Readers’ comments
Your views and feedback from email and the web
Rip-off merchants
Do high-end manufacturers think of a number, double it and add a little more if they think the market will stand it? Witness Google Pixel; Samsung’s new tablets; Microsoft Surface Book; Apple iPad Pro (together with its overpriced keyboard and stylus) and numerous other examples, including several laptops that you and other magazines have recently reviewed.
No doubt there are those who must have the latest gadget as soon as it arrives, regardless of cost, and who, if we dare challenge them, say recent price hikes are “down to the fall in the pound”.
Isn’t it time that magazines, when reviewing costly products, started to challenge manufacturers about their prices? The technology world isn’t alone in this respect: a basic Ford Fiesta costing £16,500 is described as “good value” and a valve amplifier that sells for £32,000 now represents “a sound investment”.
Like millions in this country, I’ve seen my pay increase by 1% a year for the past six years, while some – local authority workers, civil servants and others – have had nothing. So, come on PC Pro, make a stand for those of us who pay out good money for your mag and, when you review, say, the iPad Pro with keyboard and stylus, ask why it retails for £1,180 and try to dissect what it costs to produce. How much does it cost in the US, Germany or France? At least then we’ll know by how much we’re being ripped off. Chris Moxham
Editor-in-chief Tim Danton replies: It’s been a little while since we ran a “Rip-off Britain” article, and that’s partly because very little seems to change. International companies will always aim to maximise their profit in whichever market they operate, and that means software in particular will always be more expensive in richer countries. Ultimately, they’ll only lower prices if it makes economic sense for them to do so. Could we, PC Pro, do more? I’m interested in your thoughts. If you feel strongly about this topic, please email
Cheap laptops?
As a long-time subscriber, I was so pleased to see that the latest PC Pro included a review of bargain laptops ( see issue 272, p76) as I need to buy one next week . However, I was disappointed by the range of products you tested.
The feature should really have been called the “Chrome and mid-range laptop review”. All the budget price
laptops were Chrome devices, with no mention of the proper Intel-based laptops you can buy for between £200 and £300 from the likes of Acer, Asus and HP.
Your review implies that the only way to get a good product for less than £350 is to buy a Chrome device, which is far from the truth. Geoff Crittenden
Editor-in-chief Tim Danton replies: That’s a fair point. We asked the manufacturers for lower-priced laptops, but they all declined to send any in. That’s partly because they’d prefer to push higher-cost machines, of course, but it’s also because such machines tend to ship like commodities and in sporadic bursts. Consequently, HP might sell a thousand machines of a certain specification to PC World, and once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Not The GIMP
In the “Best Free Software” article ( see issue 272, p30), where you wrote about Krita, you asked if people were still using The GIMP. No, but I use another piece of free software that’s worth mentioning, Chasys Draw ( jpchacha. com/chasysdraw).
It’s not as modern-looking as Krita but is also regularly updated and is fast and stable. Ian Haynes
Tech in the NHS
I read your editorial about the need to get health professionals to embrace modern technology ( see issue 270, p30), with great interest and a wry smile. Let me guide you through some real-life situations and issues. The hospital I work in still has Windows XP-based machines, although the numbers are small. Guess what all of the other machines have been updated to. Yes, Windows 7!
From switching on the machine, logging in and actually being able to do any work takes seven to eight minutes, in which time you’re trying not to seriously harm yourself. Now that you’ve successfully logged in, you have to trawl through at least five or six different pieces of software to get all the information about one patient (scans, blood results, clinical notes).
Then we come to the tablets that have been introduced. Using these during ward rounds needs an extra pair of hands. At an age when we’re supposed to be thoroughly cleaning our hands before moving from patient to patient, lugging these around is an additional nuisance.
From switching on the machine, logging in and being able to do any work takes seven to eight minutes
NHS and healthcare professionals aren’t averse to using technology. We are scared of using half-baked software/apps and inadequate hardware with poorly designed Wi-Fi access. This is no surprise as what else can you expect to get on a negative budget? Gunasekaran Kumar
Editor-in-chief Tim Danton replies: Thanks to Gunasekaran and everyone else who has contacted us in a similar vein. This topic has clearly touched a nerve and we’ll continue to pursue it in the coming months and years. For more regarding tech hurdles the NHS must overcome, see our report on data and machine learning in this month’s Futures section starting on p124.
Corrections and amplifications
If you downloaded Paper2PDF, one of our recommended pieces of free software ( see issue 272, p30), in early April, then Windows 10 may well have blocked it as “unsafe”. This was due to a lack of a digital signature, but the software’s creator has now added this. It’s free to download at paper2pdf.net.