I've recently moved. How do I change the address on my subscription?

For questions about your subscription or to change your mailing address, send a detailed e-mail message to our subscription department: custserv@sunbeltfs.com.

Please include the magazine name, your name and address as it appears on your subscription label, your question or comments, and any changes necessary.

How do I subscribe to your magazine? What does it cost for subscriptions? Is there a special Web rate for subscriptions? What if I don't reside in the U.S.?

You can get a one-year subscription to one or more Bedford Communications publications and enjoy these special online rates:

LAPTOP: 
$13.97 for 12 issues (1 year)

Computer Buyer's Guide & Handbook:  
$13.97 for 12 issues (1 year)

PC Upgrade:  
$18.00 for 6 issues (1 year)

(add $7.00 for each subscription outside the U.S.)

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Whom may I contact regarding advertising in your publications?

For information on advertising in any of Bedford Communications publications or on this Web site, please contact Kelly Immoor, Director of Advertising at kimmoor@bedfordmags.com. Include the publication(s) in which you are interested and your contact information (including company name, products/services, and street address) so the appropriate representative can get back to you.

Who do I contact to order reprints of an article that appeared in a recent issue? (Or to obtain permission to reprint a feature in a newsletter or on a Web site.)

The content of all Bedford Communications publications is copyrighted. You must receive written permission to reprint information contained in these publications. For high-quality reprints of 100 or more, contact Reprint Services at 651-582-3800. For more information, please contact Sandy Diamond at sdiamond@bedfordmags.com .

Where can I get a copy of your editorial calendars?

LAPTOP and Computer Buyer's Guide & Handbook publish editorial calendars every six months (PC Upgrade does not publish an editorial calendar). To obtain a copy of the current calendar for either publication, please contact Sandy Diamond at sdiamond@bedfordmags.com. Include with your request your company name, major clients (if applicable), job title, your name, and your e-mail address.

Where can I send press releases about my company's products and services for possible coverage in your publications?

For LAPTOP magazine, please direct press releases to Jessica McKenna, Managing Editor, at jmckenna@bedfordmags.com. For Computer Buyer's Guide & Handbook or PC Upgrade, please direct press releases to Rosalia Ferraro, Managing Editor, at rferraro@bedfordmags.com.

I recently read a review of a fabulous new product in your magazine. How can I contact this company to obtain more information or purchase the product?

First, flip to the end of the article in question. No matter which Bedford publication you're reading, most of our articles include a final section called “Where To Find It” or “Companies Mentioned.” This box includes phone numbers (toll-free if available) and Web addresses for all companies and products mentioned in the article.

If you can't find the company in that section, or if you think the information listed is incorrect, please contact the editors at questions@bedfordmags.com so we can investigate the problem.

What is the Norton SI32 benchmark score that appears in your system reviews? Why don't Mac and Windows 2000 systems get an SI32 score?

Norton SI32 is a processor-level benchmark, which means it gauges the performance of a PC based primarily on its CPU. This benchmark can't run on Macs, and although it will technically run under Windows NT4 and 2000, it doesn't do so reliably. As a result, all Mac and Windows NT4 and 2000-based systems will be listed with a Norton SI32 score of N/A (not available).

As complementary components, like video cards and core logic chipsets, have become more powerful, the usefulness of processor-level benchmarks in determining the true performance of a PC has greatly diminished. Even for Windows 95/98 and Me-based PCs SI32 is no longer a very good judge of system performance.

For years, both Computer Buyer's Guide & Handbook and LAPTOP used Norton SI32 to evaluate the relative performance of various PCs. Today, however, Norton SI32 has become too poor an indicator of overall system performance, and its use in both publications has therefore decreased. We continue to run real-world performance tests, such as evaluating the time required to sample multimegabyte images in Photoshop or compile data in Excel.

I read the same system review in your magazine two months in a row, was that a mistake?

