Rating: 
Summary: Names names, takes no prisoners
Review: I'm getting ready to do a major upgrade of my home system. It's been a few years since I'd done much work inside a PC so I ordered this book to catch up on what I'd forgotten about. I'm glad I took the time to read it. This book recommends stuff by name, and that advice turns out to be on target every time. I was planning to buy an HP CD burner. Not the best choice says this book. It recommends buying a Plextor, which I'd never heard of. So I searched the Internet for hours reading about Plextor and HP CD burners and it turns out the authors are right. Plextor makes the best burners on the market and lots of people have problems with HP burners particularly with Win2000. And to top it off the Plextors are cheaper than the HPs. If you're planning to buy, build, or upgrade a system, buy this book. It'll save you its price many times over.
Rating:
Summary: Complete and Up to Date Reference
Review: If you want to keep up with all the latest PC hardware changes, especially chipsets and motherboards, then this is the book to obtain. Also, it doesn't contain all the fluff you sometimes find in other hardware books. I read the second version too; it was just as good, only they've actually improved on their work in this newest version, something I didn't think was possible. I can only hope they keep it going, because this is a vital source for those who support and purchase PCs for their business or personal use.
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Summary: Power to the People!
Review: Let me start out with a huge thanks to O'Reilly. I'm not a big fan of large corporations or publishers - but I have come to trust O'Reilly implicitly wherever technical issues are concerned. Although I'm certain that they are not the "perfect" publisher, nor in the business for wholly (ha!) altruistic reasons, I AM amazed by the remarkable originality, diversity, range, quality, accuracy, and honorable business practices of this publisher. Oftentimes I wonder how they manage to maintain such a level, when their current library is so chock-full of tough-to-follow acts.
That said, PC Hardware in a Nutshell does not fail to meet up to these high expectations. Let me get the review portion of my review out of the way - simply put, this is the book I have been hunting for a couple years. That I did not immediately search the O'Reilly library only shows that I am a bit silly. I should have known better. End of review.
But I would like to carry this a bit further, and go out on a limb to discuss the only complaint prior reviewers have voiced: that the book is too "Microsoft-centric."
Rather than a weakness, I believe that this is actually a strength. Let me offer big kudos to the authors and publisher for realizing that a serious, yet accessible, compendium of computer hardware knowledge was necessary. The folks who register such complaints are those least in need of an in-depth introduction to PC hardware. These are the high priests of hi-tech, who rule the roost by virtue of their knowledge-monopoly on all issues technical. They would have you believe that if it was not hand-crafted from spare parts, duct tape, and copious amounts of solder and configured with the most obscure version of Linux, then it's only fit for a 4-year-old. They are, quite simply, dead wrong. Let them compile their own "PC Hardware for Only the Most Serious Tech Gurus", I say!
Thompson's very first point is that he intended the book to be of the most practical usability possible. The practical reality is that the people who desperately need such a compendium are poor fools, like Yours Truly, who are too technical to be satisfied with tutorials on how to use Microsoft Office, yet are not quite knowledgeable enough to get right under the hood of their PCs (never mind build a Linux box from spare hatpins and Reynolds Wrap). We, the "psuedo-techies", often do not come equipped with enough experience, knowledge, or confidence to take ourselves to the next level. We are the crowd who are using Microsoft products, yet would love to learn enough to understand exactly WHY Microsoft means "mush-mind" and Linux is God - but will never get there without a guide. This book is the guide, and to me it says, "Psuedo-techies unite! Power to the people!"
Rating:
Summary: pc hardware in a nutshell 2nd edition
Review: Loved this book.All the detailed questions I had about computer hardware were answered in this book. Easy to understand.Up to date info.
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Summary: The best PC hardware book available
Review: My wife bought me this book for Christmas. I was impressed just flipping through the book and reading random sections so I decided to sit down and read it cover to cover. This is clearly the best PC hardware book on the market. Solid coverage, factually correct, and the opinions expressed are never contrary to my own experience. It's not as big as those huge compendium PC books with twenty different authors but there's more real information in it. If you're only going to buy one PC hardware book this is the one to get.
Rating:
Summary: A lifesaver
Review: My wife's PC died and the repair place said it'd cost $225 parts and labor to replace the power supply. That seemed awfully expensive given what new PC's sell for, so I hauled it back home. On the way I got to thinking about fixing it myself, so I stopped by the mall and looked at PC hardware books. This one had more details about power supplies than the others so I bought it. I'd never worked on a PC before and was a little nervous about opening my wife's system but I figured if I killed it it'd be no great loss. I bought a new power supply for about $50 and installed it. When I crossed my fingers and turned the system back on it started normally and has been working ever since. That means this book already saved me $150 over its cost. Even if you're a PC novice like me this book tells you everything you need to know to fix or upgrade your system. I don't know how this book compares to other PC hardware books because I've never read any of them. But as far as I'm concerned it definitely deserves five stars.
Rating:
Summary: good book, volatile information
Review: now thats a nice guide to nowadays hardware pc market, very well complemented with explanations on the concepts involved on every element of most pc computers. but once the info is deactualized, 9/10 of this 780 pages volume, is waste: it covers every detail of all parts specification of AMD, Intel, and a few other brand's parts. advice to readers: try to find a book with a more thorougly developed in general computing, unrelated with concepts specific of certain brand or model. got to read it all very fast
Rating:
Summary: All you need for PC hardware
Review: O'Reilly's an up and coming publisher of computer related books. Maybe a kingpin already. This selection is a true quick reference guide. Written by the Thompsons, this selection gives you a thorough look into buying, assembling and operating computers. You do need a basic understanding to get anything out of this book, but if this is the case, you won't be disappointed. I have a first edition copy, and it's still current. That says a lot, a first edition published four years ago is still not too outdated! Think about it. How many computer related books can you think of that's relatively current after four years? Huh?
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Summary: Essential
Review: One of the things that has gone right in the computer business the overall assumption that the user can service the machine as much or as little as desired. (Try this concept on your car or refrigerator!) The second edition is far more than a mere update of the first. With 250+ more pages, it is a wealth of detailed information upon which the earlier edition is the foundation. (For example, if you are looking for something to gripe about Windows, read the bit on long file names in the tape drive section.) This is an essential volume for anyone interested in something more than computer-skin deep. Lots of knowledge and experience in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Essential
Review: One of the things that has gone right in the computer business the overall assumption that the user can service the machine as much or as little as desired. (Try this concept on your car or refrigerator!) The second edition is far more than a mere update of the first. With 250+ more pages, it is a wealth of detailed information upon which the earlier edition is the foundation. (For example, if you are looking for something to gripe about Windows, read the bit on long file names in the tape drive section.) This is an essential volume for anyone interested in something more than computer-skin deep. Lots of knowledge and experience in this book.
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