BUMPER CHRISTMAS ISSUE 900+ PAGES Group Tests: Home Pcs, Colour Inkjets, Digital Cameras, Easy Web Design
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SPINE JAN 98 JANUARY 1998 FREE 1997 COMPTON’S www.pcw.co.uk 21 No1 Volume ENCYCLOPEDIA* RRP £29.99 01 £2.95 www.pcw.co.uk Overseas Price £3.95 Austria: ASch 112.00, Denmark: DKR 85.00, Germany: DM 25,00, Greece: DRA 2,500.00, Holland: HFL 18,50, Italy: L15,000, Malta: Lm 2.85c, USA: $14.95 VNU Business Publications 9 770142 023069 Software; Reviews: CorelDraw 8, MSN, Money 98, FileMaker Pro 4; Extended entertainment section Software; Reviews: CorelDraw 8, MSN, What to buy this Christmas; BUMPER CHRISTMAS ISSUE 900+ PAGES Group tests: Home PCs, Colour Inkjets, Digital Cameras, Easy Web Design Group tests: Home PCs, Colour Inkjets, Digital Cameras, Easy Web WIN If your CD-ROMs are 2Canon printers missing please ask your newsagent ACompaq server *Offer applies in UK only worth £3,400 10 3D graphics cards All hardware tested by the VNU Labs CYMK Contents Christmas Special 124 All you want for Christmas As the nights draw in and snow begins to fall (well, hopefully) our thoughts turn to Christmas, and we’ve come up with the pick of the PC prezzies. Our special seasonal section features home PCs, a timely update on colour inkjet printers, an extended Screenplay games special and the best of the year’s CD-ROMs, all topped off with the PCW team’s recommendations. Goodwill to everyone! 128 Ten home PCs tested. 146 Nine colour inkjet printers tested. 157 Eight top entertainment titles reviewed. 164 Gamepads and joysticks judged. 166 Super CD-ROMs — a round-up of the best from 97. 169 Team Spirit — tons of things we PCW people would like to find under our Christmas tree this year. Group Tests Happy Christmas! We show you how p124 128 Home PCs The PC is becoming the must-have item for the home. Lynley Oram and Paul Trueman pitch five retail buys from the likes of Brother, Compaq and HP, against five bought from direct suppliers like Dan and Hi-Grade. Which come out tops in the battle for a place in your study? 146 Colour inkjet printers Fantastic colour prints at low prices have made colour inkjets the number one PC peripheral. Nik Rawlinson shows the colour of his money when he takes bets on the likes of Epson, Alps, HP, Canon and Lexmark. Who’ll be making it in print? 188 Easy web page software You don’t have to be a programmer to design and build your own web pages. Tim Anderson tries out packages to impress Smile please! Digital cameras p214 a worldwide network with the minimum of fuss. 214 Digital cameras Following a shaky start, digital cameras have now snapped their way from hot gadgets to genuinely useful tools. Adele Dyer and Paul Trueman see how they’ve developed in terms of affordability, reliability and quality. Which will be Prints Charming and which the Ugly Vistas this panto season? Features 178 Mobile computing Handheld computers are big business. Clive Akass meets Psion palmtop designer, Martin Riddiford, and discusses how this British company represents the biggest opposition to Microsoft’s Windows CE. What does Psion have in store? 184 Interview: Peter James Michael Hewitt talks to the controversial best-selling British Psion man, Martin Riddiford p178 author who believes in the end of the book as we know it. 6 • Personal Computer World • January 1998 CYAN•MAGENTA•YELLOW•BLACK PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD Reviews Regulars 70 Gadgets 91 Microsoft Money Financial ErgoMouse, CD HydroBath, Suite 98 10 Subscriptions Senso CIC, Evolution Music Make your finances work for you. 13 Editorial Creator Pro, Lap Top Locker, 92 Norton AntiVirus 4 Deluxe 13 Next Month Logitech MouseMan+ Zap those viruses! 14 Cover Disc Notes 96 ClarisWorks 5 Office 24 Newsprint and Analysis First Impressions 100 Claris FileMaker Pro 4 36 Internet News — New! 72 Gateway G5-166M 102 Microsoft MSN 2.5 51 Sounding Off 53 Straight Talking Budget PC with a printer. 104 Symantec 55 Business Matters pcANYWHERE32 8.0 57 From the Desktop 104 IMSI WinDelete 97 Strip out those redundant files. 60 Letters 235 Futures 107 i publish 2.0 326 Beginners 107 FreeSpace 328 Reader Offers 109 ZipMagic vs Zip It 4 341 Direct Buyers’ World BUY HARDWARE, BUY SOFTWARE, BY TELEPHONE Advertising Index Complete index of all PCW’s 346 Buyer’s Guide advertisers. No-Nonsense Buyer’s Guide Sensible, straightforward information about PCs, notebooks, peripherals and software. Glossary Those confusing computer acronyms CD-ROMs 825 Product Locator explained. Buyer’s Charter Our mail order guarantee scheme PLUS steps you should take to buy safely by mail order. PCW Order Form Always use this form when you’re buying by mail order. 