Maximum PC
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Maximum PC, formerly known as boot, is an American magazine published by FutureNet, focused 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 (one 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.
Prior to December, 1997, the magazine was called boot. Boot was formed when CD-ROM Today split when the into Mac and PC specific magazines due to the Internet becoming prevalent.
Contents |
Product reviews
Product review 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).
Notable features
- Dream Machine - an annual attempt to build the top-perfoming PC on the market, using the best components and techniques available.
- Gear of the Year - a review of the best PC parts for the current year.
- Watch Dog - a section where Maximum PC acts as a consumer advocate, going after fraud reported by the readers. Each month the section features a new dog, whose photos are also sent in by the readers.
- Head2Head - a side-by-side comparison of two or more competing products.
- Ask the Doctor - advice of fixing computer related problems.
- In the Lab - a behind-the-scenes look at Maximum PC testing. This section often includes humorous features sometimes involving "torturing" interns.
- Rig of the Month - a monthly showcase of an elaborate case modification.
Forums
Maximum PC's website added a forum feature within the last few years. The main purpose of the forum is to answer computer related questions, as well as feedback and questions concerning the magazine to the editors.
To access the forums please vistit: http://www.maximumpc.com/forums/
Folding At Home
Maximum PC has a Folding at Home team, associated with Stanford University Folding at Home program. The Maximum PC team number is 11108 and is currently ranked 4th in the world in production, 6th for total points.
Differences with boot
A common criticism of the time when boot was published was that it was very 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.
Circulation
The magazine currently averages 79,954 newstand purchases, and reaches an estimated audience of 1.6 million per month.