PC World (January 1991)

PC World (January 1991)

PC World was one of the most popular PC magazines published in the U.S. It always felt a bis generic to me but it's still great for nostalgia. This issue goes back to 1991, a year when the 486 was bleeding edge and IBM was still a big name in the PC World.

Previews

_{IBM PS/2 Model 95 XP}

• IBM's Visionary New XPs - A look at IBM's latest 486 based PS/2 models with features including upgradeable 25 and 33 MHz CPUs, optional 256K cache, and up to 32MB of RAM. The Model 90 desktop features room for five drives and has three available 32-bit Micro Channel slots. The Model 95 tower has room for up to seven drives and six available Micro Channel slots. However, the prices range from $12,495 to $17,745 which seems pretty insane, even for then.


• Easy Persuasion - A look at Aldus Persuasion 2.0 for Windows. This was presentation software that would have competed with software like PowerPoint.

Reviews

• Easy Fonts for Great-Looking Documents - A look at seven scalable font generators, including Adobe Type Manager 1.0, FaceLift 1.0, Fontware, SoftType 1.01, SuperPrint 1.0, and Type Director 2.0.


• Buying Smart: Font Shopping Tips - What to look for when shopping for font software.


• Exercising Your Font Options - Resident fonts vs. font cartridges; price vs. performance.

_{Table of Contents from the January 1991 issue of PC World}

Features

• Tax Relief for the Rest of Us - A guide to the various software available to do your 1990 tax return, including AM Tax, Andrew Tobias' TaxCut, J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 1991, MacInTax for Windows, Personal Tax Filer, Personal Tax Preparer for 1990, Swiftax, and Sylvia Porter's Rapid Tax.


• Own a Home Business? The IRS is Watching - Why you may want to continue using an accountant for your business taxes.


• In a Hurry for That Refund Check? - Use electronic filing to get your refund check faster. This option only became available the previous year.


• Do-It-Yorself Taxes - A guide to finding the right tax software for your needs.


• Rating the Returns - A comparision of the same return with TurboTax 8.0, TaxCut, and an accountant.

News

• Top of the News - Colorstar and Toshiba introduce new laptops with the novelty of 256 color active matrix screens. The Colorstar features a 20 MHz 386 while the Toshiba T3200SXC features a 20 MHz 386SX. New VGA chipsets announced. Lotus buys Samna. Borland releases Forms Processor, Turbo Pascal and SideKick II for Windows. Multimedia PCs on the way. The Multimedia standard includes a minimum of a Windows capable 286 with 2MB of RAM, VGA graphics, 30 MB hard drive, sound card and CD-ROM.


• Industry Outlook - IBM launches XGA as successor to VGA; growth of desktop publishing slows; mail order sales increase (I bought my first "PC" in 1993 via mail order direct from Gateway 2000); and more.


• Product Outlook - Next releases NextStation featuring a 25-MHz 68040 CPU, 8 MB RAM, MegaPixel (1120 x 820) display, 2.8MB floppy, and 105 MB hard drive for $5000 and the higher end NextCube for $13,990O. Other new products include new versions of TurboTax, TaxCut, and MacIntax, Wyse Decision 486/33E, Express Publisher 2.0, IBM PS/1 Printer, Co/Session 5.0, Turbo Pascal 6.0, PacificPage PE 4.9, SatisFAXtion, Quicken 4.0, CompuAdd 333 and 333T, AST Premium II 386SX/20, and more.

_{Table of Contents from the January 1991 issue of PC World (continued)}

How To

• OPerating System and Environments - Windows 3.0: Load applications automatically, quick program switching, replacing File Manager with Norton Commander, and more. Desqview: Easy word processor to E-Mail transfers.
• Word Processing - Wordperfect: deleting consecutive words, doing OR searches, hiding and searching for comments and more. Microsoft Word: parallel columns, extra wide docments and more. Wordstar: quick printing.


• Spreadsheets - Lotus 1-2-3 and Quattro Pro: quickly unhide columns, speed data entry, fast recalcs and more.


• Data Management - Tips for dBASE, Paradox, Q&A, DataEase and more.


• Communications - Tips from using CompuServe, Procomm Plus (my favorite telecommuniations software back in the day), Crosstalk XVI, Crosstalk MK.4, and more.


• Desktop Publishing - Tips for Ventura Publisher, PageMaker 3.x, and more.


• Presentations - Tips for Harvard Graphics.


• Draw and Paint Programs - Tips for Corel Draw, Micrografx Designer 3.0, and PC Paintbrush IV Plus.


• Utilities - Tips for Norton Utilities, PC Tools Deluxe 6.0 and Magellan.

Departments

• Richard Landry - IBM catches up with the competition with their new XP systems.


• The Help Screen - Automatically include the document name in the body of WordPerfect 5.1 documents; using shareware; partitioning your hard disk; Weitek vs. Intel math coprocessors; and more.


• Network Q&A - Questions answered about Windows 3.0 on a NetWare 286 network.


• Consumer Watch - Shopping experiences at Sears, Radio Shack, and via mail order among other places.


• Developer's Toolbox - A look at Booter Toolkit, software designed to allow you you create boot disks for your software without needing DOS.


• Taking It Home - Protecting yourself from computer theft.

_{Back cover of the January 1991 issue of PC World}

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