In both Computer Buyer's Guide & Handbook and LAPTOP, approximately half of the systems reviewed in a given issue are reprinted in the next issue. We update the specs with the vendors to ensure that pricing and components are still accurate and that the system is still available for purchase. While the pace of change in the computer industry is fast, most vendors keep systems available for several months. Without our reprint policy, readers might miss coverage of systems we reviewed the month before that are still available.

From time to time, a vendor sends us a PC that's such a strong value that none of the PCs sent to us the following month rates as well with us. It would be irresponsible of us to select a more recently released system as our Best Buy when we know there's a better PC on the market. In order for us to show our readers the best available systems, we consider all of the PCs we've reviewed that are still available when choosing a Best Buy. Should we choose a system as a Best Buy two months in a row, this fact will be clearly stated on the opening page of the System Reviews section.

I'm interested in purchasing an Apple computer. Why don't you have any Mac reviews in your latest issue?

Apple is invited to participate in every issue, but, like most vendors, the company does not have a new system available every month. With hundreds of PCs available at any given time, we simply can't run reviews of all of them.

Each month, we invite all computer vendors to submit new systems for review. Of those new systems that arrive in time, we select 10 to 14 to include in our review section. We try to select a broad range of systems that represent good values to various types of buyers (budget-minded small-business and home users, enterprise-level buyers, graphics professionals, die-hard gamers, etc.).

You'll rarely see a truly scathing review in our magazines. We believe that if a PC is really that bad, it doesn't deserve the publicity of a review, and the pages would be better devoted to a system that offers better value to the consumer.

I just read your System Reviews section, and the Mars 933A4 laptop seems identical to the SAGER NP3363T. do my eyes deceive me?

Notebook vendors are usually just that; vendors, not manufacturers. They buy PCs from manufacturers overseas and offer them for sale to consumers in the U.S. under their own brand names. Since a relatively limited number of system designs are produced, many different vendors order the same systems and, therefore, sell notebooks with identical components in identical cases.

This doesn't mean that all of these OEM (original equipment manufacturer) PCs are exactly the same. After receiving a notebook from its supplier, a vendor doesn't just stamp its name on the lid and sell it as an "ACME Notebook Company" original. Notebook vendors offer different options for their systems. Sometimes, what one vendor considers optional is standard equipment for another. Cases, PC Cards, and software suites are the most common examples of this.

Vendors also stand behind their systems with different warranties and varying levels of service and support. With the performance and features of notebook PCs becoming increasingly indistinguishable, the service covering a computer is becoming as important as the computer itself.

I'm a doctor looking for a new laptop. I'm torn between two systems that I read about in your last issue. Which one should I buy?

Although helping our readers find the right laptop for their needs is one of the main priorities of LAPTOP magazine, there aren't enough hours in the day to personally assist each reader in their quest and still meet our publishing deadlines.

Without knowing exactly how you plan to use a computer, we can't tell you which one is the best choice for you. No one knows better than you just how you use a PC, so the best solution is for us to provide you with all the information we can about a wide range of PCs, and let you select the right one armed with that information. If you have a specific question about a product or component, we'll be happy to help.

How can I check up on a vendor to see if it's a reliable company?

You can learn a lot about a company's reputation through the Better Business Bureau, at www.bbb.org. The BBB's site is a good resource for finding if a company has any outstanding customer complaints, and if those complaints are numerous and severe enough to warranty a BBB investigation.

Another good place to learn of a company's reputation is a consumer forum, like Epinions.com (www.epinions.com). Epinions is a good place to learn what people who have dealt with a company or product really think of it. While the BBB reports formal findings, Epinions offers personal, real-world advice. Perusing the list of customer testimonials at Epinions.com can speak volumes about a company's reputation, and can save you from sharing the same negative experiences as those who've shopped before you.

You should also check the Company Profiles following our reviews each month. These profiles list the approximate size of each company in the Reviews section, in terms of both its employees and annual sales, as well as the number of years it's been in business. While this information won't give you the details of a vendor's customer satisfaction record, it will let you know if you're dealing with a well-established company.

Why is a certain system listed in your Notebook Comparison Charts, but not covered in the System Reviews section? or Why is there an ad for this product but no review?

There simply aren't enough pages in our magazine to include hands-on reviews of every system on the market each month. The System Reviews section is used for in-depth evaluation of approximately 20 PCs, while the comparison charts offer a comparison of the vital specifications for about 200 systems.

While we don't have the space to include detailed reviews of every new system, we also don't have the time to test them all. As a result, when a vendor introduces a new product that it chooses to advertise in our magazine, we may not yet have had the opportunity to review it. Because systems must be selected for review well ahead of the time ads are placed in the magazine, a product advertised in one issue may not be reviewed until the next.

How do you address the constant changes in product lines?

For our reviews to be on newsstands by the time a new product is available for sale, we have to evaluate that product about two months before its release to the public. Otherwise, many products would be discontinued by the time our reviews were available.

Another way we avoid obsolescence in our reviews is to keep in touch with the vendors throughout the review process. Vendors have several opportunities to review the basic system specs (though not the actual reviews) before publication and ensure that no changes have occurred (such as price drops or component reconfigurations).

Technical

What's a spindle? You keep talking about them in LAPTOP.

In a laptop, spindles refer to the number of drives that can be simultaneously installed. Standard drive technology consists of a platter spinning around a central spindle. Thus, each drive included adds one spindle. In a three-spindle notebook, the hard disk, floppy, and optical drives can all be installed at the same time. In a two-spindle system, the hard drive is the only drive permanently installed, while the floppy must be swapped out when you want to install the optical drive, and vice versa. If you can manage without floppies or CDs for the length of your travels, you should look into a one-spindle laptop.

Some slim notebooks offer a detachable base that incorporates two additional drive bays, giving you a very portable one-spindle laptop on the road, plus an all-in-one three-spindle system at your desk.

Modular bays are preferable over integrated drives because they allow you to swap out a drive and replace it with a second hard disk, Zip drive, or battery. All two-spindle laptops offer a modular bay, but many three-spindle systems integrate both drives, precluding the installation of these secondary devices.

What's the story on vendors that use desktop processors in their laptops? Should I stay away from such products?

Not necessarily. Intel's Mobile Pentium III and Celeron processors have two relatively significant drawbacks over their desktop counterparts. First, their clock speeds are always a few hundred megahertz slower, and second, they're more expensive. Both of these problems are due to these chips' small size, low power requirements, and energy-saving features

The largest laptop vendors don't use desktop processors for three reasons. First, they draw more power than their mobile counterparts, reducing battery runtime. Second, they produce more heat, requiring more powerful cooling fans, which in turn, draw more power and reduce battery runtime further. Third, they're more likely to fail within the tight confines (read: limited room for heatflow) and under the low power setting of a laptop than a true mobile chip.

Many smaller PC vendors need to compete fiercely on price and performance. Unable to leverage their brand names, they outfit their laptops with desktop processors in order to avoid the cost associated with these mobile CPUs and to be able to sell laptops with desktop-class clock speeds. Since Intel's latest desktop chips don't draw that much more power or take up much more room than mobile chips, this can be a very prudent cost-cutting move for both vendors and consumers.

Although the use of a desktop CPU will typically decrease the battery life of a laptop by about 30 minutes, that won't be of much concern to you if you're buying a laptop as a desktop replacement. If your laptop's travels won't include much more than driving back and forth from the office, a long battery life isn't necessary at all. If you plan to get a fair share of use with your laptop away from a power outlet, though, you should spend the extra money for a true mobile CPU. Not only will it run longer before draining the battery, but it also won't burn your lap.

To address the increased possibility of the CPU failing, we recommend that if you choose a laptop with a desktop processor, you make sure to get a three-year warranty covering the CPU.

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