - Reviews of the Terapin Mine TX2000 external hard drive, Canon PowerShot S40 digital camera, HP DVD-Writer DVD100I, Visioneer OneTouch 8920 USB flatbed scanner, VisionTek Xtasy 6964 graphics card, and ATI Radeon 7500 graphics card, Belkin Nostromo NSO Speedpad.
Networks - A review of the Linksys Etherfast Wireless AP + Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port Switch.
Mobile - A look at the Acer Travelmate 744LCF (1.2GHz Pentium III-M, 128MB SDRAM), Fujitsu Lifebook B Series (700MHz Pentium III-M, 128MB SDRAM), Toshiba Tecra 9000 (1.2GHz Pentium III-M, 256MB SDRAM), Motorola V200 Personal Communicator, Toshiba SD-P1500 portable DVD player, Imation RipGo, and D-Link DCF-650W Wireless Compact Flash Type II Card.
Software - Reviews of Norton Ghost 2002, Ulead DVD Moviefactory, Goback 3 Deluxe, and Oracle Small Business Suite 7.0.
Web Services - A look at online music services including Pressplay and RealOne Music.
Games - Reviews of Rally Trophy, IL-2, Secret Service: In Harm's Way, and Schizm: Mysterious Journey.
