PC Upgrade and Repair Bible
by Barry Press, Marcia Press
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Book Summary Information
Author: Barry Press, Marcia PressEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-05-07
ISBN: 0764557319
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: Wiley
Book Reviews of PC Upgrade and Repair Bible
Book Review: Great content, but title could be more descriptive...
Summary: 4 Stars
Since I'm not "hardware oriented" when it comes to technology, you have to work hard to help me understand it. One book that does a great job is the PC Upgrade and Repair Bible Desktop Edition by Barry Press and Marcia Press (Wiley).
Chapter list: Getting Ready; Why Isn't the Same Computer Right for Everyone?; PC Overview; Processors, Cache, and Memory; Buses, Chipsets, and Motherboards; Video; Monitors and Flat Panels; Hard Disks and Disk Arrays; CD and DVD; Removable Storage; Modems; Wired and Wireless Networking; Hubs, Switches, Routers, and Firewalls; Configuring a Windows Network; Internet Services, Antivirus, and Anti-Spam; Sound Cards, Speakers, Microphones, and MP3 Players; Digital Cameras, Video Capture, and DVDs; Keyboards and Game Controllers; Mice, Trackballs, and Tablets; Printers, Scanners, and All-in-One Units; Cases, Cooling, and Power; Laptops and Handheld Computers; You're Going to Put That Where?; Diagnosis and Repair; Building an Extreme Machine; Glossary; Index
As I mentioned above, I'm a software developer and I just want my hardware to work. One of the hardest things for me to do would be to try and build a computer from scratch. But watching my son (who has no fear of hardware) has made me a bit more at ease with it. And with this book, I think I could actually try it. Each of the chapters gives an excellent explanation about how that piece of hardware works and how it fits into the larger picture of a full computer. For instance, in the CD chapter you'll get an understandable write-up of how information is stored and read on a CD-ROM disk. Then they transition into how a DVD is read and how the drive functions. And I actually understood it!
The only place where I thought this book was a little weak is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of upgrade or repair instructions. I expected more along the lines of step-by-step pictures and instructions on how to replace or repair certain parts in your machine. There is some of that towards the end when you get into the Diagnosis and Repair chapters, but little as you're working through the book. Some buyers might be a little upset that the title doesn't quite mesh with the content of the book. Still, the actual content *is* quite good... just not what you might expect.
Overall, I like the book a lot as it helps me understand my computer hardware better than I did before. Just a minor deduction for possible title and content confusion...
Summary of PC Upgrade and Repair Bible
- Updated and revised with eighty percent new material, this book is 100 percent of what readers need to upgrade, fix, or troubleshoot PCs
- Sixty-five percent of U.S. households own a PC; this book caters to the do-it-yourselfers in these households, both novices and tech hobbyists alike, who are looking for an approachable reference
- A one-stop reference for topics such as video, CD, and DVD; multimedia; storage; communications (network and Internet); peripherals; and integrating with laptops and handhelds
- Concludes with a step-by-step tutorial on building an "extreme" machine that can handle the most demanding multimedia or gaming applications
- Written by Marcia and Barry Press, authors of PC Toys (076454229X)
This single, albeit heavy, volume contains a profound level of detail. With over 1,340 pages in 41 chapters, 200 pages of finely printed appendices and indices, more than 700 tables and illustrations, a CD-ROM with useful utilities in both the front and back cover of the book, and a fabulous list of almost every vendor of every imaginable PC component, this guide to upgrading holds its own in a crowded field of fine books on the subject.
This volume serves as a desktop reference for everything--including storage and memory upgrades, multimedia enhancements, the special requirements of the roadworthy laptop and notebook, printing, networking, modems, and other peripherals. The book's tabular data is very helpful and, in many cases, the photographic evidence helps with the practical implementation of a particular upgrade. In general, PC Upgrade and Repair Bible contains more data than step-by-step illustrations, which may make the actual machine upgrading process difficult for the reader who needs a lot of handholding. On the other hand, this volume is more comprehensive than some of its more graphical competitors. The reader who called this book "the Swiss army knife of computer books" was dead-on accurate.
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