AnandTech, the website that has been familiar to anyone interested in desktop processors and components for the past 27 years, is shutting down. «Today is the last day of AnandTech’s publication», — writes editor-in-chief Ryan Smith.
AnandTech was founded by Anand Lal Shimpi in 1997. The founder left tech journalism 10 years ago.
The first publication of the site was AMD K6 processor reviewand the last one — AMD Ryzen 7 9700X review and Ryzen 5 9600X. The site also has forum with more than 400 thousand users and over 40 million messages.
«A lot has changed over the past quarter century – in 1997, NVIDIA hadn’t even coined the term «GPU» – and we’ve been fortunate enough to watch the hardware world continue to evolve over that period. We’ve gone from boxy desktops and laptops, which today we would charitably classify as portable desktops, to pocket computers, and even the cheapest budget device puts the fastest PC of 1997 to shame».
«However, few things last forever, and the market for tech journalism is not what it once was, and never will be again. So, it’s time for AnandTech to call it quits and let the next generation of tech journalists take their place in time».
The site and its content will not go away for some time — the publisher Future PLC will maintain it indefinitely. AnandTech materials can be considered as a detailed and authoritative reference guide. The forum will also continue to work. As an alternative, Ryan Smith recommended Tom’s Hardware, where many former AnandTech journalists work.
Although Ryan Smith did not specify the reasons for the closure of AnandTech, we can guess at some of them. Readers have noticed the expansion of ITC.UA’s topics from computers and gadgets to movies, TV shows, science, etc. If you take an ordinary publication about computer «hardware», or even successful publication, it is unlikely to get as many views as statements by Stephen King, IT specialist caught at the border or virtually any news about the series «The Lord of the Rings». If we talk about harmful cosmetic procedures or Earth’s core — the numbers are generally cosmic.
You can see the number of views of each article above its title and compare it yourself. The modern reader is interested in a broader view of life, work, technology, and entertainment. The enormous popularity of computer components 20 years ago has declined with the proliferation of laptops, smartphones, and game consoles. People stopped fiddling with technology, and readers are interested in its convenient use: work, watching movies, playing games. Computing devices have become powerful, and the difference in performance is not as dramatic as it once was. However, ITC.UA editorial team will continue to publish the most interesting news about processors, video cards, and other components, as well as interesting reviews of technology. — Andriy Rusanov.
Source: AnandTech
Spelling error report
The following text will be sent to our editors: