_{Cover of the February 2002 issue of Maximum PC}

Maximum PC was my favorite PC magazine (and its incarnation as 'boot' before it). It covered PCs from an enthusiast point of view for those that liked to build or upgrade their own machines, gamers, those who liked to edit video, etc. The February 2002 issue includes:

Regulars

In/Out - Letters from readers about RAIDs, the Xbox, emulation, nVidia history, speakers, and more.

Quick Start - Intel releases its first DDR based Pentium 4 motherboard (D845BG), new 3D chip technology, bendable displays, CMOS cameras, and more.

Head2Head - Comparing Wolfenstein-3D to Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

Watchdog - Problems with IBM's 75GXP series of hard drives, the lack of driver support for the Guillemot Maxi Studio ISIS card in Windows XP and 2000, high restocking fees, and more.

Ask the Doctor - Questions answered about ACR slots, configuring multiple broadband connections, wireless peripherals, Outlook attachments, Athlon XP chipsets, four Pentium IIIs vs. two Athlon MPs, and more.

How To... - A guide to adding drive capacity to your Tivo.

In The Lab - A look at Intel's new Northwood Pentium 4 CPU.

Rig of the Month - A custom horror themed custom desktop case inspired by H.R. Giger featuring an overclocked Duron (700MHz to 1 GHz), 512MB of PC133 SDRAM, and a GeForce2 MX 32MB video card.

_{Table of Contents from the February 2002 issue of Maximum PC}

Reviews

Dell Inspiron 8100 notebook - Featuring an Intel Mobile Pentium III-M @ 1.2GHz, 256MB PC133 SDRAM, ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 w/ 64MB DDR SDRAM, IBM Travelstar 48GB hard drive and more for $2925.

Devastator 9908 arcade controller - A two player arcade controller featuring two sticks, 16 buttons, a trackball, spinner, etc. for $450. Great for emulating those old arcade games.

HP dvd100i CD/DVD burner - Early DVD writers were expensive. This rather average one would set you back $600.

Bantam BA350 MP3 player - Apple may have had the best known MP3 players with the iPod line but there were tons of other interesting options including this 128MB model with MMC expansion.

Sure Thing CD labeler - A device for sticking labels on CDs.
AfterBurner CD labeler - A much better device for sticking labels on CDs. I always just used a Sharpie myself.

U.Are.U Personal fingerprint recognition - A $69 fingerprint reader that connects via USB.

Face Lock security software - Software that provides security for your PC via face and voice recognition.

Adobe Illustrator 10 - Another incremental upgrade for the classic graphics app.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein - A solid sequel to the classic original.

Four mini game reviews - Brief reviews of Comanche 4, Dark Age of Camelot (one of only two MMORPGs I've ever played), Silent Hunter II, and Codename: Outbreak.

_{Table of Contents from the February 2002 issue of Maximum PC (continued)}

Features

Heal Your PC - A look at 18 utilities to help you diagnose and fix PC problems. These include Norton SystemWorks 2002 Professional, PC-Doctor Service Center 2000 2.3, TuffTest-Pro v.3.52F, Quick Tech Personal, SpinRite 5, EZ-Smart 5, CD-R Inspector 1.2.3, CD Rata Rescue 1.1, Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility 3.9, Super Pi 1.1e, DocMemory 1.45a/2.0, RST Pro 1.31, PowerStrip 3.10.228, DisplayMate Professional for DOS 1.23, Modem Doctor for Windows 2.0.0.21, QuickTech USB, and more.

PC Showdown - Reviews of nine systems from smaller vendors including NextGen's AMD XP (featuring an Athlon XP 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM, and Leadtek GeForce3 Ti 500 for $2600), the Element PC Patriot 1900 (featuring an Athlon XP 1.66GHz, 512MB RAM, and Leadtek GeForce3 Ti 500 for $2600), the XDream Nightmare (featuring a Pentium 4 2.0GHz, 512MB RAM, and Leadtek GeForce3 Ti 500 for $2570) and a bunch of other similarly configured mostly Athlon XP based systems.