832 Ad Index Product Locator A quick way to find all the advertisers 111 Result, You Don’t Know Jack, who sell any particular product. THE place to compare prices on a wide range of PC products from top suppliers Encyclopedia of History, 835 ChipChat Sightings UFOpedia Leisure Lines Kids 159 Screenplay 331 Brainteasers 115 Monopoly Star Wars, Super 331 Crossword Jewellery Kit, Chaos Island, How does it work? 332 Retro 335 Books Long Term Tests 337 WIN! £3,400 worth of small- Slimline Samsung p75 120 HP DeskJet 500 office gear, Nitro3D graphics cards, a Canon printer 120 US Robotics Pilot 5000 74 Tiny Home Cinema System Pocket-sized and easy to use. Everything you need for the complete cinematic experience — 122 Delphi 3 except the popcorn. Hands On 75 Samsung SyncMaster 400 TFT 241 Introduction 242 Delphi Workshop (part II) 75 ViewSonic Graphic Series 248 Internet G773 256 Windows 95 78 Canon MultiPASS C20 261 Windows 3.1 & MultiPASS L90 264 Windows NT 80 VideoLogic Sonic Storm 271 Unix & Apocalypse 5D Sonic 274 OS/2 Sound goes PCI. 276 Word Processing 83 Intel Create & Share Camera 287 Spreadsheets Pack Video-conferencing for the home user. 290 Databases 295 Hardware 86 Philips CDD 3610 298 Sound 86 Hitachi GD 2000 DVD-ROM Drive 302 Graphics & DTP The second generation of DVD. 310 3D Graphics 88 CorelDraw 8 312 Visual Programming The giant graphics package gets even 319 Networks bigger. But is it any better? Intel Create and Share pack p83 Personal Computer World • January 1998 • 7 CYAN•MAGENTA•YELLOW•BLACK PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD JANUARY 1998 FREE 1997 COMPTON’S Editorial Advertising ENCYCLOPEDIA* RRP £29.99 Acting Editor Gordon Laing Sales Director Brin Bucknor 01 £2.95 www.pcw.co.uk Associate Editor Clive Akass Head of Portfolio Sales Overseas Price £3.95 Barcode Scaled Austria: ASch 112.00, Denmark: DKR 85.00, Germany: DM 25,00 Greece: DRA 2,500.00, Holland: HFL 18,50, Italy: L15,000 Malta: Lm 2.85c, USA: $14.95 Features Editor Dylan Armbrust Paula Barnes 0171 316 9194 VNU Business Publications 9 770142 023069 Reviews Editor Adele Dyer Portfolio Sales Manager BUMPER CHRISTMAS ISSUE 900+ PAGES Technical Editor Adam Evans Emma Halliwell 0171 316 9246 Staff Writers Lynley Oram, Nik Rawlinson, Assistant Ad Manager Paul Trueman Kevin Elderfield 0171 316 9303 Editorial Assistant Etelka Clark Columnists Brian Clegg, Barry Fox, PC Consumer Sales Michael Hewitt, Tim Nott Melanie Clark 0171 316 9727 International Correspondent Tim Bajarin Colin Reid 0171 316 9439 Paul Chakrabarti 0171 316 9523 Editorial Phone 0171 316 9000 Jon Westbrook 0171 316 9306 Editorial Fax 0171 316 9313 Leslie Goldstein 0171 316 9535 Web site www.pcw.co.uk Chloe Goodliffe 0171 316 9572 All email addresses are in the following form: [email protected] Micromart Sales Executives Robert Miskin 0171 316 9305 Production Nina Flynn 0171 316 9309 Sarah Coull 0171 316 9435 WIN Production Editor Lauraine Lee Senior Sub-Editor Patrick Ramus Portfolio Account Handlers If your CD-ROMs are 2Canon printers missing please ask Sub-Editor Rachel Spooner your newsagent ACompaq server Emma Beagley 0171 316 9502 *Offer applies in UK only worth £3,400 10 3D graphics cards Maggie Bedwell 0171 316 9504 Design Paul Heslop 0171 316 9501 Beccy Carr 0171 316 9307 Art Editor Claudia Randall Dave Barr 0171 316 9533 Assistant Art Editor Katy Holden SUBSCRIPTION Issue Management HOTLINE New Media Susie Ross 0171 316 9465 Internet Editor Angela Collins Credit Control Manager 01483 733870 CD Editor Steve Rogers 0171 316 9370 Tosh Bruce-Morgan 0171 316 9667 steve—[email protected] Interactive Developer US Sales Representative Global Media Call this number for any Joel Newman 0171 316 9660 Representatives 010 1 415 306 0880 joel—[email protected] assistance with: Software Researcher Matt Honeyball Taiwan Sales Representatives credit card orders, renewals, 0171 316 9058 Grace Chu / Kent Lai 010 886 2717 7663 matt—[email protected] prices and back issues of Production Personal Computer World. VNU Labs Group Production Controller European Labs Manager Wisse Hettinga Stav Athanasiou 0171 316 9227 Labs Manager George MacDonald FAX A SUB TO Labs Testing Editor Nathan Harley Production Manager Labs Tester Matt Riddell Peggy St. Clair 0171 316 9485 Operations Manager Alan Rider 01483 756792 Labs Phone 0171 316 9064 Circulation Labs Fax 0171 316 9059 Email Circulation Executive Joanne Jeavons 0171 316 9702 Enquiries or complaints regarding any pcwsubs@ advertiser in this magazine should, initially, be presented in writing to Publishing Anthony George, Customer Relations galleon.co.uk Department, VNU Business Publications, Founder Angelo Zgorelec VNU House, 32-34 Broadwick Street, Publishing Director Jon Ross 0171 316 9187 London W1A 2HG. Tel 0171 316 9186. Publisher Catherine Gray 0171 316 9617 By Post to: Readers are reminded that we are unable to Group Marketing Manager provide technical help/support services, either Dafina Harrison 0171 316 9181 Personal Computer World written or verbal.