Maximum PC - USA (2022-04)

APR 2022MAXIMU MPC 95

More Letters, Less iFixit!

Get Good at GIMP

Sub-par $2K laptops

also the humor. I remember

laughing so hard at your

review of the Logitech Z80

speakers, when you hooked

up 12 speakers and cranked

them up so loud that none

of the ensuing complaints

could actually be heard!

Over the years, your

reviews have guided my

purchases, from those

Logitech speakers (I’m still

rocking them today) to the

Matrox 400 graphics card

with a TV tuner, to various

CPUs and motherboards

along the way.

I’m not a gamer, but I

do have a drawer full of

broken video cards thanks

to their tiny fans freezing

up, so I was really happy

to learn about the Ryzen G

series CPUs with integrated

graphics. I now have three

such systems, including the

most recent AMD Ryzen 7

5700G. In addition, I have

a new passion for the

Raspberry Pi since learning

about it in Maximum PC,

for which I was able to

program my own threader

interpreter language, but

that’s another story.

I’ve really enjoyed the

most recent in-depth

articles by Ian, Chris, Nick,

and Jeremy, along with the

memories from reviews of

past systems I‘ve owned

over the decades. I’m

looking forward to the new

Editor and the magazine's

continued success for the

next 20 years, if I make that

long. Keep up the great

work! –G. Holcomb

Kick-Ass Reader

I am an owner of a copy

of the very first edition of

Maximum PC, and I am glad

I held on to it. I have always

been a fan of the magazine,

and I love the Kick-Ass

reviews. –R. Rodekurt

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GUY

COCKER, RESPONDS: Thanks

so much for these letters—

I'm sure they will warm

the hearts of the many

people who have worked on

Maximum PC over the p ast

25 years.

As mentioned, our

February 2022 issue

looked back on around 300

issues of the magazine,

which started life as Boot

in 1996 and morphed

into Maximum PC two

years later. This feature

is one of the reasons I

love magazines because

going back to them is like

exploring a time capsule of

PC ownership at the time.

Some things seem twee

(like the jump to the first

1GHz processor), while

others demonstrate how

the more things change,

the more they stay the

same (like our constant

disappointment with new

version s of Windows). I

also love looking over the

old covers and marveling

at the crazy photoshoots.

Your letter is also a

reminder that while plenty

of our readers do care

about games and graphics,

not everyone wants (or

needs) to spend loads on a

GPU these days.

Thankfully, integrated

graphics have gotten

better on desktops, as Sam

found out in his $600 build

last issue, while laptop

chips from AMD and Intel

this year also look to be

making a generational leap

forward. We’ll have plenty

of coverage on those this

year , so we're glad to have

you with us.

Ghost in the Machine

I’m a business guy who

loves PCs, is a great fan

of Maximum PC, and has

poured lots of dough into

what I thought were good

business laptops (Lenovo,

mostly). However, I don’t

seem to get great battery

life or performance from

my $2,000+ laptops.

I’m also a photographer

and videographer and

those things have not really

challenged my machine.

Meanwhile, it takes almost

two minutes to boot,

loading programs should

be a snap but it’s not, and

the whole experience is

disappointing for the sum

of money I’ve invested.

I’m starting to think that

a laptop with gaming specs

might be the way forward.

What do you think? I'm

fed up with watching little

circles and clocks on my

screen while waiting for

pretty ordinary programs

to load. I’d appreciate your

help. –L. Babin

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GUY

COCKER, RESPONDS: As

a gamer myself, I would

usually recommend a

gaming laptop to anyone,

but not in your case. You

haven’t mentioned that

you enjoy playing games

in your letter and, while

a GPU would give your

Adobe Premiere Pro video

encoding a nice boost, you

said you're barely pushing

your machine as it is.

As a photographer

and businessperson, I'd

imagine you use your

machine on the road,

and gaming laptops are

notoriously big and heavy.

They aren't known for

their battery life—many,

such as my Lenovo Legion

5 Pro, allow you to reduce

the screen refresh rate,

turn off the dedicated

graphics, and even use a

portable USB-C charger,

but they’re not going to

offer you ' all-day ' battery

that will allow you to move

between meetings without

a charger.

My first port of call on

your current laptop would

be to go into Windows

Settings and select Power

& Battery. In there, you

can see your battery usage

for the last week and see

what’s using the most

power —I was shocked to

see Google Chrome taking

71 percent of my power use

over a week. Then go to the

Lenovo Vantage app that

should be installed on your

machine, and check the

Battery section to see its

overall health, as it could

be time for a replacement.

Thankfully, these are fairly

cheap to buy from Lenovo

and easy to install yourself.

If you still just want a

new laptop, I’d recommend

a Dell XPS 13 or a Microsoft

Surface Laptop. Both are

stylish, powerful, and

boast long battery life.

[CORRECTIONS]

On Page 16 of our February 2022 issue, we

erroneously listed an SSD in the cooler section of our

ingredients list for the Alder Lake build. The featured

cooler should have been the Corsair iCUE H170i Elite

Cappelix AIO. We apologize to our readers, and to

Corsair, for any confusion caused.

We also stated in our February 2022 review of

the EPOS Adapt 360 headphones that EPOS fell

under the Sennheiser umbrella when, in fact, the

two companies operate a co-branding agreement.

Maximum PC regrets the error and apologizes to

EPOS for any confusion caused.