OF COOLANT AND KEYBOARDS

IT’S HAPPENING! It’s finally happening— we’re back in the office. Sort of. Well, at least one Monday every other week, as a team, anyway. I mean, it’s not “normal” normal, but it’ll do for now, while the world is still in turmoil.

In fact, this is the first time I’ve ever physically sat in the MaximumPC editor’s chair, and boy, does it feel good. You can say what you like about working from home, but nothing quite beats the social aspects and camaraderie you have with a well-meshed team when you meet up in person, as opposed to over voice chat. But enough of my ramblings—mag updates abound, and I finally have some good news.

So, this issue is known as issue 183 for internal purposes. Think of that number like an Intel architectural codename—we still operate on volumes, but for the purpose of budgets, we need an arbitrary number. We’ve no idea where that number comes from—it’s certainly not the number of issues that have ever been printed—but what we do know is that it goes up by an increment of one each issue. And what I can tell you is that as of issue 185 (our Holiday 2020 edition), we’re returning to our pre-lockdown budget and page count. At last, we’ll finally be back up to 100 pages of crisp, fresh content each and every issue.

I just want to say to all of you who are still here: Genuinely, thank you for sticking by us. It means the world to myself and the team, and it also means we can continue to bring you the very best content we can, and hopefully amp up the online stuff, as intended, too, once we’ve got the remaining 40% of our budget back. And on top of our return to a full lip-smacking budget, we’ve also moved across to a new subscription platform in the form of Magazinesdirect.com. All the prices should remain the same as before, but if you’re having trouble with your subscription, are looking to renew, or sort out missing issues, I’ve been assured that the customer support team there is far superior to the one we were using previously. To cover the changeover, I’ve been personally forwarding on all of your problems directly to our subscriptions team internally as well.

So, what have we got in this issue? Well, there’s a fantastic full 10-page case study of a somewhat scary new coolant we’ve been testing, an introduction to the world of custom mechanical keyboards from Dave (who, I’ve been told, has spent no less than $19,000 on keyboards over the years), and a full in-depth guide to the latest and greatest distros Linux has to offer. Combine all that with a quick look at our case-test builds for chassis reviews going forward, and a bevy of hardware, columns, tutorials, and more, and I hope there’s something for everyone in the latest issue.

Stay safe out there, and I’ll see you on the other side.