Letters
Readers’ drives pics
I would like to congratulate you and
your team for the very impressive
turnaround in Custom PC’s fortunes.
I know from other feedback that I
was not alone in being close to
cancelling my subscription in the
months leading up to the sale to
Raspberry Pi, as the magazine had
felt a little stale. As a PC Pro
subscriber, I also found the
duplication of content infuriating.
The quality of the magazine –
physically as well as content – has
been steadily improving ever since,
and I have happily renewed my
subscription recently.
However, I have one request. I
really enjoy reading about (and
being inspired by) the hugely
impressive machines featured in
‘Reader’ drives’ but I am equally
frustrated because it’s so often
difficult or even impossible to
actually see the details of them
because of the black background
used on the pages. Unfortunately, all
too much detail and contrast is lost,
even with the recent paper stock
and print quality improvements.
Maybe my 50ish-years-old eyes
don’t help, but I wish you’d use a nice
white background and let the
hardware speak for itself rather than
being overwhelmed by the page
design. You do that for the
professional product shots
elsewhere in the magazine, so can
you please show your amateur
contributors the same respect?
KEITH SULLIVAN
Ben: Thank you for your kind words,
Keith, we’re very pleased with what
we’re doing with Custom PC now.
Generally,theReaders’drivesphotos
areeithertakenbytheentrants
themselves,orwesenda photographer
roundtotheirhouse.Peoplegenerally
don’twanttoriskcourieringtheirpride
andjoytoourphotographystudio,and
it’salsonotalwayspracticaltodoso.As
a result,thebackgroundforthePCsis
usuallythereader’shome– wethencut
themoutinPhotoshop.
Obviously,usinga differentcoloured
backgroundforthepagewouldmakeno
differencehere– it’smorea caseof
gettingthebestpossibleresultyoucan
getinsomeone’shome.However,we’ll
exploreotherwaysofdoingthe
photographyinthefuture.CPUfight!
I’vebeenreadingCPCfornearly 15
yearsandwantedtoaskyoua big
question.Willtherebea CPULabsPlease send us your feedback and correspondence to
[email protected]FEEDBACK
DECIssue 196^5
on sale on Thursday, 5 DecemberWhen’s the next issue out? test? There are so many different
options, including K versions of
Intel CPUs and different models of
Ryzen 3? I would love to see a
massive CPU shootout between
AMD and Intel!
HARKIRAT JANAGELBen: Don’t worry, a CPU Labs is
definitely on the list for the near future- we’re just waiting to get as many of
the new launches out of the way first,
so that we’re testing the newest CPUs
possible. Watch this space.
Competition exorcism
For the past two issues (193 and 194)
I’ve been unable to enter any of the
‘For the win’ competitions. On both
occasions, the page said ‘Sorry, this
promotion is not available in your
region’, even when I set my location
as York, UK! Now, I know us
Yorkshire folk can be a bit backward
at times, but I never knew it
extended to exorcising us from
(presumably) UK-based
competitions. What gives, CPC?
ALEX BARDYBen: This is likely a problem with the
platform we use to run the
competitions detecting IP addresses to
determine your location. Regardless of
where you set your social media
location, if it thinks you’re not in the UK
it won’t let you in. Some ISPs don’t use
UK IP addresses, and some systems
also mask IP addresses. One possible
way around it to use your mobile
network, rather than your home
broadband, to enter the competition. I
assure you that our competitions are
definitely open to everyone in the UK
and Channel Islands, including Yorkshire!