Saturday, November 23, 2013

PC Format magazine

PC Format magazine

PC Format magazine

There are three things in life you can be sure of: death, Taxes and PC Format being a cracking read from start to finish. Those first two aren't too enticing, so why not go to town with PC Format and enjoy a monthly dose of hardware and gaming reviews, dusted off nicely with a tasty helping of getting more from your PC.

Whether you're into using your PC to play back movies in your living room, overclocking your rig to take on the world, or up for a more relaxing few hours fragging everyone in sight, PC Format is there to aid, entertain, inform and more often than not surprise.

We're every bit as passionate about making the magazine as we are about PCs, which is why we're on your side to help separate the wheat from the chaff, whether that's the latest shooter or the newest graphi cs cards. Whatever you use your PC for - we're here to help.

PC Format Issue 286 Christmas

Glimpse of the future

"Is SteamOS the PC's future? Or is Valve just trying to make its own console?"

Boundaries are blurring. The hard distinctions of yesterday aren't clearly defined today, and there's a good chance they won't be there at all tomorrow. As a case in point, just look to the Xbox One and PS4. The next-generation consoles are essentially PCs, made up of slightly tweaked PC components, while PCs continue to extend into new and interesting area. Something Valve is set to capitalise on with its Steam Machines - console-like PCs designed to live near your television - which run SteamOS, the company's Linux-based rival to Windows.

The potential here sounds remarkable, at least initially, but as more information trickles out from Valve, the less impressed we are by the reality. The machines themselves may only be prototy pes, but they're not very exciting to look at, and don't appear to do anything that we haven't seen before. Worse than the visual impact of these would-be consoles though, are the limitations Valve is putting on the OS. It's going to be for gaming only.

When you consider that there's a full PC in that boxy chassis, it seems a waste to not use it as general media player, web browser and all-round gaming machine that isn't just limited to accessing a Linux-limited Steam library. You know, just as Sony and Microsoft realised with their previous generation consoles, let alone the ones that they are just releasing. We don't just want our consoles to play games, we want to use them for other things as well, and surely the PC is in a better position than any other piece of hardware to do everything we want to use them for?

This issue we show you how to go one better than a Steam Machine running SteamOS. We show you how to build a full gaming PC, one that is tiny enoug h, and quiet enough, to have next to your television. And it isn't limited in what it can do either. Hell, it'll even run Steam...

Alan Dexter, Editor

alan.dexter@futurenet.com

How to get hold of PC Format

There are more ways than ever to get hold of the finest PC magazine around, whether you want to pick up the physical print version or the digital version for your tablet or phone.

The easiest way to ensure you never miss an issue of the magazine is to subscribe to the print version of PC Format here, making the single physical issue price a paltry £4.46.

And whether you've got an iOS or Android device you can head to either the Apple Newsstand or Google Play Magazines store to pick up the digital version, in either single issue (including back issues) or for a full subscription.


    






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//PART 2