i had an idea for a new feature. if like me you keep all your old micromarts (a bit anal but hey i'm a geek, deal with it) start with a standard setup pc i.e. case m/b processer ram h/d cd floppy latest o/s monitor. look at the prices currently then compare them with exactly one year ago (using a regular advertiser such as eclipse). it would only take half a page for this and would allow people to see price movement and value.(to you i was a geek) also on the other half of the page you could scour the pages of micromart and find the cheapest possible build available 1) from multiple vendors 2) from the same vendor and award a micromart award for value to the most competitively priced vendor. i do this every week (the highlight of my week, i am a househusband) and it would take very little effort to convert this into an article if you would like

why oh why oh why oh why ad infinitum

Not a bad idea. Can you leave this one with us for a while - we've got some development work coming up ahead of issue 800, and this might sit nicely after that?

Simon

i think it's an excelent idea. might i make a suggestion, thoogh?
instaed of PC, how bout a base unit instaed? that's what we replace, not the rest, mostly, isn't it?

as a follow up, i had a great idea inspired by the build a pc for under £100 article. i am currently in the process of doing the same thing but using parts exclusively from ebay. i have currently acquired an ecs k7sem m/b, a duron 1000, 256 pc133, an atx case and cdrw for £45 inc p+p just need h/d and monitor, should be easy. i was thinking if mm ran this say bi weekly, you could give your readership the chance to win the system, by finding a hidden message in one of the adverts, thus ensuring more readers studying the ads, which will keep the advertisers very happy and the readers entertained for a while longer, as well as adding an extra feature to the mag (because i've noticed a few people complaining about the shortage of editorial content) the whole idea would cost very little and would probably pay for itself and then some with increased readership and subsequently, increased advertising revenue. i would envisage the article not being solely about buying a pc but the trials and tribulations of buying from ebay (dodgy vendors, late delivery etc) and putting potentially conflicting hardware together. it would be even better if you used an inexperienced but keen pc builder as a freelancer(i.e ME, i have the time and i am very cheap, Simon)

why oh why oh why oh why ad infinitum

Re: Ebay. If we were doing a piece such as this, I'd rather it referred to our classifieds, to be honest. I admit it - I'm biased...!

isn't that a little like saying "we will only review components that are made in birmingham"

why oh why oh why oh why ad infinitum

Quote: craigcarling said on 12 March 2004 at 11:08:05 isn't that a little like saying "we will only review components that are made in birmingham"

No, not really.

Because we spend tens of thousands of pounds a year to try and provide a safe environment to buy and sell computer goods, if we were to run a feature along the lines of the one outlined here, I'd rather talk about our service than Ebay.

Interested in hearing other peoples' views on this.

S

I Agree Simon,
Why not try running a readers competition, "Look What I Got from The MM Adverts" type of thing, where you set it running with a closure date some way off, challenging readers to come up with the best PC gleaned from the Adverts. You could set price banding categories, ie best PC under £100,£200,etc, as well as having the categories of theoretical PC (ie what you could have built), and actual PC assembled.
The MM team to be the judges.
By having both theoretical PCs and actual assembled you would open the competitons up to every one of the readers from the youngsters, with just pocket money to the more affluent reader.
Who knows the readership might also generate more ideas, with the MM judges not only being able to spot some talented PC builders but also able to spot the more common errors in readers perceptions and write articles targetted at them.
Keeping the competitons closed to what you can buy in MM might also lead to Advertisers sponsoring some prizes.
Just a thought.


Mad Malc

Then again, Ed, you could have extortionist (or plonker) of the week, you know, you run at least one a a month:
"386DX40, 13inch VGA monitor, 8Mb ram, 20Gb HDD, cost £2.5K new, complete with Win3.11 and Multimate 4, £450."
Seriously, you have just been given enough new ideas to run something different every month for a year. Why not suck it and see in the columns, as only about a couple of hundred of your readers seem to peruse this forum.

You could, of course, run a 'best idea for the mag' monthly, with a prize for the winner, say a six month free sub. ( I dont see you getting any more out of the suits in finance.)

Oldphart

The original grumpy pedant!