Many TR readers have no doubt already seen news of the continuing consolidation that's happening in the PC hardware media this morning. That move means the vast majority of the largest and most widely read PC hardware and technology sites in the world, including Tom's Hardware, Anandtech, PC Gamer, and TechRadar, now reside under a single corporate umbrella.
In light of this move, you'll recall that The Tech Report secured an independent future earlier this year. We are, as we have been since 1999, 100% free to say or write whatever we like about whoever we like. In just a couple hundred days, we will have been tracking the latest and greatest developments in PC hardware for a hard-to-fathom 20 years.
That freedom has allowed us to pursue some avenues of coverage for you that other, much larger sites either have not pursued or were delayed in pursuing. You read in-depth analysis of the performance of Ryzen Mobile APUs here before you read it almost anywhere else, and we were perhaps the second outlet to provide in-depth tests of Intel's Core i7-8086K CPU just recently. In neither case did companies sample that hardware to us. We went out and bought it with cold, hard cash, and we told you exactly what we thought of it.
On top of that, we're one of only two sites on the entire internet that puts in the time to characterize digital audio workstation performance on CPUs. We were at the forefront of frame-time-based benchmarking of graphics cards, a method that's now a gold standard for industry and media alike. We love doing those kinds of articles, and we want to do more like them.
Problem is, pieces like that cost a lot of money to write and need experienced writers to produce them. Without the winds of a multinational media conglomerate at our backs, we can't do nearly as much of that in-depth analysis as we would like. We were sanguine about the challenges facing The Tech Report when we first introduced reader subscriptions four years ago, but frankly, the headwinds against independent media have only multiplied since. We are grateful to the loyal advertisers who believe in our mission and have been longtime supporters of our work, but there are only so many of those to go around.
This may not look like much, but it's going to save us so much time… pic.twitter.com/PKsZIih7WG
— Jeff Kampman (@jkampman_tr) July 13, 2018
There's a lot going on behind the scenes at TR to lay the foundation for doing more of the coverage you value and to get it out the door faster than we've ever been able to before. For just one example, our resident dev Bruno Ferreira is currently putting the finishing touches on a testing tool that will wipe away—with the click of a button—99% of the hours of manual pen-and-paper CPU benchmarking that we've been doing since I took over that role. That means we can do more in less time or cover more in the same time while providing you with the launch-day coverage that's critical for survival in this industry.
If you believe in the mission of The Tech Report and want to help us continue our independent work, it's time to step up.
Please—for the love of all things holy—whitelist us in your ad blocker. If you do nothing else, please take this simple, no-cost step so that the unobtrusive, relevant advertising we selectively approve can remain that way. Not only are you helping us, you are helping the community members who choose not to block advertisements. Just as getting vaccinations helps prevent communicable disease even for those who aren't immune, you are helping to promote herd immunity to bad ads for our audience.
Even better, contribute what you want to subscribe and support our work in exchange for some nice perks. We've just re-upped our partnership with Macrium to bring you exclusive deals on that company's awesome Reflect disk-imaging software, a benefit that many happy gerbils have already partaken of. Reflect makes migrating and backing up PCs simple, and it's been a long-time favorite of ours. Silver subscribers now get 30% off Reflect, and Gold subscribers now get 50% off.
Thanks in advance for helping us help you and ensuring that the PC hardware world maintains a diversity of voices that—above all—put readers' interests first.