First up in PC Plus 232 is our feature on the future of chipsets and where they’re leading the PC, concentrating specifically on the ever-lessening emphasis placed on the processor as your PC’s spiritual leader. Tying in nicely, IBM’s new chipset goes On Test in the form of the new Fujitsu-Siemens Esprimo, and we discuss the future of Apple following their decision to switch to an Intel architecture. Apple is finally leaving the RISC architecture behind, which bodes well for the chipsets powering PC processors.

The past and future of the Internet are dissected in this month’s Feature Focus. Learn how the Internet was first conceived, how it’s grown to be the monster it is today, and how artificial intelligence is set to change the way we think about online communication. You’ll also find out about the latest developments in AI Bots, and their place within the Internet.

Is the concept of actually going into the office a bit much for you? Richard Hill explains the principles and security behind Virtual Private Networking, and the options available for commuting over the web at a reasonable price.

Also on test this month are the latest performance desktops from powermongering giant Mesh and young pretender Cube247, alongside Acer’s primary new AMD laptop, the 4401LMi. Can it compete with Centrino in terms of connectivity and battery life, or will Turion prove to be another also-ran in the mobile processor market? Our labs team also gets its hands on nine of the latest hard disks, deciding at last whether SATA is really beating PATA as soundly as it seems.

Are you sick of your mouse? Wish you could have a more intuitive and versatile way to interact with your PC? Get that freedom with a graphics tablet. PC Plus gives its essential verdict and learns that Wacom is not the only tablet producer in town. In software, Poser 6 is dissected and disassembled, as Richard Wentk finds out if its subtle changes in concept have helped or hindered this famous artistic tool. More animated 3D fun can be found in the form of Credo Life Forms 4.0, while the new live-orientated Cakewalk Project 5 v2 gets an aural dissection in the Labs.

In Masterclass this month, we’ve enlisted the services of Project Dogwaffle’s development team to show you the ropes of this innovative art software. Find out exactly why its unusual interface will revolutionise the way you think about art. Chris Schmidt introduces the part of his Skype overview, and looks at the advantages the program has over its immediate competition, while Richard Cobbett examines Online Management and the impact RSS is having on the new-fangled web. David Coulson also finishes his look at IP telephony, explaining some of the more complex functions like call forwarding and automatic recording.

Shape selection using VB.NET is Dave Jewell’s primary handle in this month’s Programmer’s World, while Wilf Hey begins an enthralling look at different ways to represent data. Do you know your heaps from your binary trees? Finally, the second parts of our Delphi and C++ tutorials should keep the old grey matter ticking over.

This month’s Superdisc is crammed with flavoursome full versions, from personal backup solution Acronis True Image 8 PE to comprehensive website creation software NetObjects Fusion 7 to the personal edition of excellent Windows development tool Borland Delphi. Our monthly Linux distribution is Linspire Live, and we’ve also managed to squeeze in Simply Personnel 7, website stress tester JBlitz Professional 3.1 SE, and stealth enabler Steganos Internet Anonym Pro 6.