Good Hardware Review Magazine Wanted

[Kevin Grant]

Years ago I used to rely on PC Magazine for my hardware reviews. This
is because they did something I use to call a "runoff". They would
take 1-2 dozen current pieces of hardware (like the most popular
modems of the day) and test them (like putting them on a fake phone
line and throwing static and file transfers at them) and then provide
the raw numbers that told how well each one performed. Well here I am
buying hardware again and it seems PC Magazine has gone downhill. The
problems are:

1. They seem far more oriented towards "reviews" and "opinions" and
"advice" than on what I call "runoffs", which were the most valuable
thing they did (by far).

2. When they do do a "runoff", it is with "hot topic" stuff (like adsl
modems, digital cameras, etc).

So here I am wanting to buy stuff like a 56k regular-phone-line modem
and a
plain usb webcam, and there are none of the good old reviews like the
"let's hook them all up to a fake phone line and throw static at them
and then report the transfer rate" and the "let's take pics with them
under different lighting conditions and print all the pics" runoffs
they used to do.

So assuming that they are not going to revert, what magazines do do
this kind of thing now? I've tried on-line sites like anandtech and
while they do do runoffs, they tend to stick with "hot topic" stuff
too. As opposed to "most bang for the buck for non-overclockers"
stuff.

[Pen]

You could try PCWorld as they do do reviews, but am
unsure about 56k modems. DSL and Cable ones seem to
be the hot ticket items now.

"Kevin Grant" <kpgrant@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:f91e54f6.0306281627.40ce5256@posting.google.com... Years ago I used to rely on PC Magazine for my hardware reviews.
This is because they did something I use to call a "runoff". They would take 1-2 dozen current pieces of hardware (like the most popular modems of the day) and test them (like putting them on a fake phone line and throwing static and file transfers at them) and then
provide the raw numbers that told how well each one performed. Well here I
am buying hardware again and it seems PC Magazine has gone downhill.
The problems are: 1. They seem far more oriented towards "reviews" and "opinions" and "advice" than on what I call "runoffs", which were the most valuable thing they did (by far). 2. When they do do a "runoff", it is with "hot topic" stuff (like
adsl modems, digital cameras, etc). So here I am wanting to buy stuff like a 56k regular-phone-line
modem and a plain usb webcam, and there are none of the good old reviews like
the "let's hook them all up to a fake phone line and throw static at
them and then report the transfer rate" and the "let's take pics with
them under different lighting conditions and print all the pics" runoffs they used to do. So assuming that they are not going to revert, what magazines do do this kind of thing now? I've tried on-line sites like anandtech and while they do do runoffs, they tend to stick with "hot topic" stuff too. As opposed to "most bang for the buck for non-overclockers" stuff.