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PC Authority Issue: January, 2007

Australia's premier computer magazine, PC Authority gives you the facts, opinions and insight to make informed PC and tech purchasing decisions.

Issue: 110  |  January, 2007

What's in this issue

  • Reliability & Service Awards results
  • The Ethical Hackers
  • Hard Drives of 2020
  • New Year, New Gear

    In this month’s magazine, we’ve got the much-anticipated results from our massive Reliability and Service Awards survey, which had a stunning 8,500+ readers complete it. The results are often surprising and sometimes shocking. Don't buy anything until you've seen who the PC Authority readers voted for. We also looked into the state of the art in hard drive technology, on the 50th birthday of this venerable invention that is still the favoured storage device for personal computers around the world. Security of computer systems is sometimes taken for granted, and there are sporadic reports of academics breaking into commercial systems and security layers in the name of the greater good. Who are these shady characters and what are their motivations? Patrick Gray explores the fascinating world of legitimate hacking for a living in our digital security feature. Elsewhere, we cover the Apple Mac Pro in labs which is one of the fastest computers we’ve ever measured. We also put the Dell XPS 700, the Pacstar ELITE 6600 and the Sony Vaio VGN-SZ38GP through the PC Authority testing regime. Our industry-leading coverage of graphics cards continues with our roundup of the latest ATI and Nvidia models. Finally, the PC Authority journalists spell out the hardware items they’d most like to upgrade over the holiday season in New Year, New Gear.


    If you have any comments or requests for your magazine, PC Authority, go ahead and drop me an email. We’re always listening.



    Ed Dawson, Editor

    edawson@pcauthority.com.au


  • Articles in this issue

    Apple Mac Pro
    Beautifully engineered and constructed, the Mac Pro is also the fastest PC we’ve ever seen by some margin.

    Browzar (Beta)
    With Internet Explorer’s security flaws and no way of securely erasing footprint files, the boost to privacy is minimal.

    Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
    A new take on an old classic, with a first-person perspective and mixed results.

    Dell XPS 700
    Not great value for money, but the XPS 700 offers plenty of power and striking looks.

    Ipswitch WS_FTP Home 2007
    The perfect blend of price and performance for the average home or small business user.

    MSI NX8800GTX, Asus EN8800GTS
    An exciting glimpse at future performance, but by the time games appear to make them worth buying, the price will have plummeted.

    Navman F20
    The F20 is damned by the similarly-priced TomTom which is superior in every way.

    Nero 7 Premium Reloaded
    Nero 7 Premium Reloaded adds mostly esoteric features to regular disc burning.

    Neverwinter Nights 2
    Everything the original was loved for on steroids. And just like steroids, it has its downsides.

    Nikon D80
    More expensive than its direct competition, but thanks to its brilliant features the D80 is money well spent.

    Pacstar ELITE 6600
    Fast and good value. Gamers and power users will like it.

    PC Authority Reliability and Service Awards 2006
    We’ve examined the data from more than 8000 readers to reveal exactly what sort of reliability, customer service and satisfaction you can expect in 2007.

    Philips 190P7ES
    If you need a little more quality than a budget model, look no further than this professional yet affordable LCD.

    Photo printers
    Print 6 x 4in photos from the comfort of your desk. We take a look at five miniature digital darkrooms

    Roxio Easy Media Creator 9
    Some substantial new abilities, including support for the new wave of high definition optical discs.

    ViewSonic VX2235wm
    Stylish and well built, there are better performers, but few better bargains.

    Which Blu-ray drive for you?
    Blu-ray takes another tentative step towards the mass market, but is now the time to buy?

    Why we need hackers
    Life would be easier if we didn’t have to patch our operating systems and apps. Patrick Gray explores the real reasons why updating is important.

    What's on the disc

    PC Authority Issue: 110
    On our cover DVD, we've got a full version of TurboCAD 7.1, a complete computer-aided design package, along with full versions of Actinic Catalog 8 LE, Ashampoo Burning Studio 2007, Genie Backup Manager 5 Home Edition, OrgPlus Express Small Business Edition and Panda Antivirus & Firewall 2007. We've also got plenty of entertainment on the disc, in the form of MP3 tracks by Melbourne group Cross-Eyed Mary, and an ISO file of Kubuntu Linux.

    We've also got game demos for Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs, Medieval II: Total War, Need for Speed: Carbon and Neverwinter Nights II.



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