Is PC World Still Worth the Subscription?

alexwcovington asks: "I've subscribed to PC World magazine since 1996, but my subscription is up for renewal this year, and I'm not sure if I need it anymore. I love reading the Stephen Manes rants and hoarding back issues in my closet, but I find myself getting virtually all the hard information I used to turn to PC World for from the Internet. What's the relevance of a print IT publication in modern times?"

No.

[Threni]

Most of those mags are readable online. Online suppliers advertise products more cheaply than those in the magazine, and I don't have any more respect for the reviewers in the mag than online, because you're trusting people who are likely to not want to upset the manufacturers and retailers who supply the magazine with review kit that they can subsequently keep, rather than people online who've bought the stuff with their own money and used it - often for extended periods of time. Also, you get much more in depth reviews, with much more accurate information online, especially if you surf around and check out a few sites. Finally, you're left with a few hundred pages of paper to through away at the end of the month. I see no point in buying computer magazines any longer.

Well... it depends on you.

[Tamerz]

PC World was/is a great magazine if you are a novice. I learned a lot when I started from PC's because of my subscription, and I can see how it can help a lot of people. I just outgrew it eventually, and it didn't hit the more technical details I needed. It just depends on what you are looking for out of it.

Re:real magazine

[martijnd]

New Scientist is a good one, I second the economist [economist.com] as a teatime reader. Their Tech/Science articles are in touch with reality, and a lot of their articles end up being quoted on Slashdot weeks later.

Re:Monthly magazines are death

[TheRaven64]

I used to read Computer Shopper back in the '90s. It had three things going for it back then:

1. Free-beer software on the cover. Later this turned mainly to shareware or things I could download anyway if I wanted to (which I usually didn't).
2. News. Later this became 'things I had read about a month earlier online.'
3. Up-to-date complete catalogues for lots of different computer suppliers. Now I check prices online.

I cancelled my subscription about five years ago, and haven't missed it. For the last year I didn't read much other than the Mac column, which was an old bloke bitching about how much new stuff sucked.